1882.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



119 



THE ARUM. 



This genus comprises some of the most cu- 

 rious and interesting- representatives of the 

 vegetable kingdom. Most species are inhab- 

 itants of tropical countries. 



The roots of many, which, although in the 

 fresli state contain an acrid, milky fluid, are 

 when dried perfectly harmless, and consti- 

 tute important articles of food. Other spe- 

 cies from more northern regions are entirely 

 hardy in our climate, 

 and are easily grown as 

 border plants, requiring 

 not more care than the 

 Gladiolus. 



Arum Dracunculus. — 

 The Dragon Arum is the 

 best known and most 

 striking of the hardy spe- 

 cies. It is very showy 

 when in bloom, grows 

 several feet high, with 

 a large, blackish-purple 

 flower, and graceful, 

 palm-like leaves. It 

 may also be potted in 

 autumn, in a sandy loam 

 with a portion of peat, 

 and will bloom in spring. 



Arum ItaUcum is a 

 smaller growing species, 

 with greenish - yellow 

 flowers, and large, lance- 

 shaped leaves, spotted 

 yellow. 



Arum triphyllum is our 

 native Indian Turnip, or 

 "Jack in the Pulpit." 

 The plant is curious and 

 ornamental, both in 

 flower and berry. It 

 thrives well in deep soil 

 in a shady situation, 

 and often grows very 

 large. 



Arum cornutum and 

 A. maculatum are also 

 well-known species. 



consider my pleasure when I saw leaves and 

 flowers from my two lost Aponogeton plants 

 floating on the water in the pond. I made 

 no effort to secure them, but left them there, 

 and they have come up each succeeding year 

 stronger than before. This is the fourth 

 season of their growth in the pond, and now 

 the largest plant had this year thirty-three 

 blossoms amid a clump of some ninety-seven 

 leaves. 



THE CAPE POND WEED. 



This most unhappy 

 name is that given to 

 one of the sweetest and 

 best of water plants 

 whose botanical name 

 is Aponogeton distachyon. 

 It is a native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, 

 and, strange though it 

 may seem, it is hardy 

 in Massachusetts also, 

 though it should be the 

 reverse ; it is one of the 

 most uncommon plants 

 cultivated in America. 

 For many years I have 

 known it to be pretty 



hardy, but I should never have trusted it to 

 the mercy of a Boston winter but for the 

 result of an accident. We grow a good many 

 tender water plants, which we stand out in 

 summer on a temporary stage set in a little 

 pond where the water is three to four feet 

 deep. In this pond are many gold-fishes, also 

 several bull-frogs. In 1878, I set out three 

 pots containing Aponogeton, but in the fall 

 I could only find one, fishes or frogs had 

 upset the other two. Next spring, however, 



Our pond is lined with brick clay ; there is 

 no soil in it, unless it be a small accumulation 

 of muddy sediment; the water is surface 



I water only. But, although the Aponogeton 

 lias proved so hardy with us, I would not say 



j it should be hardy if the frost should reach 



| its roots. 



As a house or greenhouse plant the Apon- 

 ogeton is essentially a winter bloomer, be- 

 ginning to grow and blossom in the fall and 

 continuing till spring, 

 when it may show signs 

 of wanting to rest ; then 

 you can lay it aside in 

 your cellar for the sum- 

 mer, as you would an 

 ordinary Water Lily for 

 the winter. In the house 

 you can grow it in a milk 

 plate, a pudding-pan, a 

 flower-pot with the hole 

 stopped up, a pail, or 

 other vessel. Fill the 

 vessel half full with turfy 

 loam, plant the root in 

 the middle and about an 

 inch in depth, and over 

 all, to suppress muddi- 

 ness in the water, place 

 a thin layer of coarse 

 sand or fine gravel, then 

 till up with water and 

 keep it full. Just keep 

 it from freezing, warmth 

 is unnecessary ; that is 

 all the care it wants. 

 The root is a little bulb 

 or eorm about as big as 

 a marble. 



Wm. Falconer. 



ARUM DRACUNCULUS. 



The blossoms are pure white, speckled 

 with little clusters of brown anthers, and are 

 produced as a forked spike about three to 

 four inches across ; they are as fragrant as 

 Heliotrope. And so early do they appear, 

 that leaves come up and blossoms open in 

 the water underneath the ice, and as the 

 ice leaves the pond, they increase in strength 

 and numbers. During summer they bloom 

 more sparingly than in spring, and they con- 

 tinue to blossom a little throughout the fall. 



BLUETS. 



(Hountonia ceerulea.) 

 This elegant indigen- 

 ous plant, which is 

 found wild throughout 

 our Northern and West- 

 ern States, and is well 

 adapted for cultivation, 

 has, like many other 

 native beauties, to go 

 abroad to find recogni- 

 tion. Among the flowers 

 in season in England it 

 is described as: "This 

 gem among diminutive 

 plants, known as Bluets, 

 is flowering well on 

 the rock-work in the 

 Cambridge Botanic Gar- 

 den. Its position is not 

 that which would usually 

 be accorded to it. In- 

 stead of being in a moist 

 corner, where, generally, 

 it is understood to flour- 

 ish best and to be most 

 under natural conditions, it is here, by acci- 

 dent, in the driest and most exposed spot 

 that could be found. It is flourishing, how- 

 ever, and forms a tuft of great neatness 

 and beauty." 



Lilies are much benefited by mulching 

 during dry, hot weather. Most of our culti- 

 vated species are natives of cool climates and 

 grow naturally in damp localities, where the 

 soil is covered with leaves or grass. 



