April i, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



155 



hottest weather ; more exposure to sun-heat is given toward fall, 

 in order to get the flowering shoots well ripened. 



Mr. Kidder's well-known specimen of Cypripedium insigne 

 is a grand sight when furnished with about 100 blooms. It has 

 been exhibited in Horticultural Hall, in Boston, with no 

 blooms. It is' planted in the form of a semi-globe, measuring 

 four feet six inches over its semi-circumference, and is very 

 even in growth. C. villosum is represented here by a fine 

 specimen in a twelve-inch pan, carrying thirty flowers. This 

 is a robust and very satisfactory species to grow ; very hand- 

 some and distinct, and a peculiar waxy lustre pervades the 

 whole flower. This, with C. barbatum, has been the parent of 

 many handsome hybrids. 



C. callosum, a recent introduction, very much resembled a 

 fine specimen of C. barbatum Warneri, flowering near by. On 

 comparison the latter seems the handsomer — the dorsal sepal 

 is larger, the violet striping is lighter, and a still further dis- 

 tinctive feature is a rainbow band of mauve separating the 

 green from the white portion of the sepal. 



C. hirsutissimum, apart from the growth of short hairs, 

 which covers the flower as well as other parts of the plant, 

 shows no striking peculiarity either in form or in coloring. 

 Both the dorsal sepal and pouch are a dull reddish brown, 

 the petals being the most conspicuous part of the flower. 

 They are long, measuring in this case over five inches 

 across, wavy at the base, with a band of mauve running 



longitudinally. 



H. G. 



Wellesley. 



Recent Publications. 



Les Plantes Potageres ; Description et Culture des Principaux 

 Legumes des Climats Temperes, par Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie. 

 Deuxieme edition. Paris, 1891, pp. 1-730. 



French horticulture is supreme certainly in the vegetable 

 garden ; and vegetables are better grown and better marketed 

 in France than elsewhere, and better cooked, we can say in 

 passing without fear of contradiction ; and the reader, there- 

 fore, anxious to inform himself of all that is new in the way of 

 garden vegetables and their cultivation, and of the salad plants, 

 of which the French make so much account and the rest of the 

 world make so little, will naturally turn for information to the 

 writings of French horticulturists on the subject. The work 

 whose title is printed above and which has just been reissued 

 in a new and considerably enlarged edition will first attract his 

 attention, for although it bears on the title-page as author the 

 name of the commercial firm which for a hundred and fifty 

 years has been prominent in European horticulture, it is really 

 from the pen of the senior member of this firm, the President 

 of the Botanical Society of France, the Secretary of the French 

 Agricultural Society and a recognized authority on the subject 

 of which this volume treats. 



It is only eight years since the first edition of this work was 

 published, but so great have been the additions to the number 

 of varieties of useful vegetables which have appeared lately 

 that a second edition became necessary if the work was to 

 retain its value as a manual of the subject. Frequent and 

 rapid modifications are inevitable in the case of a work treat- 

 ing of cultivated plants, especially leguminous plants which, 

 as they appear in the vegetable garden, are mostly annuals or 

 biennials — that is, plants in which generations succeed each 

 other rapidly, displaying new characters which often become 

 fixed into new varieties. There is hardly a year, therefore, 

 perhaps hardly a day, in which some new vegetable form does 

 not appear in the gardens of the world, forms which are often 

 susceptible of being made permanent, and sometimes worthy 

 of being preserved. The reproach is often laid at the door of 

 horticulturists in general, 'and of seedsmen in particular, that 

 they insert in their catalogues too large a number of varieties 

 of the same plant. It should be remembered, however, when 

 this reproach is made, that horticulture to-day is incompara- 

 bly more specialized than it was twenty years ago. Even then 

 there were excellent reasons in favor of the multiplication of 

 races, the special tools provided for different horticultural 

 operations. Such reasons are much stronger to-day than they 

 were at that time. Besides the differences of form, of color 

 and of taste which often make the special value of a race of 

 vegetables, their variation with regard to more or less abun- 

 dant production, to earliness or lateness in maturing, and to 

 the greater or longer time any crop can be prolonged, offer 

 economic questions which must have a great influence in 

 deciding favorably or otherwise the claims of each particular 

 race of such plants. It will be acknowledged, of course, that 

 it is a matter of capital importance for a market gardener to 

 sell his crop of any given vegetable at the exact time when the 

 price is the most advantageous for him. This makes it de- 



sirable to develop and fix races having the power to mature 

 early and to mature the whole crop simultaneously, thus leav- 

 ing the ground free for a succeeding crop of another character. 

 This is demanded in modern market-garden practice, which 

 must allow products to be sent for a long distance to the cen- 

 tres of consumption, thus placing in competition various cli- 

 mates and leaving to each a short time in which to perfect 

 under the best conditions its special products. 



It is interesting to note that a large number of recent 

 additions to the list of vegetables cultivated in France 

 have been obtained from North America, especially potatoes, 

 beans, corn, squashes and tomatoes. These last, which, 

 twenty years ago, were practically unknown to the French 

 public in general, have now become one of the most popular 

 vegetables in France, and are sold in the streets of the principal 

 cities every autumn, in immense quantities and of excellent 

 quality. 



Monsieur Vilmorin finds that "the Americans bring to 

 their horticultural operations the alert and practical spirit 

 which characterizes all their enterprises, and apply themselves 

 at once to create, in each centre of production, the races 

 best adapted for the end they have in view, and for local 

 conditions." 



A word as to the form in which this work is cast will, 

 perhaps, best indicate its scope and value. It includes plants 

 which are usually cultivated in the temperate parts of the 

 world, to be eaten in a fresh state, and also those which serve 

 as seasoning, and includes a good many which have now 

 disappeared from the vegetable garden, but which are men- 

 tioned as vegetables in some of the old books of horticulture. 

 It should be mentioned, perhaps, that some plants which are 

 not considered vegetables in this country, such as Strawberries 

 and Melons, find their place here also. Each article devoted 

 to one or several allied plants, cultivated as vegetables, begins 

 with the botanical name applicable to all the plants grouped 

 together in the article ; that is, the name which designates the 

 genus and species to which all the forms, more or less 

 modified by cultivation, can be referred. The races of peas, 

 for example, however numerous they may be, appear under 

 the general name of Pisum sativum, Linnaeus. All the races 

 of beets under the general name of Beta vulgaris, Linnaeus, 

 etc. In this connection Monsieur Vilmorin remarks that " the 

 fixity of the species, whatever its absolute value may be con- 

 sidered in the system- of creation, is very remarkable and 

 worthy of admiration, regarded only from the point of view 

 of the period through which human investigations extend. 

 Species cultivated since the earliest historic times, and exposed 

 to all the modifying influences which might be expected to 

 follow in the case of plants raised, generation after generation, 

 from seed, in spite of their removal from one country to 

 another, and the alteration in the character of their surround- 

 ings, preserve their distinct existence, and, although assuming 

 continually new forms, never pass the limits which separate 

 them from allied species." 



After the generic name the vernacular names appear under 

 which the plant or group of plants is known in France and in 

 England, Germany, Spain and Italy, and, sometimes, also in 

 Portugal and Holland. This is followed by a short historical 

 account of the plant and the name of its native country, etc., as 

 far as it is known ; then the character of the plant, that is, whether 

 it is annual, biennial, or perennial. This is followed by a de- 

 scription of the species, directions for its cultivation in the 

 climate of Paris, and the manner in which it is used. After 

 this comes a more detailed description of each variety with 

 its synonyms, each variety being illustrated by a small wood- 

 cut in the text. As an example, the Egg-plant may be taken. 

 This appears as Aubergine, the Solarium Melongena, Linnaeus, 

 or Solatium esculentum of Dunal, of the family of the 

 Solanacece. Fifteen French synonyms for Aubergine are 

 given, arranged alphabetically in a paragraph by themselves. 

 This is followed by another paragraph, giving the English, 

 German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese names. 

 After them appears the word " annuelle," showing that the 

 plant is an annual, the remainder of the paragraph being 

 devoted to a description of the wild type, followed by the 

 statement that there are 250 seeds in a gramme, weighing 

 500 grammes to the litre, and that the germinating power of 

 the seed will last for six or seven years. The next paragraph 

 is devoted to instruction upon the cultivation of the Egg-plant, 

 and this is followed by a paragraph upon the uses of the 

 fruit, all this making an introduction to the account of the 

 ten varieties which are considered the most valuable. A 

 similar plan is followed throughout the work fn the case of 

 each group of vegetables, which are arranged alphabetically 

 under the French names. 



