February 4, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



57 



in any but botanical gardens. Those who visit such institu- 

 tions during its dowering season agree in praising it, and they 

 usually note the name with the intention of securing a speci- 

 men. But the venders of plants seldom keep it, and the 

 search for it ends with the first disappointment. It is a plant 

 of neat, bushy growth, with dark green lanceolate leaves. The 

 bell-shaped flowers are over an inch in length and three- 

 fourths of an inch in width at the mouth. They are of a pleas- 

 ing lavender shade, and appear very freely in winter. This 

 plant was formerly known as Goldfussia isophylla, and it is 

 also occasionally referred to under the generic name, Ruellia, 

 an allied genus. 



These three plants can be grown to full perfection very 

 readily — a quality which renders them fit subjects for ama- 

 teurs — and the directions for the propagation and culture of 

 one will suffice for all. It is advisable to propagate annually 

 in order to obtain the most decorative specimens. The tips of 

 the young branches, in the form of cuttings, root quickly in 

 heat at any season of the year. But it is best to propagate in 

 spring, so that the plants may have a proper season of growth 

 previous to the flowering period. Transfer the plants to pots 

 singly when thoroughly rooted ; grow them on in pots until 

 the weather becomes sufficiently warm to permit of their being 

 hardened off, and plant them in the open garden early in June. 

 With a free supply of water during prolonged terms of 

 drought they will thrive luxuriantly in ordinary garden soil. 

 They must, however, be taken up not later than the latter part 

 of August and potted, using a compost of rich loam and leaf- 

 mould, with a small percentage of sand. They may remain 

 outside, taking care to give them a shady position and plenty 

 of water for a few days after potting, until about the middle 

 of September, when they should be placed in a cool green- 

 house. Increase the temperature of the house gradually as 

 the weather grows colder, until it reaches the intermediate 

 limit, and maintain a tolerably dry atmosphere when the plants 

 are in bloom. 



Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



New Hardy Herbaceous Plants.— Of late some splendid 

 novelties in this class of plants of Asiatic origin have been 

 added to my collection. Amebia macrothyrsa much resembles 

 A. echioides, but the individual flowers as well as the cluster 

 (thyrsus) are much larger, the latter having often a diameter of 

 nearly a foot and consisting of some forty golden yellow 

 flowers. Onosma albo-roseum, a low herb with numerous 

 gray, hairy, lanceolate leaves and hundreds of bell-shaped 

 flowers, is a very striking plant. The flowers resemble those 

 of a Corea or a Brocliaa coccinea, and when opening are white, 

 changing through every shade of rose and red to become 

 finally blood-red. Papaver glaiicum is also a splendid novelty, 

 bearing numerous large flowers of a dazzling crimson, the 

 sepals forming a regular pouch, which only opens in bright 

 sunshine. Another Poppy not yet named has numerous com- 

 paratively small minium-red flowers, which are remarkable 

 because some twenty-five of them are united in an umbel. Tchi- 

 hatchefia isatidea is a plant whose flower-spike rises from a 

 rosette of hairy, dark green leaves, and shows a compact spike 

 thickly set with numerous purple flowers. Some showy 

 species among hardy bulbous plants are growing here, but of 

 these I must report when more ample material is before me. 



Baden-Baden. Max Leichtlin. 



Chrysanthemums. — Success with these flowers depends upon 

 care given to the stock-plants during winter as much as upon 

 after-treatment. It is essential that cuttings should have a 

 good constitution to start with. Last year- 1 kept my stock- 

 plants in the Violet pit, and was convinced that a light, airy, 

 dry and cool place just suited them. This year I am growing 

 Carnations in the Violet pit, which requires to be kept at a 

 temperature too high for Chrysanthemums. I had perforce to 

 prepare fresh quarters, and this I did-by partitioning off a part 

 of a deep pit and putting a false bottom in it, which I barely 

 kept frost-proof. The plants made no growth until I took 

 them into the greenhouse about a fortnight ago. I can now 

 get good, strong, healthy cuttings, the rest apparently having 

 imparted vigor to them. The plants are rooted with a little 

 bottom heat, although this is not essential ; but cool air over- 

 head is important, so that a drawn or unnatural growth is pre- 

 vented. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H. 



Nematodes Attacking Bouvardias. — Spots of a dead brown are 

 developing on the leaves of Bouvardias in the greenhouses 

 near New York, and these are followed by a wiltingand droop- 

 ing of the whole plant. Microscopic examination of these 



lifeless spots reveals no Fungus, but multitudes of minute 

 worms. In one greenhouse examined I observed that the 

 white sorts of Bouvardias had escaped entirely, while the pink 

 varieties growing with them were badly affected. This may 

 be only accidental, that is, not a peculiarity of the varieties, 

 but due possibly to the fact that the white sorts came from 

 one soil and the pink ones from another. Coleus plants were 

 usually associated with the Bouvardias examined. The leaves 

 of these were also blotched, and in the browned spots nema- 

 todes were abundant. The fact that the Coleus is subject to 

 attacks from these eel-worms was stated in Garden and 

 Forest some months ago, but I have not seen the Bouvardia 

 mentioned among the list of plants infested by them. 

 Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Correspondence. 



Notes from Brookline. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In going through greenhouses attached to old places 

 around Boston.it is interesting to note the large number of tender 

 and half-hardy specimens of evergreen plants stored away for 

 use in the summer on lawns and in flower-gardens and other 

 appropriate places. During a recent visit to the greenhouses 

 of J. L. Gardiner, Esq., among plants kept for such purposes I 

 noted fine examples of Myrtus Ugni, the variegated Eurya 

 Japonica latifolia and Coprosma Baueriana, Fictcs acicminata, 

 together with Grevilleas, and some of the hardier Palms, like 

 Phoenix reclinata, Livistona humilis and Chamcerops excelsa. 

 Stored away in pits, or what might be termed sunken green- 

 houses, were found plants which are hardy in England and 

 the south of Europe, such as Hollies, Japanese Evonymus, 

 Caucasus Laurels, Portugal Laurels and Yews. These pits are 

 also used for storing Indian Azaleas, Cytisus, Boronias, and 

 many other hard-wooded plants. As the conditions of tem- 

 perature are nearly uniform, there is very little to excite the 

 plants into growth before spring, and for this reason they are 

 much better adapted to this purpose than structures above 

 ground. It was gratifying to note some uncommon hard- 

 wooded plants for the culture of which Mr. Atkinson has a 

 well-deserved reputation. Although it is generally conceded 

 that Heaths will not endure our dry and torrid summers, yet 

 here we find excellent home-propagated and home-grown 

 plants of Erica hyemalis, E. Wilmoriana, E. melanthera, and 

 the easier grown, yet elegant, E. gracilis and E. codonoides. 



Special attention has lately been paid to Boronia megastigma, 

 which forms an elegant little bush, although it is chiefly valued 

 on account of the agreeable perfume of the flowers. Last season 

 Mr. Atkinson planted them out, and for this purpose a number 

 were cut back rather severely. They made strong, clean 

 growths, far healthier than those kept in pots, and now are 

 blooming equally well. B. heterophylla is probably a little 

 more attractive than the preceding, but as it possesses scarcely 

 any perfume, it is not so desirable. 



Eriostemons are Australian plants which have been grown 

 here many years and deserve more general culture. There 

 are several species in gardens, all making neat bushes, and 

 flowering freely with ordinary attention in a cool-house during 

 winter. The flowers are borne solitary, as in E. buxifolium, 

 or in twos or threes in the axils of the leaves, as in E. myro'- 

 poroides, which is the species here grown. They are pink or 

 white in color, with a profusion of stamens and unanthered 

 filaments, giving the flowers a tassel-like appearance. These 

 plants are grown in a composition of peat and loam in pots, 

 well drained. During summer they are placed in a somewhat 

 shady place until autumn, when they are removed to one more 

 sunny in order to get the growth ripe and buds well set. 



The advent of the beautiful hybrid Hippeastrums several 

 years ago has not altogether displaced the humbler, yet lovely, 

 Vallotas and Nerines. I noted in a cool-house another and 

 uncommon South African bulbous plant, Veltheimia viridi- 

 flora, having dense spikes, about one foot high, of small, 

 tubular, red, yellow and green flowers. 



The roof of the Water Lily house is covered with some 

 interesting and beautiful climbers, two of which are Ameri- 

 can plants. The Cherokee Rose is not yet in flower, 

 although the buds were visible all over the roof. The roots 

 are outside, the plant being trained through the wall. In 

 bloom now, also, is Gelsimium sempervirens. This is a lovely, 

 sweet-scented climber — the Yellow Jasmine of the South— 

 and one which ought to be grown wherever a suitable position 

 can be found for it. The flowers are sulphur yellow, funnel- 

 shaped, about one inch long and half an inch in diameter, 

 borne on short pedicels, two to three in the axils of theleaves^ 



