458 



Garden and Forest 



[Number 351. 



more danger from too deep than from too shallow plant- 

 ing. While the soil should be moist, it should not be wet. 

 The surface soil, however, should never be allowed to 

 become thoroughly dry, and a slight shading will help to 

 prevent this. The temperature should not be allowed 

 to fall below fifty degrees, Fahrenheit, for any length of 

 time. As soon as the little plantlets appear they should 

 have plenty of air and light, and having attained an inch or 

 more in height they may be transplanted to other boxes or 

 the open ground, where they will have more room than in 

 the seed-box. The Cedar of Lebanon cannot be expected 

 to thrive in the northern United States, although it may 

 live in some peculiar localities. Any good soil is suitable 

 for it, provided there is good natural or artificial drainage. 

 —Ed.] 



November Flowers in Vermont. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It is seldom that the first of November comes here in 

 northern Vermont with as little frost preceding it as has 

 occurred this year. In the most sheltered places plants were 

 not injured. Milla biflora, which is a late bloomer here, was 

 at its best. Calochortus Bonplandianus was also in flower. 

 Viola pedata and its variety bicolor were both full of bloom. 

 This is one of the best wild Violets in cultivation. It grows, 

 as a rule, on very poor land, but when it is placed in rich gar- 

 den soil responds very quickly to cultivation. Among other 

 Violets which were in flower were V. Wilsoni, V. alpestris, V. 

 primulsefolia and V. cucullata. Campanula rotundifolia was 

 full of flowers. Primula cortusoides, which had had several 

 seasons of bloom, seemed to be as full as at any time. The 

 little Linaria alpina, from seed sown in May, was at its best. 

 This is a very attractive little plant, not difficult to grow, and, 

 so far as I can judge, is not inclined to spread here as some 

 others of the genus do. Its flowers, which are in a sort of a 

 raceme, are violet-blue and yellow, with spurs about the 

 length of the corolla. It is a native of the Alps, and makes a 

 fine species for the rockery. 



Kniphofia Rooperi is one of the last of this genus to flower, 

 and made a better showing at this than at any time before. 

 Gaillardia grandiflora still afforded a few flowers, though by 

 no means as good as the earlier ones. Callirrhoe involu- 

 crata, var. linarieeloba, displayed a better bloom than I have 

 seen on it this year. The little English Daisy, Bellis perennis, 

 grown from seed sown in May, made a better showing of 

 flowers than any other plant except the Pansics, and had been 

 constantly in flower for more than six weeks. 



Lepachis columnaris, var. pulcherrima, is a late bloomer in 

 this climate, and our autumn frosts find it in full flower; and 

 besides those mentioned above I counted twenty-seven dif- 

 ferent plants which were showing many flowers, some of 

 them, like the neat little Sea Pink, Armeria montana, having 

 been in continuous bloom since early summer. All of which 

 goes to show that a northern garden is not necessarily a dreary 

 place after mid-autumn. 



Charlotte, VI. F. H. H. 



November in a New Jersey Garden. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Many plants, like Heliotrope, Scarlet Sage, Mignonette, 

 Nasturtiums and Tea Roses, are still flowering here profusely 

 in the open air, and our lawns now are greener and our gar- 

 dens are more attractive than they were at any time during the 

 parching drought of summer. Hardier flowers, like Cosmos, 

 Chrysanthemums and Dahlias, were never more beautiful, 

 and perennial Phloxes and perennial Peas are both in abun- 

 dant flower. Among our shrubby plants the little half-trailing 

 Abelia rupestris is, perhaps, the most beautiful just now, as it 

 is covered with its fragrant pink trumpets in miniature, and its 

 glossy foliage will remain all winter. Some long branches of 

 the Japanese Honeysuckle are showing many flowers, which 

 are made more beautiful as they hang beside other stems 

 thickly set with black shining fruit. This is a most aggressive 

 plant, and it is almost impossible to keep it within bounds 

 here. It is more unmanageable even than our native Trumpet 

 Creeper, which will send up strong shoots from underground 

 stems many yards from the parent plant. This habit of the 

 Tecoma, Stag-horn Sumach and some other plants makes us 

 cautious about using them. 



The golden flowers of the Witch Hazel are now strung along 

 the bare twigs, but the leaves still remain on many shrubs, and 



the glowing scarlet of Spiraea prunifolia now makes it beauti- 

 ful in spite of its whippy habit. The rich brown of S. Van 

 Houttei, the bronze of the Forsythia and the indescribable 

 brilliancy of some of the Barberries, especially of B. Thun- 

 bergii, makes the shrubbery quite as beautiful as it ever is 

 wdien covered with flowers. The black fruit of Ilex glabra 

 appears to the best advantage as it is set amid its shining ever- 

 green leaves, and the gray, aromatic, waxy fruits of the Bay- 

 berry are crowded along the twigs, where they will remain all 

 winter with the fragrant leaves. The red and black fruits of 

 Pyrus arbutifolia and P. nigra still cling to the shrubs, as do 

 their crimson leaves, and the fruit of Ilex laevigata, which was 

 red in September, fully a month before that of I. verticillata 

 turns, is still abundant. It is said that the berries of our native 

 Holly are not as bright as those of the European tree. But the 

 fruit of our own trees differ in the intensity of their coloring, 

 and some of them bear berries which cannot be surpassed for 

 brilliancy. The Cedars are full of their gray cones, and these 

 Cedar sprays when mingled with the berried twigs of the 

 Holly are singularly beautiful. The Hollies have not been so 

 full of fruit for years as they are to-day, owing to the fact, per- 

 haps, that the rose-bug did not ravage their blossoms this year 

 as usual. Akebia quinata is as green as it has been all sum- 

 mer, and Rosa Wichuriana, which I received two years ago, 

 has sent stems over a wire netting for a distance of twelve feet, 

 and still carries green leaves with the small shining hips scat- 

 tered along their last year's growth. Altogether, it is not deso- 

 lation which November brings to ourgardens in southern New 

 Jersey ; it rather crowns and completes the year with a rich 

 and ripened beauty, 

 vineland, n.j. Mary Treat. 



Exhibitions. 



Chrysanthemums at Philadelphia. 



'THE autumn exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural So- 

 *• ciety was held last week in Philadelphia in the Academy 

 of Music. Beginning with the roomy lobby, wdiere some of 

 the largest and best plants were disposed, the spacious halls 

 and adjoining rooms were crowded with exhibits. The large 

 floor-space afforded by the stage and by flooring over the 

 parquette was all needed for Chrysanthemum plants, vases of 

 Chrysanthemums and Roses, and for decorative plants on 

 exhibition. The show was the largest in the number and 

 variety of exhibits and the most elaborate in arrangement and 

 decoration of any ever held in this city, and the great space 

 seemed strangely small on account of the generous display in 

 all directions. Coniferous trees, evergreen plants and branches 

 of autumn leaves made the background for exhibition plants 

 which encircled this main hall. Groups of choice decorative 

 plants, scattered among the bright-colored Chrysanthemums, 

 presented a more pleasing effect than is usually seen at a 

 flower-show, where the exhibits are too often set in severe 

 lines. 



Specimen plants have heretofore been the leading feature 

 in the Chrysanthemum exhibitions of this society, but those 

 shown last week, while of large size, well grown and creditable, 

 lacked the artistic finish which the handiwork of James Verner 

 has taught the visitors to Philadelphia flower-shows to expect. 

 Some of the prize plants measured as much as the phe- 

 nomenal specimens shown several years ago by George W. 

 Childs, A. J. Drexel, E. W. Clark and R. S. Mason, but the 

 flowers were less notable in size, form and color. For the best 

 ten plants, ten varieties, Gordon Smirl, gardener to Joseph F. 

 Sinnott, took first premium. In this collection, Mrs. Robert 

 Craig was the best white, and a good plant of Gettysburg, a 

 red of the George W. Childs type, was one of the very brightest 

 plants in the entire show. Ostrich Plume, another plant of this 

 group, was a feathery light pink, introduced by Peter Hender- 

 son & Co. two years ago. Good Gracious, President Harrison, 

 Minnie Wanamaker, Ada Le Roy, Frank Thomson, Viviand 

 Morel and Colonel W. B. Smith were other varieties in the 

 ten. Emil Lieker received second premium in the same class. 

 A plant of Hicks Arnold was the best in this set, with Culling- 

 fordii, Lillian B. Bird, Colonel William B. Smith, Mrs. A. J. 

 Drexel, Mrs. Irving Clark, W. H. Lincoln, Louis Boehmer in a 

 good shade of pink, and Ruth as the best wdiite flowering plant. 

 In the display of twenty-five varieties, one bloom to each plant, 

 the best were Mrs. Craige Lippincott, Mrs. F. Thomson, E. 

 Dailledouze and Mrs. Bertha Robinson, a large flower of 

 coarse habit, the broad incurved petals crimson within and 

 pink on the outer side. C. W. Cox, gardener to Clark Kemble, 

 received first premium for this exhibit. 



The best six specimens of different varieties in ten-inch pots 



