April 22, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



189 



spot is the most attractive place in my garden, almost more to 

 me than all the rest of the half-acre devoted to wild plants. It 

 is wonderful how many things grow in this wild spot. From 

 early spring until late autumn it is never without flowers. 



Among the first things to greet me in spring are the lovely 

 blossoms of the Trailing Arbutus or May-flower, not stingy 

 little clusters of bloom, but large compact bunches of flowers. 

 I have had many failures with this charming plant, but at last 

 have succeeded in establishing it. I found a fine patch of the 

 plants in the woods, under a Pine-tree, and removed quite a 

 large section of earth with all of the other things that were 

 growing on it, and planted all beneath the old Pine in my 

 garden. It has now bloomed three seasons, and is spreading 

 and growing all the time. Other evergreen trailers are also 

 here. The little Twin-flower {Linncea borealis) is among my 

 treasures, and our little Partridge-berry {Mitchella repens) 

 grows luxuriantly. Its small shining leaves, strung along in 

 pairs, are pretty the entire year, and in June it is covered with 

 small pink and' white flowers, succeeded by the double berries, 

 which turn scarlet as they ripen, remaining on the plant until 

 the following season, making it as attractive in winter as in 

 summer. Another little plant is the Dalibarda, a low, creep- 

 ing perennial belonging in the Rose family. With us — in 

 southern New Jersey — the leaves are nearly or quite ever- 

 green, and its pretty white flowers last from June until August. 

 The spicy, aromatic Wintergreen flourishes among the rest, 

 and very pretty it looks in winter, with its shining leaves and 

 bright red berries. 



Scattered among these trailers are both species of Hepatica, 

 and the Blood-root, and Spring Beauty, and Wind-flower, and 

 the Wood-sorrel (Oxalis violacea), and several species of 

 Violets. And here, too, are some of our lovely Orchids — the 

 Lady's-slipper, the low purplish pink one (Cypripedium acanle), 

 and the fragrant yellow one (C. parviflorum) blossom every 

 spring. 



The dwarf perennial Larkspur {Delphinium tricorne), with 

 spikes of brilliant blue flowers, and the wild Hyacinth (Scilla 

 Fraseri), with a long raceme of pale blue flowers, bloom here 

 as well as in their native home 011 the western prairies. 



These early flowers are succeeded by several species of our 

 low-growing Ferns, which are beautiful throughout the rest 

 of the season. On the outer edge of this spot are larger, later- 

 blooming plants, and also some of our large Ferns — two 

 species of Osmunda — the Cinnamon and Royal Fern, and our 

 Chain Ferns, the Woodwardia^both species. 



The Wild Lily {Lilium Canadense) unfolds its nodding 

 flowers by the side of the Ferns, with Rudbeckias and low- 

 growing Sunflowers as companions. Some of these Rud- 

 beckias and Sunflowers are annuals from Texas, and grow 

 readily from seed. When planted early they commence to 

 bloom by the first week in July and continue until frost. In 

 August the Asters and Eupatoriums and Golden-rods begin 

 to mingle with the Sunflowers, making a brilliant display. 



As the Golden-rod has become our national flower, it will 

 naturally be more noticed and sought after than heretofore ; 

 and as we have some forty or more species growing in the 

 northern states there will be little difficulty in securing some 

 pretty ones in every locality. One of the most desirable and 

 earliest-blooming of all is the sweet-scented Golden-rod 

 (Solidago odor a). It is widely distributed from Maine to Florida, 

 and commences to bloom here about the middle of July. 

 The flowers are bright yellow in a one-sided, spreading panicle, 

 and it has smooth, shining leaves, which, when crushed, give 

 a pleasant anise odor. This species, together with some of 

 the later-blooming ones, will give us flowers from July until 

 October. 



Those who live near the coast should not neglect the 

 beautiful salt-marsh Golden-rod (S. sempervirens). It has 

 thick, very smooth, large shining leaves, and fine large heads 

 of bright golden flowers. Although it is a salt-marsh plant, it 

 has become established here, some forty miles inland, as one 

 of our wayside flowers. The seed, no doubt, has been brought 

 and disseminated with salt-marsh hay. 



Mary Treat, in the Chautauquan. 



A Raspberry Trellis. — It is rare that we find a field of Red 

 Raspberries in which due provision has been made for sus- 

 taining the canes during the bearing season. They are cut 

 down, as a rule, in autumn to a height of three to four feet 

 and left to winter through as they can. The damage from 

 snow is always serious. My own loss in winter and from 

 broken canes in summer was so great that I have adopted the 

 following plan : I set strong cedar-stakes at the ends of rows 

 and at intervals of twenty-five feet. To these I staple a wire, 

 as for a Grape trellis, about four feet from the ground. Then, 



bringing the canes together in bunches of three or four, they 

 are tied with soft strong twine above the wire— not on the 

 wire, for then the cord would soon be cut by the wire. The 

 rows being all tied, intervening and short canes are dug out. 

 Then, with hedge-shears, the tops are cut off at a height of six 

 feet. This height on this plan is not too great. The Rasp- 

 berry likes a moist, shaded soil ; and in this way it shades its 

 own roots. In the bearing season the sides of these trellises 

 become a wall of berries — a wonderful sight to behold. Pick- 

 ers move up and down the rows quite hidden. I have de- 

 scribed my plan with the Cuthbert and Golden Queen in view. 

 These, in fact, are with me the only standard first-class rasp- 

 berries for market as yet. The Turner must be grown very 

 thinly here, and in hills, to secure a reasonable crop. The 

 Marlboro has succeeded fairly well as above, but with me is 

 not a standard in any sense. Rancocas I must reject, as also 

 Hansell, Lost Rubies and Crimson Cluster. Schaffer's Colossal 

 does admirably on the wire, and is an enormous bearer on that 

 plan. Black Raspberries, in general, had probably best be cut 

 low and grown in stout heads. 

 Clinton, N. Y. E. P. Powell. 



m 



Mildew on Sweet Alyssum and Radish. — Among our worst 

 mildews are the members of the genus Peronospora, and 

 among the Peronosporas there is no species equaling the Pero- 

 nospora parasitica in breadth of range. Usually a species of 

 these downy mildews is confined to one or a few of the mem- 

 bers of the same host genus, but the one named above is 

 known to grow on forty-seven species belonging to twenty- 

 seven genera. These genera, however, all belong to the large 

 family of Cruciferce, whose members are easily recognized by 

 their similar flowers, pods, and even their peculiar taste. 

 When a mildew will thrive upon a large number of hosts the 

 presence of one host-plant will furnish the breeding-ground 

 and produce a stock within a greenhouse for any other sus- 

 ceptible plant. In a greenhouse recently visited the beds of 

 young Sweet Alyssum showed many pale and sickly plants, 

 which were found badly infested with the downy mildew above 

 mentioned. Radishes had been grown under glass in large 

 quantities, and were perhaps more or less attacked by the 

 same fungus, and while it inflicted little damage upon the 

 short-lived Radish-plant it no doubt multiplied there and 

 spread to the Alyssum near by, from which its destruction 

 may become considerable. Gardeners need to know the kin- 

 ships of plants, and if one crop is mildewed it is not advisable 

 that another closely related to it should be grown by its side. 



Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Distributing Weeds. — Novices need a warning against Ipo- 

 mcea pandurata, " Man of the Earth," which has been re- 

 christened by the seedsmen the " Hardy Moon Flower." 

 Did any one ever get to the bottom of the root of an old 

 plant ? I have tried it, but always found it growing stouter as 

 I dug, until I gave it up, and had forty plants come up in 

 place of the one. A worse weed is now advertised as " Cali- 

 fornia Rose," and with the greatest apparent sincerity the 

 sellers give as the botanical name of this "Rose," Calystegia 

 pubescens. It may perhaps be one of the California Caly- 

 stegias, but the probability is that it is Calystegia Sepium, 

 var. pubescens, the vilest weed which ever infested a 

 garden. I have a note to-day from a lover of flowers who 

 boasted of her new treasure, the California Rose, which she is 

 growing from seed. I at once warned her not to plant it in 

 her garden. 



Our common "May Pop," Passiflora incarnata is a much 

 prettier plant and flower than any of the Convolvulaceas, but, 

 in this latitude it has the same fault of the Bindweeds, and 

 becomes a troublesome weed in cultivated fields. Perhaps 

 it may not be so bad at the north, but it is well to watch all 

 these things. 



North Carolina College of Agriculture, W. P. Massey. 



Raleigh. 



Primroses. — There are no more charming plants in spring-time 

 than these.and it is little wonder that they have been garden favor- 

 ites from time immemorial. For some reason there seems 

 a quite general impression that Primroses are flowers of the 

 shade and dampness, and that under our brazen skies there is 

 so small a chance for success that there is no use in attempt- 

 ing their culture. This may be true of Primula veris, the na- 

 tive English Primrose, for there are probably very few such 

 haunts in the United States as that in which this plant was re- 

 ported by one of your correspondents to have become natural- 

 ized, and in the garden it is not long-lived. But within the last 

 decade or two some excellent strains of hybrid Primulas have 

 been secured by the painstaking care of a few florists, and 



