1882.] 



169 



AND GREENHOUSE. 



SINGLE DAHLIAS. 



The notes on and picture of single Dahlias, 

 in a former number of The American Gar- 

 den, incite me to tell what I think about 

 them. They are lovely flowers and more 

 brilliantly colored than double Dahlias, 

 which are the fashion in that line just now, 

 though in popular estimation they will not 

 supersede the good, old, double sorts. But 

 there is room for both. I find, too, that 

 single Dahlias, as out-door plants, grow very 

 rankly, and do not bloom so copiously or 

 perfectly as do the double ones, and the 

 same I find to be the case with the Poinset- 

 tia-scarlet Cactus Dahlia, D. Juarezi. 



But the most excellent results, as regards 

 limited growth and multiplicity and perfec- 

 tion of blossoms, may be obtained with 

 single Dahlias 

 grown as pot 

 plants — indeed, 

 more so than with 

 double Dahlias, 

 and as pot-plants, 

 curious enough, 

 they are at their 

 best from April 

 till June. They 

 love a deeply 

 worked soil, and 

 seem to bloom 

 best in a well- 

 compacted one, 

 and prefer a fully 

 exposed to sun- 

 shine situation. 

 All Dahlias are 

 readily obtained 

 from seeds, and, 

 from seeds sown 

 in spring, good 

 blooming plants 

 may be had in the 

 following August 

 and September ; 

 but, as a goodly 

 proportion of the 



seedlings from even the best double sorts 

 will come semi-double, or otherwise inferior 

 to their parents (of course many good 

 flowers may also be obtained), Dahlia seed- 

 lings have fallen into disrepute ; but this is 

 not so much the case with single Dahlias. 

 Mr. Cullingford, of London, an amateur 

 horticulturist of most refined taste, sent 

 me, last spring, some seeds of single 

 Dahlias saved from his own collection. 

 These seedlings are now in blossom, and dis- 

 play a general beauty and excellence at once 

 gratifying and surprising. Some are as 

 deep and glowing a maroon as Paragon ; 

 others as vivid a scarlet as a "Vesuvius Gera- 

 nium, and so on in like manner among the 

 reds. By all means let your readers try a 

 packet of seeds ; every seed will grow as 

 readily as a Zinnia-seed. 



I would like to commend Dahlia imperialis 

 to the notice of those who have plenty green- 

 house room ; its noble habit and gigantic 

 form, together with its airy, lovely pinkish 

 flowers, render it a most imposing plant. 

 Planted out of doors, like other Dahlias, our 



summers are too short for it to blossom out- 

 side ; but, by lifting it carefully and potting 

 it, we can have it in blossom in October or 

 November. 



William Falconer. 



THE VENUS ELY-TRAP, 



C Dioncea muscipula.) 



This interesting and curious plant is indi- 

 genous to the sandy savannas of the Eastern 

 Carolinas, and is not found elsewhere, so far 

 as is known. Near Wilmington, N. C, it is 

 found in large cpiantities, growing in turfy, 

 sandy bogs. The narrowly circumscribed 

 geographical section to which the plant is 

 confined is remarkable, nor has any other 

 species of the genus been found elsewhere 

 on the globe. 



Few species of plants have been, to so 

 great an extent, the subject of scientific 

 investigation and speculation as this little 

 oddity. Charles Darwin held that it was a 

 carnivorous plant, and thrived much better 



THE VENUS FLY-TRAP. 



with animal food than without; against 

 which so celebrated a botanist as C. de 

 Candolle claimed that, while the leaves 

 entrapped insects, and held them firmly 

 inclosed until entirely absorbed or decom- 

 posed, "the absorption of animal matter is 

 no direct advantage to the leaf, and not 

 necessary for the development of the plant." 

 A question which, as yet, has not been posi- 

 tively settled. 



The Dionsea is undoubtedly one of the 

 most curious plants in existence. Whether 

 animal food is necessary to its welfare or 

 not, it is extremely interesting to watch its 

 movements. 



The Venus Fly-trap — or simply Fly-trap, 

 as it is usually called — belongs to the natu- 

 ral order Droseracece, or Sun-dews, all of 

 which have the tendency to entrap insects, 

 but not to so marked a degree as the Dionsea. 

 The petioles, or leaf-stalks, are broadly 

 winged, while the leaf itself consists of two 

 hemispherical lobes or sections, the edges of 

 which are fringed with hair, as shown in the 

 accompanying excellent illustration. Near 



the center of each half-leaf, on the upper 

 side, are generally three extremely sensitive 

 bristles, which are so arranged that an insect 

 can hardly traverse the leaf without coming 

 in contact with them. The slightest irrita- 

 tion of these causes the leaf to close sud- 

 denly, like a trap, the hairs of the edges 

 interlacing and holding the unwary insect 

 captive. 



The Diona?a can be readily cultivated, 

 and will be found a source of much pleasure 

 and amusement. It should be planted in 

 peat earth, mixed with Sphagnum, chopped 

 fine, and some sand, in small flower-pots, set 

 in a saucer of water. During the season of 

 growth the plants should be watered copi- 

 ously every day, and kept moist at all times, 

 though not deluged. It requires but a mod- 

 erate temperature, and may be successfully 

 grown in an ordinary living-room, provided 

 the air is not very dry. In a Wardian case, 

 or under a bell-glass, there should be no 

 difficulty to grow it in any warm room, as 

 the plant needs no sun and but a moderate 

 amount of light. Its small, white flowers 

 are produced on 

 slender stems, ten 

 to twelve inches 

 high ; but, in order 

 to produce strong 

 plants, the flower- 

 buds should lie 

 pinched out as 

 soon as they ap- 

 pear. 

 C. R. Hexamer. 



HEATING SMALL 

 CONSERVATO- 

 RIES. 



The difficulty 

 in keeping small 

 greenhouses and 

 plant-rooms prop- 

 erly heated dur- 

 ing cold weath- 

 er deters many 

 lovers of flow, 

 ers from keeping 

 plants in their 

 houses. A letter 

 before us demon- 

 strates that the 

 difficulty is not so insurmountable as it may 

 appear, and that, even in the far North, liv- 

 ing-rooms can be made cheerful and bloom- 

 ing during the dreary winter months, with 

 but little expense. 



Mrs. Theresa T. Hicks, of Minnesota, whose 

 kind interest and good wishes for the Ameri- 

 can Garden we highly appreciate, writes : " I 

 am exceedingly fond of flowers, and have in 

 my little conservatory nearly two hundred 

 pots and hanging baskets. I have been very 

 successful in keeping them through the cold 

 winters for the past six years, and our win- 

 ters here are winters indeed, the mercury 

 often ranging from zero to ten, twenty, and 

 even forty below, for weeks. I have no 

 heater in my conservatory ; it is warmed 

 by wood-stoves in rooms opening into it. Of 

 course, I have double windows, and on very 

 cold nights I light three small kerosene 

 lamps in it, that burn all night, keeping, at 

 the same time, two or three pans of water on 

 the floor. Last winter I had sixteen blossoms 

 on two Callas, and flowers of some kind all 

 winter long." 



