March 4, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



103 



tubers of these beautiful Cape Disas cannot, unfortunately, be 

 gathered except when the plants are in flower, and conse- 

 quently before they are anything' like mature. To lift any 

 plant, even a Tulip or Hyacinth, when in flower, and at once 

 dry it, would be to run the risk of losing- it altogether, but in 

 the case of such delicate plants as these tuberous-rooted 

 Orchids the chances are a hundred to one against their re- 

 covering. 



Angr.ecum fragrans is attracting some attention now, a 

 figure of it having been prepared for the Botanical Magazine 

 from a plant in flower at Kew, and an account of its economic 

 value will shortly appear in the Keiv Bulletin. The leaves of 

 this species are made into tea in the Island of Bourbon, where 

 the plant is a native, and sold in Paris in boxes containing suf- 

 ficient for thirty cups, at if. 25c. per box. Cigars are also 

 made from the leaves in Mauritius. There are remarkably 

 few Orchids of any economic value, the most important being 

 Vanilla. The Angrcecum is scarcely likely to become of much 

 value commercially, as the plant is small and difficult to 

 cultivate. It may be called a large edition of A. {Mystaci- 

 diuni) fiilicorne, the stems being short, the leaves oblong, three 

 inches long, and the flowers in small racemes, each being an 

 inch across, pure white and fragrant. The leaves when dry 

 have an odor of vanilla. 



London. W. Watson. 



is probably of like origin ; and yet, so far as I can decide, after 

 a dozen years' trial, it is as hardy as Oldenburgh. 



In growing seedlings with the hope of getting valuable mar- 

 ket varieties of tree-fruits, adapted to our northern tier of 

 states and the Canadian provinces, many more failures than 

 successes are sure to be encountered, for we want not merely 

 hardy trees, but meritorious fruits. Yet the mere obtaining 

 of an iron-clad tree is something. Six or seven years ago I 

 had sent to me fifty Pear-seedlings, grown from seeds of stand- 

 ard varieties of the hardier class, such as succeed on the 

 Champlain Islands, near the Canada line. These seedlings 

 were set out in a nursery row, with the object of budding 

 upon them some of the iron-clad Russian Pears. They were 

 left standing three or four years before budding ; and each 

 winter all but one of them were killed to the snow line. 

 When the others were budded, close to the ground, with the 

 Bessemianka Pear (which seems to be the hardiest of the Rus- 

 sians), this uninjured seedling was left ; and two years later it 

 was, with the budded Russians, transplanted into the orchard. 

 It has now passed through several of the hardest winters on 

 record in north-eastern Vermont without the slightest injury, 

 growing strongly each season from its terminal buds ; and it 

 is now as sound and healthy as the Russians in the same row. 

 The chances are, of course, that it will not produce a valuable 

 fruit, but, waiting for a test of that, I still value it, and take 



Fig. 21. — An Insect Pest (Isosoma orchiJearum) — See page 99. 



1. Infested bud or pseudo-bulb, abnormally swollen. 2. Section of bud showing cavities made by larva-. 3. Old pseudo-bulb showing holes where Hies have escaped. 



4. Perfect insect, female (magnified). 5. Antenna of female (magnified). 6. Pupa (magnified). 7. Larva (magnified). 



8. Abdomen of female showing ovipositor (a) and free part of sheaths (b) as they appear when drawn from their closely fitting place on the abdomen magnified). 



Cultural Department. 



Iron-clad Seedlings. 



WHILE there can be no question of the fact that the impor- 

 tation of varieties of fruit-trees from north-eastern Europe 

 has been of advantage to the orchard-growers of the cold north, 

 and has given them courage to persevere in their efforts to 

 produce a supply of home-grown tree-fruits, it ought not 

 to be forgotten that some of our most valuable iron-clads are 

 native seedlings. Among these a certain number have sprung 

 irom these foreign varieties, and I have no doubt that many 

 more valuable sorts will be thus produced. The Wealthy, for 

 instance, is supposed to be a Siberian Crab seedling — perhaps, 

 and even probably, crossed from the Fameuse. But the 

 equally hardy Scott's Winter, which stands the cold and dry 

 climate of Iowa and southern Minnesota rather better than the 

 Wealthy, is unquestionably a pure product from our common 

 apples of New England. McMahon's White, from Wisconsin, 



pleasure in calling attention to it, as showing that iron-clad 

 seedlings can be grown from the older race of Pears — none of 

 which is iron-clad. 



Appeals are frequently made to fruit-growers in the cold north 

 to grow seedlings, and allow them to bear before grafting them. 

 But it is a heavier task than many can be induced to attempt. 

 Of a thousand such seedlings there is hardly a chance that 

 more than half a dozen will be really iron-clad, and of such a 

 possible half-dozen how many could we reasonably hope to 

 bear valuable fruit ? Maine is a state of seedling orchards, and 

 has been so for a hundred years, yet Maine has not, among 

 many excellent summer, fall and early winter apples, brought 

 out a single long keeper of noticeable merit. Her commercial 

 orchards are all planted with varieties originating outside of 

 her boundaries. It is probably true that no expert has made a 

 business of examining the seedling orchards of Maine with a 

 view to the discovery of valuable kinds. If my own experience 

 is any criterion, I should say that it would be very desirable to 

 have such a search instituted either bv the State Pomolog^ical 



