April 29, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



199 



grower, and, in favorable seasons, bears a fair crop of cucum- 

 bers. In very dry weather there will be a scarcity of pistillate 

 flowers until after a supply of rain, when they will appear in 

 almost every joint. The cucumbers develop rapidly, and, but 

 for the slow growth of the vine in the early season, would 

 come to maturity in large proportion ; as it is, however, there 

 will be many fruits that will only be partly grown when frost 

 arrests their development. Much time may be saved by hav- 

 ing the plants grown a yard or two in height in a greenhouse, 

 and then setting them out on the 10th of June ; as the plant is 

 tropical, it will stand the full heat of the sun all day without 

 drooping, and grow all the better for it. My best success came 

 from planting against a trellis on the south side of a wooden 

 building, with an all-day exposure to the sun. 



Next to L. macrocarpa, the wild Cuban does the best in 

 Philadelphia, as it comes to maturity early, and grows much 

 larger than in its native island. The Egyptian variety grows 

 well and sets many fruits; but these are late in maturing, so 

 that as yet I have not produced any with black seeds. The 

 Petola I have not tested yet ; it looks promising in its picture, 

 and is one of the few that produce a good reticulation. A 

 hybrid between the Japanese and Egyptian varieties might 

 readily be produced with a brush, and, theoretically, should be 

 finer than the Japanese in its netting, and shorter-seasoned 

 than the Egyptian. Hybridization should be produced each 

 way between the two parents, and plantings tested with seeds 

 from several experiments, as this way of producing new varie- 

 ties has much uncertainty in its final results. 



The first Luffa sponges sold in this city were grown from 

 Cuban seed ; the second came from Japan, and the third from 

 Cairo, in Egypt. Japanese seed were grown in Louisiana be- 

 fore there were any sponges of L. macrocarpa for sale here, 

 and my first stock came from that state. Under the name of 

 the Bonnet Gourd and Dishcloth Gourd, this and the Cuban 

 Luffa are now well known in several of the southern states, 

 although, as I have stated, the name of Gourd is a misnomer. 

 Bonnets aresometimes made from the opened sponges, shaped 

 out with some woven fabric, but the entire head-covering was 

 not produced of the net-work until the large white Luffas of 

 Egypt furnished the material for cutting and fitting. 



The Ciccumis reticidatus of Egypt is grown in large quanti- 

 ties, and has become quite an article of commerce, being ex- 

 ported mainly to England and Germany, the packages contain- 

 ing 1,000 to 1,500 each ; but a small proportion of these are 

 sponges of the whiteness and quality that indicate a proper 

 care in preparation. When a sponge cucumber is dried whole 

 the netting is easily separated ; but its fibre will have a brown- 

 ish color and will have lost much of its tensile strength. 

 Naturally, the reticulation is of silvery whiteness, and this can 

 only be preserved by a proper method of cleaning it from rind, 

 seeds and pulp when the cucumber is matured, but still green ; 

 and the whole must be done at one operation or the sponge 

 will change in color. When a luffa has reached its maturity of 

 growth it will be known by its green rind lightening in color 

 and becoming more dry ; it should then be cut off and hung 

 up in the house for a week or -more until the juice in large 

 measure dries out of the rind. The cucumber should then be 

 pared and the cap at the lower end removed, which will open 

 the seed channels ; it should then be kneaded and squeezed 

 under a large pan of hot water until the seeds and pulp are 

 washed out. When fully ripe the seeds are jet black, and will 

 number from 400 to 600 in very large fruits. When the reticu- 

 lated skeleton has been well cleaned, hang it up on a pin-hook 

 and string to dry in-doors, when it should become of silvery 

 whiteness and weigh three-quarters of an ounce to an ounce. 



By exposure to the air, even when kept in darkness, the 

 whitest luffa-sponges gradually change to a light orange-yel- 

 low. This color is largely soluble in hot water with soap, and 

 much of it may be washed out, leaving the fluid of a decidedly 

 yellow tint and the sponge much lighter in color. Sponges in 

 frequent use become of a light grayish white tint and slowly 

 weaken in fibre, particularly in the outer or circular laver, 

 which is not so tough as the internal longitudinal one. The 

 sponges are quite durable when compared with those obtained 

 from the sea, and are odorless when well washed ; no fabric 

 when wet has as decided an effect as a rubefacient upon the 

 skin, and care must be taken that it does not take too deep a 

 hold where the surface is young and tender. For delicate 

 skins and children the immature skeletons should be selected, 

 or the small end of the mature ones, which is much finer in 

 fibre than the base. 



My record of varieties in the Cucumis reticulatus amounts to 

 twenty, and these belong to Japan, Moluccas, China, India, 

 Africa, Spain, Cuba, Brazil and Mexico. The tests thus far 

 made go to show that but very few of the varieties will perfect 



fruit in this latitude, and that it is useless to grow the 

 others, except for ornament or curiosity. The Macrocarpa 

 stands at the head of the list, as it has been repeatedly grown ; 

 the Acutangula, as a curiosity, grows equally well ; the Cuban 

 comes to perfection ; and by starting under glass, the Egyp- 

 tian may likewise ; the Petola and Mexicana are yet to be 

 tested in a favorable season. Some others have grown well, 

 but the character of the cucumbers does not make their propa- 

 gation desirable. 



The plants designated are quite ornamental and interesting, 

 with their beautiful leaves, large staminate flowers and hang- 

 ing fruits, borne sometimes as high as a second-story veranda. 

 The Egyptian flower is about four inches in diameter, and 

 others are nearly as large. The staminate-buds grow in 

 bunches and bloom singly, so that the vines are constantly in 

 flower ; all of the blossoms are a bright yellow. The pistil of 

 the productive flower develops into the point of the cucum- 

 ber, and the long ovary into the fruit, the sepals of the blos- 

 som long remaining attached. — Dr. R. P. Harris before the 

 Pe>i7isylvania Horticultural Society. 



Some Early Native Flowers. 



A MONG the first of our wild flowers to bloom are two which 

 ■**• are somewhat similar. One the Wind Flower [Anemone 

 nemorosa), the other the little Rue Anemone {Anemonella 

 thalictroides). So far as their individual attractiveness is 

 concerned it would be hard to choose between them. Both 

 are charming little plants, with white or pinkish flowers about 

 an inch wide, the former ranging rather further to the north 

 than the latter. In transplanting, the latter is much the easier 

 to manage, and, if taken up at almost any season, it will thrive 

 in any ordinary soil. The Wind Flower demands more care, 

 preparation of soil, and is most safely moved in late summer 

 or early autumn. It needs more time to become established 

 than the Rue Anemone. The best soil for such a plant is the 

 one as nearly as possible like that which it naturally selects, 

 namely, a dry loam. When this is not at command a com- 

 pound of sand, leaf-mold and clay, in about equal parts, well 

 placed under and around its roots, is a good substitute. 



Our two Hepaticas (the one with round, and the other with 

 sharp-lobed leaves) have long been appreciated abroad. The 

 first has a variety of tints, from a blue or purple to almost 

 pure white. The other lias about the same variety of color, 

 with the addition of pink. Well-established clumps of them 

 in a thinly shaded situation make a display of early bloom 

 which can hardly be excelled by any plants of their season. 

 They like a clay loam with a moderate amount of well-decayed 

 barn-yard manure mixed with it. The flowers will be much 

 more satisfactory in thin shade than in the open sun or in a 

 dense shade, though the plant will do fairly well in either. 

 They may be transplanted at almost any season, yet it takes 

 time for them to become well-rooted, and fairly at home. 



The Dog's-tooth Violets, or Adders' Tongues, as they are 

 often called — a term which, I believe, is more common in 

 New England than in the west — are all early bloomers, and, 

 with the several species and varieties from the Pacific coast, 

 one or two from the south, our eastern yellow Erythronium 

 Americamim and the white one (E. albidum), we have a fine 

 representation of natives in this genus. They are always wel- 

 come harbingers of spring, not only because they are early, 

 but because they have attractive flowers and foliage. E. 

 Hendersoni, with its purple and yellow flowers, is probably 

 the most showy of them all, but others from our west 

 coast, such as E. Smithii, E. citrinum and E. giganteum, 

 are also very attractive when in flower. From Texas we 

 have a near relative to the white Dog's-tooth Violet, E. 

 albidum, var. coloratum, which is quite hardy in New Eng- 

 land, and is a much better bloomer that the typical plant. Its 

 flowers have a purplish tinge. The proportion of flower- 

 bearing bulbs of E. Americanum and E. albidum, even in 

 their native haunts, is often very small, and in cultivation it 

 usually grows more so, especially with the latter. In taking 

 up the bulbs of these species I have noticed that the largest, 

 which are usually the flowering bulbs, are generally at the 

 greatest depth, often ten inches below the surface, and I be- 

 lieve that this is why, in cultivation, they are so inclined to 

 divide up into offsets, one large flowering bulb making several 

 smaller ones which do not bloom the second year. I have, 

 in one or two instances, noticed that deeply planted bulbs 

 were less inclined to divide up in this way than shallower set 

 ones, and I think this habit may be partially overcome by deep 

 planting. The best season for transplanting Dog's-tooth 

 Violets is after their leaves begin to turn yellow. 



