January 21, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



33 



others, but somewhat larger and well worth growing. Still 

 another is a bright pink, with wavy edges; I consider this one 

 the best of all. 



I have not yet succeeded in getting a very good two-colored 

 sort, though I have a variety whose flowers are white with a 

 pink tip to each petal, and another with rose-centered white blos- 

 soms. These are both too narrow in petal to be perfectly satis- 

 factory. A pink one, whose color is altogether different from 

 the pink one mentioned above, is also not quite to my liking; 

 still I keep them, hoping to get, some time, good shape in con- 

 nection with these colors. 



I am best pleased, however, with a hybrid raised from 0. 

 floribunda type fertilized by 0. articulata, a species of similar 

 style of growth which Mowers in August, bearing perfectly 

 circular blossoms of a light mauve color. This hybrid, which 

 is, as far as I know, the only one in existence, has the ever- 

 blooming habit of the pistillate parent and its comparatively 

 small flowers. These are of a deep shade of red, with a dis- 

 tinct bluish tinge. The shape is equal to that of the staminate 

 parent, whose influence is also apparent in the foliage. 



If the varieties of 0. floribunda are grown continually in a 

 pot they will blossom twelve months in the year, but in a few 

 years the roots will be so crowded that the flowers will fall off 

 in size, and the plant will probably become infested with red 

 spider. I prefer, therefore, to plant them out in the garden in 

 May, where they will be objects of beauty on every sunny day, 

 growing finer and finer as the. season progresses, getting too 

 large before winter to be covered by a half-bushel measure. 

 At the end of October they should be dug up, the foliage and 

 flowers sheared off close to the stump. As many of the lump- 

 ish branches as are wanted for winter blooming should be 

 broken off and potted singly in five-inch pots. They will strike 

 root and develop leaves and flowers in a very short time,, and, 

 either on brackets or hanging baskets, will give their owner 

 great pleasure until the following May, when they should be 

 planted out. 



If it is desired to keep any of the plants dormant through the 

 winter they may be carried through successfully by packing 

 them in damp moss or earth. 



Canton, Mass. 



W. E. Endicott. 



Cypripedium Fairieanum. 



Cypripedium Fairieanum may be reckoned among the 

 dwarf-growing kinds, its bright green, oblong-acute leaves 

 not being more than three to five inches long, and about an 

 inch broad in the widest portion, while the pale green, slender 

 hairy scapes seldom exceed four to six inches in height and 

 bear a single flower. The latter measures about three inches 

 from the tip of the upper sepal to the point of the slipper, so 

 that it cannot be considered a large flower. But what it lacks 

 in size is made up for in beauty, and this fact is universally 

 acknowledged. The upper sepal is almost oval in outline, 

 with a slightly ciliate wavy margin, the upper portion of which 

 is turned in to the front on each side. The ground color is 

 creamy white, tinged with pale yellowish green at the base, 

 and longitudinally traversed by rich purple stripes, which form 

 a beautiful net-work on each side, giving the plant one of its 

 most charming features. The lower sepal is much smaller, 

 pale green and veined with dark purple. Perhaps one of the 

 best descriptions on record of the petals is that they resemble 

 the horns of a buffalo, being first bent down and then curved 

 upward. They are oblong-acute, and have the wavy margins 

 densely fringed with blackish shining hairs. The surface is 

 pale yellowish white, striped lengthwise with thin purplish 

 lines, which, however, form bands, owing to contiguity, near the 

 margins on the apical portion. The small, neat-looking pouch 

 is pale green washed with brown, and has a few conspicuous 

 dark purple veins, which give off smaller ones on each side, 

 while the creamy white, inflexed basal lobes form a strong 

 relief to the several purple spots with which they are 

 decorated. 



Like C. superbiens, the subject of this note is remarkable 

 inasmuch as its native country is unknown, and is merely con- 

 jectural, notwithstanding that it is stated in the Flore des 

 Serres for 1857 that C. Fairieanum was received from 

 Bhotan. But it has never been found in that region, and 

 all the plants in cultivation have been propagated from 

 the first few plants which reached Europe. This event 

 occurred in 1857, or perhaps earlier, but the first notice 

 of C. Fairieanum was by Sir W. J. Hooker, who received 

 flowers from Mr. Reid, of Burnham, Somerset, and Mr. Parker, 

 of Holloway, and had a figure prepared for the Botanical 

 Magazine (t. 5024). The specific name commemorates Mr. 

 Fairie, of Liverpool, who exhibited the plant at a meeting of 



the Royal Horticultural Society in 1857, when Dr. Lindley 

 named it after him. It has been stated also that C. Fairieanum 

 was supposed to have been sold at the London auction rooms 

 with a miscellaneous collection of Orchids imported from 

 Assam, and it was in this way introduced to cultivation. It is 

 naturally very scarce, and will no doubt require many years 

 of careful propagation to render it in any way a common 

 plant. 



It will be found best to grow this species in a house not too 

 warm nor too cold — in fact, what is technically termed " inter- 

 mediate." The temperature in winter may vary from fifty-five 

 to sixty degrees Fahr., and about ten degrees more in the 

 summer months, gradually raising by a degree or two until 

 the warmest period is reached, and again gradually decreasing 

 as the cold winter months approach. Small, well drained pans 

 which can be suspended near the glass appear to be the most 

 fitting receptacles in which to grow C. Fairieanum, and the 

 compost may consist of rich, rough peat and fresh sphagnum. 

 As to watering and ventilation, the gardener must, of course, 

 exercise his own judgment in these matters, giving greater or 

 less supplies of water according as the plant shows an inclina- 

 tion to grow vigorously or to rest, and air to strengthen the 

 growths when there is no danger of creating any great or 

 sudden fall in the temperature by cold and piercing draughts. 



Isleworth, London. John Weathers. 



The Mignonette Disease. 



T N a large house devoted almost entirely to the growth of 

 A Mignonette I lately observed thousands of plants strug- 

 gling to come into bloom, but lamentably failing because of a 

 fungous parasite which was preying upon them. The whole 

 expanse of Mignonette had a sickly appearance, for the lower 

 leaves were either entirely dead or badly spotted. The Fungus 

 sends its fine threads through the substance of the stem and 

 leaf and shortly they come to the surface in certain places, the 

 green of the normal leaf disappears and soon upon the white 

 spots dark specks are produced. These are due to the forma- 

 tion of multitudes of spores, and as they are carried away by 

 the wind when dry, or by the water when wet, the disease is 

 spread from plant to plant. 



Last year the section of Vegetable Pathology of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington had this disease under in- 

 vestigation, and'the results have recently been published in its 

 annual report with a colored page plate. Therefore, for the 

 Mignonette-growers now sufferingfrom this trouble, some of the 

 facts of that investigation, together with the remedies that 

 proved effective, are heregiven in brief. The Fungus doing the 

 mischief has been known for twenty years or more, and was 

 named Cercospora reseda in 1870. The Cercosporas are, many 

 of them, serious enemies to growing crops, but, as a rule, are 

 within the reach of remedies when taken in season. The 

 Fungus itself is entirely microscopic, and only becomes 

 noticeable when it has killed a portion of the tissue it is feed- 

 ing upon. It, therefore, is not reasonable to hope that any 

 substance can be applied that will restore the lifeless spots of 

 a leaf to health. The chief point is to check the further spread 

 of the disease and permit the dead portions to be superseded 

 by new healthy ones. The spores, for example, are all borne 

 upon short stalks that project from the surface of the diseased 

 parts, and are therefore within easy reach of a fungicide. In 

 like manner these spores must fall and germinate upon the 

 surface of the plant; therefore, the coating over of the surface 

 of diseased and healthy plants at the same time kills the spores 

 before they have become desseminated and destroys others 

 that may have reached the healthy plants and are possibly be- 

 ginning to germinate and penetrate the substance. 



It was found that while the ammoniacal solution of carbonate 

 of copper checked the spread of the disease, the Bordeaux 

 mixture was the most successful. This made in the ordinary 

 way and sprayed upon the bed liberally about once per week 

 saved the plants when they were not so far gone as to appear 

 worthless at the outset. 



Any Mignonette-grower whose plants are suffering from the 

 disease can test the efficacy of the Bordeaux mixture by 

 omitting to spray certain portions of his beds, and in that way 

 be an experimenter for himself. 

 Rutgers College. ■ Byron D. Halsted. 



Acacia pubescens. — This is one of the best of a large genus, 

 and should be grown wherever space can be afforded. It 

 is now in flower at Wellesley College, and in the gardens of 

 Mr. H. H. Hunnewell there are two very large specimens, 

 measuring nearly, if not quite, ten feet in diameter, which will 

 make a magnificent display in about a month, with their long, 



