20 



Garden and Forest. 



[Vol. IV., No. 151. 



Notes from Wellesley. 



Reinwardtia trigynia and R. tetragynia are old-fashioned 

 winter-rlowering - greenhouse plants now blooming here which 

 deserve more general cultivation. They belong to the Flax 

 family, and are nearly related to the typical genus Linum, to 

 which they have sometimes been referred. Their habit is semi- 

 shrubby, flower clear yellow ; and although the petals are 

 fugacious the flowers are produced in such abundance as to 

 remain showy for five to six weeks during December and 

 January. Old plants may be divided yearly, but cuttings taken 

 from non-flowering shoots make neater plants. 



Streptosolon Jamesonii, the handsome greenhouse ever- 

 green, is the only species of the genus, and was sent out as 

 Browallia Jamesonii many years ago. It is still a compara- 

 tively uncommon plant. I have grown it for two years, and 

 had almost come to the conclusion that it had little to recom- 

 mend it, until recently I saw two fine trained standards in 

 a neighboring greenhouse. I had grown mine planted out, 

 and so treated they made coarse, rambling plants which 

 never flowered well ; but treated as standards, continuously 

 in pots, the growths are shorter, they can be better ripened, 

 and the beauty of the plant is increased by their taking a grace- 

 ful, weeping habit. The flowers are orange yellow, borne in 

 elegant panicles at the ends of the branches, and they last for 

 a long time. Propagation is by cuttings in early spring ; they 

 root easily. This plant requires a good rich loam and abun- 

 dance of water during the growing and blooming season. 



Daphne hidica is not so frequently met with as it should be. 

 It is almost indispensable in any conservatory for the odor of its 

 flowers. Although having handsome bright green foliage it is 

 an ungainly plant no matter how it is grown, but wherever the 

 flowers are, in view or out of sight, their presence will be felt. 

 It is propagated by cuttings or grafting. Cuttings of half ripened 

 growths taken off with a heel and inserted in sand without 

 bottom heat are pretty sure to root, although they may take 

 two months to do it. 



Clematis indivisa is a rare and pretty white flowering green- 

 house climber from New Zealand. Mr. Harris has trained it 

 to the roof of the Odontoglossum-house, in company with 

 Lapagerias, which position seems to suit it exactly. Though 

 not so handsome as many of the summer-blooming species of 

 the northern hemisphere, it is yet a very interesting plant. 



Lachenalias are not now required to fill the position they 

 once did. They are remnants of the time when it was cus- 

 tomary in all large places to have a house for South African 

 plants alone, from whence they come. They are still grown 

 because of a dislike to discard anything really s^ood. The 

 genus is here represented by two of the best, L. tricolor, and 

 its variety, Nelsoni, the latter raised by the late Mr. Nelson, of 

 Alborough, England, an amateur who made a specialty of 

 these charming bulbous plants. In appearance they some- 

 what resemble a Squill, with mottled leaves and pendant 

 waxy bells of yellow, red and green in mixture. It will not do 

 to force them; their growth is slow, beginning about Septem- 

 ber, the blooming season in a cool greenhouse being Feb- 

 ruary. In England, Mr. Ingram, of Belvior Castle, uses the 

 common L. tricolor for bedding purposes, keeping the plants 

 over winter in a cool frame, where their blooming season is 

 retarded until March and April. They increase freely by 

 bulblets produced naturally, and blooming the second year. 



Wellesley, Mass. H. G. 



Work of the Season. 



'THE great variety of work now pressing in the many depart- 

 *■ ments of the garden makes this one of the most interesting 

 periods of the year to the in-door cultivator. Among the ten- 

 der-foliaged plants, such as Marantas, Dieffenbachias, Aloca- 

 sias, Begonias, and others of like character, the increasing 

 power of the sun will be felt, and light shading will be found 

 necessary, though this should be applied with judgment, as 

 over-shading is fully as injurious to most plants as is the other 

 extreme. The use of one of the many different shading ma- 

 terials, such as muslin, burlap or other cloth, or that formed 

 of light wooden strips linked together so that it can be rolled 

 up in cloudy weather, is undoubtedly the best system of shad- 

 ing, but as such appliances add considerably to the running 

 expenses of a place, they are frequently supplanted by cheaper 

 devices, and among these naphtha and white lead, mixed to 

 about the consistency of milk, and applied either with a brush 

 or syringe, is one of the most serviceable. Even whitewash 

 will give good results, except for the fact that it removes the 

 paint from the wood-work wherever it is applied. In the 

 Palm-houses little or no shading is required so early in the 



season, except for some of the soft-leaved species, such as- 

 Calamus, Verschaffeltia, and most of the Geonomas. 



If one could only secure perfect glass for glazing the houses 

 there would be less need for early shading, but one imperfect 

 square of glass may ruin several fine plants in a few hours, 

 and it is therefore best to be on the safe side. And speaking- 

 of glass brings to mind the fact that some of the large Rose- 

 growers are now using second quality of French glass in 

 preference to first quality American glass, 'on the ground that 

 there are fewer imperfections in the French glass and conse- 

 quently less injury is done to the foliage beneath it, while the 

 cost of the two qualities quoted is about the same. 



Where the early forcing of flowering plants is practiced this 

 operation will now be under full headway, and it will be neces- 

 sary to give proper attention to every detail. With Lily-of-the- 

 Valley one of the necessary conditions for successful early 

 forcing is to allow the pips to freeze thoroughly before they 

 are brought into heat. This fact is so well recognized by large 

 commercial growers that they secure this condition by means 

 of cold storage houses ; this arrangement, though costly, ren- 

 dering them independent of the weather. 



For Tulips, Narcissus, Hyacinths and other Dutch bulbs the 

 freezing process is not essential, and as these may be brought 

 into flower with moderate heat they are naturally among the 

 most popular and satisfactory plants with amateur cultivators. 



A succession of Lilium Harrisii and L. longiflorum should 

 be arranged, as the former may be had in flower by Thanks- 

 giving-day, and by successive lots a supply may be kept up 

 until spring. L. longiflorum will not force as early as L. Har- 

 risii, but from the latter part of February or beginning of 

 March and onward this exquisite Lily may be enjoyed in all its- 

 pure-tinted loveliness. 



Other easily forced spring flowers are the Indian Aza- 

 leas, among which the old Fielder's White and also Alba 

 are of the easiest to manage, though Deutsche Perle and 

 Flag of Truce may also be brought in early, and are far supe- 

 rior in flower to the first named. Among the host of colored 

 Azaleas, Madame Vander Cruyssen is by far the best for early 

 work, while Charmer, a large-flowered, dark pink variety, is- 

 also good, but is not quite as shapely a grower as Madame 

 Vander Cruyssen. 



Some Genistas will also be brought in from the cold-house 

 from time to time in order to continue a supply of their graceful 

 racemes of bright yellow, and it is well to remember also that 

 the present is a good time to put in cuttings of these useful 

 plants, in order to secure strong, stocky young plants for next 

 winter. Rose-cuttings, and also those of Carnations, Bou- 

 vardias and similar stock for next season, should now be pro- 

 vided, while the time for sowing seeds of a multitude of 

 plants for summer bedding is at hand. The usual complaint 

 at this time is lack of space for some of these very necessary 

 operations, but it should be borne in mind that drawn up 

 seedlings seldom make satisfactory plants, and it is therefore 

 wisest to limit the varieties in accordance with the space at 

 command. If Ferns are grown this is also a good season in 

 which to sow spores, from the fact that the growing season for 

 most of the exotic species is now about to begin, and in fact in 

 many cases has already begun, and seedlings started now 

 usually make more progress than when sown later. 



Holmesburg, Pa _■ W. H. Taplill. 



Orchid Notes. 



Ccelogyne cristata. — This is an old favorite with Orchid-grow- 

 ers, and it makes a host of new friends for itself every year. 

 It is very beautiful at this season, the graceful racemes of pure 

 white flowers, with conspicuous marking of yellow in the lip, 

 being produced in great profusion from the base of the most 

 recent pseudo-bulbs. Where there are a number of plants a 

 succession of bloom may be maintained from the middle of 

 December to the latter end of February by confining to a lower 

 temperature those whose flowering it is desirable to retard. They 

 may be returned to the normal conditions as occasion demands. 

 The plant loses somewhat in some hands by being too severely 

 dried off after the growing season. During the blooming- 

 period it is far from uncommon to see the flowers associated 

 with pseudo-bulbs much shrunk and withered, and leaves of 

 unhealthy hue. It is true that a smaller quantity of water is 

 demanded when the growth has been perfected, but the 

 supply should not be withheld so far as to cause this 

 condition. There is nothing to be gained by this rigorous 

 treatment. The flowers appear just as freely in the company 

 of plump pseudo-bulbs and rich green leaves, and, as a 

 matter of course, the plants are then much more pleasing" 

 to the eye. 



