59 2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 199. 



hence green barely "survives" in flowers, being more rare 

 than any other color. 



We learn from this study of color, therefore, that white is 

 the primary color of root, stem, leaf and flower, and the foun- 

 dation of all color. This assertion, as regards the flower, 

 may demand a word of explanation, for the reason that in 

 my article above referred to there was an apparent excep- 

 tion in favor of green ; but there is really no necessity for 

 any exception or qualification whatever, as white is not pri- 

 marily derived from green, but, on the contrary, green is de- 

 rived from white in precisely the same manner as any other 

 color is so derived ; but as the floral organs in the great ma- 

 jority of cases are formed after the development of chloro- 

 phyl in the plant, they naturally, at first, partake of that color ; 

 then the green color is completely eliminated and obliter- 

 ated, the flower resuming the original color of the rudiment- 

 ary plant. 



It follows, therefore, that green is a secondary color in flow- 

 ers of that color, of which there are a considerable number 

 still to be met with ; but in Monotrofia uniflora, and doubtless 

 others of like character, we have an illustration of flowers of the 

 original white color which never have been preceded by green. 



I may be permitted to add in this connection, as confirma- 

 tory of my opinion, that all colors appeared in primeval times, 

 that in Lichens, plants which rank low in the vegetable king- 

 dom, colors are found in as great a range, and possibly greater, 

 than is found in Phaenogamous plants, as will be seen from 

 the following partial list of the colors mentioned by Tucker- 

 man in his description of North American Lichens, namely : 



White, ashy white, grayish white, dirty white, greenish white, 

 glaucous white, brownish white, ochroleucous, whitish, pales- 

 cent, decolorate. 



Cream, straw, sulphur, lemon, orange, old gold, ochre, gam- 

 boge, greenish yellow, orange-saffron, waxy yellowish, tawny 

 yellow, whitish buff. 



Sage-green, apple-green, leek-green, brown-green, dark 

 green, black-green, olivaceous, brown-olivaceous, glaucous, 

 glaucescent. 



Orange-red, scarlet, vermilion-red, brick color, reddish flesh- 

 colored, blood-red, vinous red, rosy, rose-red, rusty red, rufous, 

 cinereous-rufescent. 



Ccerulescent, steel-blue, purple, bluish, pale bluish ; sky- 

 blue in Leptogiu?n ccesiellum. 



Olive, cinnamon, greenish, yellowish, chestnut, russet, 

 tawny, purplish, reddish, smoky, livid, lurid, leaden, liver and 

 blackish brown, tawny. 



Black, blackish and olive, greenish, blue and violaceous 

 black, fuscous, fuscescent, brownish and pitch-black. 



Lead, greenish lead, smoke-colored. 



Whitish, livid, lurid, leaden, greenish and brownish ash, 

 cinerascent, glaucous-cinerascent, cinereus-glaucescent. 



Leaden, bluish, yellowish, glaucous and greenish gray, grayish. 



The variety of tints, shades and hues of these colors is some- 

 thing remarkable. 



In the foliage of Musci we meet the following colors and 

 hues : Hoary white, silvery white, yellowish and greenish 

 white ; golden-yellow, greenish yellow, fulvous ; reddish, dark 

 vinous red ; bright olive, yellowish, lurid, dull and blackish 

 green ; green with a bluish or indigo tinge ; pale brown, dark 

 brown, purplish brown, brownish, blackish ; drab-colored. 



In the capsule we find whitish, yellow, orange, orange-red, 

 dark red, deep purple, dark brown and chestnut. 



At times the foliage and the fruiting parts are differently 

 colored, as in Barbula ccespitosa, which has pale green foliage, 

 yellow capsule with a red operculum. 



The sporules are also of different colors ; so in Lichens the 

 apothecia or Lichen-fruit, namely, in the part called the disk, 

 differ more or less in color from the thallus. In these respects 

 both classes of plants resemble the frequently different colors 

 of pollen, anthers, petals and leaves in the same plant, so that 

 it may be questioned if the bright colors of ordinary flowers 

 were created primarily to attract insects, unless the apothecium 

 of the Lichen and the capsule of the moss subserve the same 

 purpose, which question should be investigated. 



In Hepaticce the colors are similar to the Musci, with the ad- 

 dition of pink, rose-purple and violet. 



The Alga, or sea-weeds, lower forms of vegetable life, 

 rival the Lichens in their great variety of color ; and the Fungi, 

 plants next higher than the Lichens, display many tints and 

 shades of white, yellow, red, blue and green. 



The lowest and the most minute of all known organized 

 structures are Bacteria. "These are usually white in color, 

 although some species possess beautiful tints of red, of blue, 

 of yellow, or even green." 



New Bedford, Mass. E. Williams Hervey. 



Cacti in Landscape-gardening. 



^ACTUS-GARDENS and Water-lily ponds are the most nota- 

 ^ ble additions to the practice of ornamental planting in 

 America during recent years. The Water-lilies have many 

 advocates, but Cactus management does not seem as 

 well understood. In our immense country there is a width 

 of variation in soil and conditions which we hardly realize. 

 Industrial conditions compel many of our people to live in 

 barren or arid regions, and in these Cactaceous plants are of 

 the greatest value. In some of the dry parts of the far west 

 plant-loving people have formed Cactus-gardens of the greatest 

 interest, and of a beauty that vies with the herbaceous gardens 

 of the east. Some of them are stocked with the Cactaceous 

 riches of the earth, and are world-wide in their fame. Even in 

 the showery east there are situations where some varieties of 

 Cactus can be employed. They should not be permitted to 

 occupy positions which can be more acceptably filled by other 

 plants which are by nature more thoroughly adapted to such 

 surroundings, but in a few situations where they are perfectly 

 in keeping, and other things will not thrive, they are most use- 

 ful. They will flourish in a stone-paved court with only soil 

 enough to root in, and where one day's roasting in summer 

 sunshine would dry other plants to death. They will take their 

 chances on a roof with perfect success, while their owners can 

 spend the summer away from home. For those who still in- 

 cline to carpet-bedding, the employment of large Cactus- 

 plants, with numerous small ones in geometrical patterns, will 

 afford great pleasure. They do not soon outgrow their space, 

 and they give a most interesting variety of color. The delicate 

 and complicated designs produced with them associate harmo- 

 niously with the cut stone and terra cotta of modern buildings. 



Their proper arrangement in beds by no means confines us 

 to regular forms, however. The picturesque growth of many 

 sorts especially fits them for irregular arrangement. This 

 can be made with rocks and stones common to the soil in any 

 particular region. The plants need thorough drainage and 

 full exposure to bright sunshine, if they are to bloom the fol- 

 lowing season. Enough of one variety, especially of the low- 

 growing kinds, should be grouped together, to show their true 

 character and expression. The ground can be as irregular as 

 fancy dictates or chance ordains, for this displays their distinc- 

 tive qualities to best advantage. Rock-work is a combination 

 that suits them admirably, but it requires great skill in man- 

 agement to insure artistic success. Peculiar and striking stones 

 should, as a rule, be avoided. Those with weather-worn and 

 lichen-covered surfaces are desirable. An exception to this I 

 have noted in a bed where the surface of the ground not oc- 

 cupied by Cacti was entirely covered with pieces of white 

 marble, which brought the plants out in strong contrast. In 

 this case there was so much marble and many white objects 

 in the vicinity that the color was not obtrusive as it otherwise 

 must have been. 



When tender kinds are used for planting out in summer, 

 the plants are better kept in their pots, which, however, should 

 be entirely covered by earth or low-growing plants and stones. 

 Sods can be used to advantage when there is grass in the 

 surroundings, but it should be kept shorn short among the 

 plants. Houseleeks, Sedums, Mesembryanthemums, Stapelias, 

 or any low-growing succulent plants that do not need a moist 

 soil are useful for covering the ground and pots. In the 

 warmer parts of the United States permanent Cactus gardens 

 of great beauty can be constructed of many varieties, but the 

 number of these that will endure a temperature of ten de- 

 grees below zero is so limited that our efforts north must be 

 less ambitious. 



The common Prickly Pear (Opuntia vulgaris) and the 

 nearly allied O. Rafinesquei and O. Missouriensis are the most 

 useful. Some of the little Mamillarias are hardy, but so small 

 and delicately beautiful that a quantity must be employed to 

 be effective. The hardy Opuntias can be grown in flower- 

 beds, if dry enough, with the same cultivation given other 

 flowers, but are more satisfactory if employed where other 

 things will not flourish. As a successful example of their 

 use I recall a spot on one side of a lawn where a rocky ledge 

 came close to the surface. The ledge was once visible but 

 the top had been blasted away and covered with soil. Every 

 summer, however, the grass here dried up and disfigured the 

 lawn. Soaking the place with water twice a day finally kept 

 it green ; but this was expensive, and, after all, the turf dif- 

 fered in color and texture from the rest. Some good-sized 

 stones, brought from a neighboring pasture and relaid in the 

 ground on the troublesome spot, following somewhat the 

 irregular outline of the brown grass, and some suitable soil 

 filled in between them, and then more weather-worn rocks 



