IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Vol. IV., No. 150. 



latter way of sending the gift is preferable, as it permits the 

 happy recipients of the boxes the additional pleasure of arrang- 

 ing the flowers to their individual taste. 



In plants many sales are reported, a specimen Palm_ placed 

 in an ornamental pot making an admirable gift, and it is natu- 

 rally a much more lasting one than cut flowers could be. 

 Areca lutescens, Livistonia Chinensis and the Kentias are the 

 favorites for this purpose, and are used in all sizes from four- 

 inch pots up. 



Another popular plant is Dractzna fragrans, as_ this also 

 is an admirable house-plant when well grown. Quite a num- 

 ber of young plants of Araucaria excelsa, from one to three 

 feet in height and grown in six or eight-inch pots, have been 

 sold during the present season, and charming miniature trees 

 they are too, their light green color giving a very pleasing 

 effect in house decoration. Some early-flowered Azaleas, 

 mostly white, are also among the available plants for Christ- 

 mas and New Year gifts, and nicely shaped little standards in 

 six or eight-inch pots seem doubly attractive so early in the 



Holmes'burg, Pa. W - H - Taplin. 



Winter in Los Angeles. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Lovers of fruit and flowers find much to enjoy in this 

 favored locality. On my arrival here, November 1st, Muscat 

 grapes were abundant. The season for these is now over, and 

 the market is supplied with three or four varieties of excellent 

 quality from localities further north. On the first of Novem- 

 ber a limited quantity of second-crop blackberries and rasp- 

 berries were seen, with a moderate supply of strawberries, 

 which, though not equal to those grown in the east, are ex- 

 ceedingly enjoyable at this season of the year. 



Among the fruits which are in season at Christmas-time here 

 are strawberries, fresh figs, guavas, Japanese persimmons, 

 oranges, lemons, limes, apples and pears. Oranges will not 

 be at their best before February. 



This morning I gathered fairly good flowers of Nymphaa Zan- 

 zibarensis and JV. azureaf rom my garden and find in bloom Roses, 

 Heliotropes, Geraniums, Jasminum grandiforum, Plumbago 

 Capensis audits white variety, Tecoma Capensis , Dahlia arbor ea, 

 Hibiscus Sinensis, with Ageratums, Abutilons, Fuchsias and 

 Vidlets. Poinsettias are a blaze of scarlet. In the garden of 

 Mr. J. C. Harvey, an enthusiastic amateur, is a mass of these 

 flowers eight feet high and ten feet through. In another gar- 

 den I measured one head which was eighteen inches in 

 diameter. In the garden of Judge Charles Silent is a plant of 

 Bignonia venusta, covering a space ten by thirty feet, which is 

 now a mass of glowing deep orange color. A somewhat rare 

 plant in cultivation here is Solanum Wendlandii, a climber 

 with lovely blue flowers two inches in diameter, in clusters 

 six or eight inches across. A fence about fifty feet long covered 

 from one end to the other with this vine is a charming sight. 

 In the country the farmers are busy with the plow, and the 

 fields are green with springing grass and new sown grain. The 

 season for abundant wild flowers has not yet arrived, though in 

 the foot-hills there still remain a few composites and a remnant 

 of the scarlet Zauschneria Californica. In one of my rambles 

 I found the dead stalks of Delphinium nudicaule, six feet high, 

 which must have been a fine sight when in bloom. 



Los Angeles, Cal. E. D. Sturtevailt. 



Cypripedium spectabile from Seed. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In your issue of November 26th there is an interesting 

 note from Mr. Hill, of Fairview, West Virginia, about Cypri- 

 pedium spectabile, in which he notes as one of the probable 

 causes of its being rarely seen in cultivation that it rarely bears 

 fertile seed. On this point perhaps my experience with the 

 same plant would be interesting to those who enjoy the culti- 

 vation of our wild flowers. 



A few years ago I had in my garden quite a number of these 

 Cypripediums which I had gathered in the woods and trans- 

 planted, and which seemed to be well suited with their new 

 home, for many of them grew to be larger plants and flowered 

 better than those I have generally found growing wild. The 

 growth was very strong, and many of the plants bore two 

 blossoms on their spikes. Some of the blossoms of the 

 stronger plants I fertilized, and they produced good seed-pods, 

 which, when ripe and just bursting, I took off and scattered 

 their seeds over the bed where the plants were growing. 



This planting was done late in the fall, of course, and for the 

 winter a light covering of leaves gathered from the lawn was 

 put over the whole bed. Most of the covering was taken off 

 again in the spring, and the bed was left without disturbance 

 beyond the keeping out of weeds, which were pulled up while 

 yet small. 



During the season following this first planting I was not 

 positive that any seeds had started, and more blossoms were 

 fertilized and more seeds sown as before, and in the second 

 season after the first planting I was assured that I had seed- 

 lings growing, and had, moreover, two sizes of young plants, 

 the larger being those of the first fall's sowing, which I had not 

 been able to recognize the summer before, and the smaller 

 ones plants that I now knew to be seedlings in their first 

 year. 



In this manner I was getting quite a number of seedlings, 

 when, unfortunately, a change of residence obliged me to 

 move my bed of these plants, and all were lost. The care that 

 I had given to these seedlings was very slight, and probably 

 many were lost in pulling out the weeds, and yet I had more . 

 than a dozen of them in the second year after sowing ; and I 

 am quite sure that with good care and in a good location this 

 plant could be multiplied very rapidly from seed. 



Chicago, ill. F. J. Le Moyne. 



Periodical Literature. 



The most interesting article for American readers in the 

 December issue of the Kew Bulletin of Misccllatteous Infor- 

 mation is devoted to an account of the production of prunes 

 in the south of France. The prune industry of California is 

 developing enormously, and all that is required now to give 

 California prunes a commanding position in the markets of 

 the world is the adoption of the careful methods by which the 

 French have gained their well deserved reputation in such 

 matters. In this connection the following extracts from the 

 Bulletin will be read, perhaps, with- interest. They are from 

 the pen of Mr. M. W. Colchester-Wemyss, who has studied 

 with extreme care the prune industry of southern France with 

 a view of ascertaining the possibility of starting a similar, 

 industry in England. 



"About sixty miles above Bordeaux there falls into the 

 Garonne a fine river which, taking its rise among the moun- 

 tains of Cevennes, follows a course of some 150 miles, until 

 its junction with the Garonne. This river is called the Lot, 

 and the two rivers together confer the name on the Depart- 

 ment known as Lot and Garonne. For several miles along 

 the lower reaches of the Lot, and in the country immediately 

 adjacent to the spot where it enters the Garonne, is produced 

 the fruit known, when it has been specially prepared, as 

 ' French plums.' For over 100 years the industry has been 

 fixed in this locality, and still, with the sole exception of a val- 

 ley in Servia, there is no other place where the same trees are 

 cultivated. The tree is called ' Prunier d'ente.' ' Enter ' is an 

 old French word meaning to graft, and it is simply so called 

 because this particular species was formerly the only plum in 

 this district that ever was grafted. Now there are, practically, 

 no plums other than the ' Prunes d'ente' grown, in the neigh- 

 borhood. Higher up the Garonne, round the old town of 

 Agen and in other parts of southern France, another plum, 

 the 'Prunier commun,' is largely grown, and its fruit treated 

 similarly to that of the ' Prunier d'ente,' but the produce is very 

 inferior and only suitable for stewing ; but I believe that 

 nowhere except in the Servian Valley is the true ' Prune 

 d'ente ' at present grown ; and though many experiments 

 have been made with other varieties, no others have yet been 

 discovered that will yield the established qualities of the 

 ' French plums.' It is rather capricious in its growth, for its 

 area of cultivation does not extend very far from the river 

 bank. It appears to delight in a rich alluvial soil of a rather 

 sandy nature, but which contains a sufficiency of clay to make 

 it very retentive of moisture. The centre of the ' French plum ' 

 district may be said to be at Clairac, a quaint little old-fash- 

 ioned town built on a steep hill-side overlooking the Lot, 

 almost more Spanish looking than French, its houses shaded 

 from the fierce southern sun with wide outspreading eaves 

 and flower-clad balconies. 



" In this and the neighboring communes the metayer sys- 

 tem is in full operation, and it appears to work well and har- 

 moniously. The owner of the land engages the metayer and 

 supplies all the implements and stock required for the hold- 

 ing ; he also keeps the buildings in repair, including the house 

 used by the metayer. The latter finds the whole of the labor 

 except such extra labor as is needed during harvest-time. The 



