October 31, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



433 



the mantle of nature, while leaving visible life's flame with 

 its immortal promise. 



One of the few redeeming features of our extravagantly 

 praised Public Garden is the growth of Virginia Creeper and 

 Japanese Honeysuckle, that converts the iron fence on the 

 western side into a beautiful hedge, and the Japanese Am- 

 pelopsis that covers some of its stone posts. This creeper 

 would perform an inestimable service if it were allowed to 

 clamber at will over the bad sculpture in the Public Garden 

 and the Common. 



The value of trailing growths for fences is not appre- 

 ciated in this country as it should be. In Germany the 

 Virginia Creeper is put to simple and effective use for this 

 purpose in urban public grounds. A light, low fence is 

 made of stakes and connecting wires ; the Virginia Creeper 

 is trained up each stake and made to form graceful festoons 

 between. Its employment in some such fashion would do 

 good service on a place like the Cambridge Common, for 

 instance, now a bare, unattractive expanse, having a sort 

 of kinship with the New England rustic burying-ground. 

 It is surrounded by a fence composed of unhewn granite 

 posts with squared rails of wood between. Virginia 

 Creeper, Japanese Ampelopsis, and perhaps other twining 

 or climbing plants, might convert this old fence into a 

 thing of beauty. In public parks the requirement for pro- 

 tection of the borders sometimes necessitates guards of 

 wire and stakes along the ,paths. These are often great 

 disfigurements, and their offensive aspect, in places where 

 they seem to be required permanently, might be at least 

 mitigated by the use of Virginia Creeper after the German 

 fashion. 



Another climbing plant from Japan coming into marked 

 favor is Evonymus radicans. While the English Ivy flour- 

 ishes in places in and about Boston, occasionally growing 

 well over a house-wall or a ledge, it is not thoroughly 

 hardy. Even in Newport, where it seems to be well at 

 home, it is badly winter-killed at times. E. radicans, being 

 evergreen and perfectly hardy, makes a good substitute 

 for the English Ivy in certain respects, but, like its com- 

 patriot, the Ampelopsis tricuspidata, it does not take kindly 

 to every soil. It is also slow in getting a good start, and 

 does not clamber so high as the English Ivy, but once well 

 started it grows rapidly in good soil. It is growing luxu- 

 riantly over a corner turret of the fine Public Library in 

 Maiden, and another conspicuous example of the beautiful 

 effect it can produce is seen in Brookline, where it has 

 mantled a high rustic fence with an arch over a driveway. 

 Altogether, E. radicans has qualities that commend it for 

 extensive use in places where a climbing evergreen is 

 desired. Its general introduction would do much to give 

 interest to the winter aspect of parks and house-grounds. 



The Japanese Honeysuckle and our native Bittersweet 



both have great merits in the adornment of house-walls, 



and another acquisition from Japan, in the way of a climber, 



is Clematis paniculata. With its delicate foam-like masses 



of white flowers, exquisitely aromatic, it has become a 



feature of the September landscape in various parts of the 



Boston suburbs. When combined with the Virginia Creeper 



its effect is strikingly beautiful. „ , 



Boston. Sylvester Baxter. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



Cattleya labiata. — It is impossible to overestimate the 

 autumn-flowering form of this plant, now so abundantly 

 represented in gardens, where it has revealed an extraordi- 

 nary range of variety in the size, form and color of its 

 flowers. Two of the most beautiful and, I am told, most 

 valuable yet seen were shown this week, at the Drill Hall, 

 by Mr. Owen, of Rotheram ; they were called Countess 

 Fitzvvilliam and Foleyana, the former having large pure 

 white flowers, with the faintest flush of, rose on the label- 

 lum, the latter being also pure white, save a blotch of pale 

 purple and a tinge of yellow on the front lobe of the labellum. 



Equally beautiful was a variety of C. Warscewiczii, named 

 Countess of Derby, from the collection of Mr. Staffer, 

 Manchester, and remarkable in having pure white sepals 

 and petals, the lip being of the gaudy color of the type. 

 These three exquisite plants were awarded first-class cer- 

 tificates, and were looked upon with envious eyes by all 

 Orchid fanciers who saw them. 



Cattleya Brownie is a new hybrid between C. Bowring- 

 iana and C. Harrisoni, raised by Messrs. Sander, and named 

 by them in compliment to Mrs. D. S. Brown, of St. Louis. 

 Only four years have transpired since the seeds were sown, 

 yet the plant has pseudo-bulbs five inches high, each with 

 a pair of leaves, and the last one bearing a single flower 

 as large as C. Bowringiana, but broader in the sepals and 

 petals, and with a flattened front lobe to the lip, the color 

 being deep rosy mauve, with a dash of yellow on the lip. 

 It obtained an award of merit. 



Cattleya Wendlandii. — This is a new Veitchian hybrid, 

 its parents being C. Bowringiana and C. Warscewiczii 

 (Gigas). It may be described as a large C. Bowringiana, 

 wilha lip like C. labiata, the color being rich rose-purple, 

 with blotches of maroon and yellow on the lower lobe of 

 the labellum. It also received an award of merit. 



LvElia prjestans alba is a rare little beauty which has 

 been known several years, but is represented only in one 

 or two collections, Mr. Statter's being*one. His plant was 

 shown in flower this week, its flowers of the purest snow- 

 white, with a ring-like blotch of crimson-maroon crowning 

 the lip. This is an "albino" of superlative merit. 



Dendrobium Phal^enopsis alba received an award of 

 merit, the flowers being large, full and wholly white, with 

 a dash of rose on the front lobe of the lip. There were 

 numerous other varieties of it shown, every one of them 

 beautiful. By the bye, it is generally understood that this 

 plant has been introduced in such large quantities from 

 New Guinea, but I am informed on the most reliable au- 

 thority that they all come from the island of Timor Laut, 

 where the plants first introduced into this country were 

 found by Mr. Forbes, and sent to Kew and Messrs. Veitch, 

 in 1883. There are, however, enough plants in England 

 now to render the habitat of the species of little import to 

 horticulturists. 



Gymnogramma Veitchii. — This was shown last Tuesday 

 by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, who suggest that it is of hybrid 

 origin from G. decomposita and G. Pearcei robusta. I 

 should rather call it a sport from the first-named, which it 

 generally resembles in all points, except that the fronds are 

 fully a yard high, and the divisions of the piniias slightly 

 larger than in typical G. decomposita, which is itself prob- 

 ably a sport from some other cultivated species, having 

 been described by Mr. Baker from a plant grown in the 

 Kew collection and of unknown origin. Another supposed 

 hybrid Gymnogramma was named G. Lathami in 1884, by 

 Moore, in compliment to the Curator of the Birmingham 

 Botanic Garden, who suggested that it was a hybrid between 

 G. decomposita and G. schizophylla. I know no Fern 

 which varies so much when raised from spores as G. 

 decomposita. It is unknown in a wild state. 



Fagus Moorei. — This Australian Beech was discovered 

 by Mr. Moore, Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 

 New South Wales, who sent specimens of it to Kew in 

 1867, gathered on "high mountain slopes at the head of 

 the Bellenger at an altitude of 4,000 feet, where it forms 

 dense forests. It attains a height of a hundred and fifty 

 feet, with a clear straight trunk seventy feet high, and is a 

 very beautiful tree with rigid, dark glossy green leaves." 

 It is in cultivation at Kew and Glasnevin, the Kew plants 

 having leaves nearly four inches by two inches, which in 

 texture and glossiness are more suggestive of a Camellia 

 than a Beech. Coming from so high an altitude, it may be 

 hardy in the more sheltered parts of England. I have seen 

 F. Cunninghamii, also a native of Australia, perfectly happy 

 in a Cornish garden. 



Physalis Franchf.ti. — This is a glorified form of the Win- 

 ter Cherry, P. Alkakengi, and for those who attach impor- 



