94 



CHRISTMAS AND LENTEN ROSES. 



ances than this, and at least two or three years are 

 required to estabhsh the crowns after division. 

 Seed is freely produced, but it is slow and difficult 

 to germinate. It should be sown under glass. 



A brief synopsis of the leading varieties will be 

 valuable, and only those are named which are posi- 

 tively distinct and amenable to general cultivation. 

 First of all, in point of size and robust habit, is 

 H. inaximits or altifolius. Although a variety of 

 niger, it is much larger in all its parts. The leaf 

 stalks are over a foot long, the leaves broad and 

 palmate, and very dark in color. The flowers are 

 borne in twos and threes on a stem beautifully 

 mottled, and are from two to three inches across, 

 pure white, with a dense cluster of pale yellow- 

 stamens. In every respect this is a most exquisite 

 bloom. In flowering habit it is the earliest, the 

 buds pushing out in October and November. 



H. angustifolius is closely allied to maxim us, but 

 flowers about January. It is also robust in habit, 

 and its flowers are nearly as large as those of max- 

 imus, and circular in outline. Mad. Fourcade, an- 

 other type of niger, bears smaller flowers, and is 

 one of the freest flowering of all the hellebores, but 

 later than either of the first two named. The 

 blooms are pure white, with a bit of green towards 

 the center. It is a very useful sort for cutting on 

 account of its free flowering habit. The foliage is 

 dwarfer and narrower than that of some others. 



Then we have H. caucasiciis, intermediate be- 

 tween maximus and niger major. The outside of 

 the petals of this variety is tinted with a soft rose 

 color, and the flowers come about January. The 

 growth is vigorous, and altogether it is one of the best. 

 H. niger majoi- is perhaps better known than any 

 of the above, and when true is of great value. 

 Many inferior sorts are sold for the major type. 

 Its foliage is finely cut, bright green and of dwarf 

 habit. The flowers are numerous, and we have 

 seen this plant flowering nicely in the open air in 

 mid-winter, in especially sheltered positions during 

 exceptionally mild weather. It is one of the oldest 



of the family, and well adapted to general cultiva- 

 tion, having a vigorous constitution. Besides these 

 leading types of H. niger, are several others with 

 slight differences of habit, but not essentially dis- 

 tinct. It may be added that N. caucasicus and 

 maximus both have a delicate fragrance. 



The Lenten roses, or forms of H. orieiitalis, are 

 excessively interesting, for here we find a large 

 group of hybrids with widely varying blossoms. 

 These hellebores are the most robust of all, and 

 carry their foliage until the new leaves supersede 

 them, and this foliage is tall, dark green and broad. 

 They are more easily established and in all re- 

 spects better growers than any of the niger section. 

 We have in mind clumps of them near here, three 

 feet across, which bear from loo to 150 flowers. 

 Most of them do not show bloom until early spring, 

 say from January to March. 



Some of the leading sorts follow : Apotheker 

 Bogren, with large imbricated flowers, of a rich 

 purple rose color ; H. eokkieus, deep plum color ; 

 Commerzienrath Benary, white, freely spotted with 

 crimson dots, and cup-shaped — this is one of the 

 very best of all this group ; Fran Irene Heinemann, 

 rich purple rose, spotted with carmine red, and 

 flowers very large ; //. roseus, deep rose, a free 

 flowering sort ; Prof. Schleicher, white flowers, and 

 a newer sort, highly spoken of. Many others in ad- 

 dition to the above, such as Gertrude Jekyll, pure 

 white ; P. R. Barr, S. C. Heinemann and Hoffgarten 

 Hartwig, are quite distinct, handsome and worthy 

 of a place in any collection. 



In time some of our American plantsmen will 

 gather together complete collections of the hellebore 

 family and establish them here ; certainly no plant 

 is more worthy of the care and attention which 

 may be expended upon it. In time, moreover, we 

 shall find the hellebore more in favor as a com- 

 mercial flower, but not until the propagation and 

 growth of the plants are better understood on this 

 side of the Atlantic. Edward L. Beard. 



Cambridge, Mass. 



A BEAUTIFUL CARNATION. 



At the Orange show, in November, was exhibited 

 a new double white carnation that good judges de- 

 clare to be the best of its class yet brought to the 

 light for pubhc inspection. It is a seedling, pro- 

 duced in the houses of John McGowan, Orange, 

 N. J., and named by him the Miss Lizzie McGowan. 

 Our frontispiece shows this beautiful flower in the 

 best style of the engraver's art. The picture re- 



presents the bloom in natural size. In texture the 

 petals are firm and durable, and are a pure white, 

 sweetly fragrant. The flower has the valuable char- 

 acteristic of not bursting in the calyx, a trouble too 

 often spoiling otherwise good and beautiful carna- 

 tions. It is a free flowering variety, bearing numer- 

 ous large blooms, measuring 20 inches in diameter. 

 John Thorpe calls it the "best" white carnation. 



