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THE Y SA y 



Sweet Corn and Climate. — I notice that The Amer- 

 ican Garden is quoted as saying that sweet corn grown on 

 the south side of Long Island is not as good as the same va- 

 riety grown elsewhere ; the difference being attributed to 

 climatic conditions (see American Garden, Feb., p. ii8). 

 While I have no doubt that climate has something to do 

 with the quality of sweet corn, yet I think the nature of 

 fertilizer and cultivation has vastly more to do with it. 

 I have raised sweet corn for a number of years at Pear- 

 sail's, L. I. I have planted nearly all the new varieties, 

 but have found nothing better than the famous Squan- 

 tum or Potter's and Stowell's Evergreen. Either of 

 these varieties grow to perfection on Long Island. I 

 have eaten the Squantum at the famous Rhode Island 

 shore dinners and other varieties in various parts of the 

 country, but I have never eaten sweeter or better flav- 

 ored corn than I have raised myself on Long Island. I 

 have noticed that certain conditions of the atmosphere, 

 especially during the warm, damp, muggy nights of 

 August, seem to have much to do with the quality of 

 sweet corn. It may be that the sea fogs of the coast at 

 Marblehead, Squantum and the south side of Long 

 Island, may favorably effect the quality of sweet corn. 

 The best sweet corn I have ever eaten was "nubbins" 

 from a standard late planting. The variety was, I think 

 the old-fashioned Minnesota. — J. H. Griffith, Barriug- 

 ton, K I. 



The Luculia Gratissitna, many growers complain 

 of difficulty in propagating. It is the handsomest and 

 most fragrant of all greenhouse shrubs. As a rule, im- 

 ported plants are very weak and spindling, giving no 

 chance to obtain cuttings. The first thing to be done 

 with them, says a successful grower, is to plant them 

 out in a bed, in some cool house ; a camellia house is 

 just right. There must b'e plenty of room, for the 

 plants will grow to a height of three feet. Treated in 

 this way, they will soon make abundant growth for 

 stocks. They are propagated by cuttings. Unsuccessful 

 growers complain that these will not strike. My au- 

 thority says they will strike as easily as geraniums, but 

 the plant has one peculiarity ; the cuttings must be put 

 in the propagating bed just as soon as i/uy are taken 

 off the plant. If they are allowed to lie around, even 

 for a short time, they will not strike. Anyone who has 

 seen a big luculia, with its masses of exquisitely fra- 

 grant pink flowers, will wish that the simplicity of its 

 culture were better understood. — E. L. T. 



Amaryllis, J. R. Pitcher. — B. F. Williams, the well 

 known grower of rare plants, has named one of his 

 seedlings after our enthusiastic orchid grower, J. R. 

 Pitcher, esq. We are pleased to see his name associat- 

 ed with so beautiful a flower, which is described as fol- 

 lows : " There is something very striking in the color 

 of this garden variety. One need not look inside the 

 flower to see this color, for both sides, including the 

 tube, may, for the want of a better term, be described 

 as of a rich crimson red. The tone is exceedingly dark, 

 so that, on the whole, the variety is notably distinct, not- 

 withstanding the number of kinds in cultivation." 



The Jessie Kerr Peach. — My attention was called 

 to this peach about six years ago in the catalogue of a 

 prominent nursery firm at Huntsville, Ala. It was de- 

 scribed as being a "freestone," but this nursery was 

 careful to say that the description was that of the orig- 

 inator. The year following I bought six trees from 

 them, and two years ago they bore their first fruit. I 

 judged by its growth, foliage jand blossom that it was 

 very similar to, or identical with Amsden, and others of 

 this worthless class. I had great hopes that the fruit 

 would be freestone, but in this was disappointed. In 

 color, shape and size it is an Amsden. It also clings to 

 the stone badly, and rots just as quickly as all the fol- 

 lowing sorts : Gov. Garland, Arkansas Traveller, Ams- 

 den and Alexander. The season of ripening of all these 

 varieties here, is about May 12, and the difference be- 

 tween them is about ten minutes. No doubt a freestone 

 peach ripening at time of the aforementioned sorts 

 would be a boon to the fruit grower, and we are now 

 testing the Red Ceylon, which is being sent out by 

 Reasoner Bros., of Manatee, Fla., with the hope that it 

 will ripen and withstand this climate. — C. P. Bauer, 

 Jiidsonia, Ark, 



Native Flowers in the South. — We have many na- 

 tive plants here, out of which I believe an enterprising 

 florist could make money, by shipping them north. In 

 one of your recent issues I see the sacred lotus of India 

 advertised. This plant grows by the thousands, even 

 by the millions here. I have seen lakes three miles wide 

 and 20 miles long completely covered with this grand 

 aquatic plant. It is indeed a grand sight to see a lake 

 20 miles long filled with this tropical foliage, with its 

 beautiful flowers towering above. Here again is a 

 chance for some one with enterprise and a little money. 

 I have seen both white and pale orange colored flowered 

 varieties, and have been told of a variety which has 

 pink flowers, and I see the variety advertised at $4 each, 

 for plants with pink flowers. A beautiful gray moss or 

 lichen grows on the trees in abundance, which is much 

 prettier than the Spanish moss, and I think that it 

 would please northern decorators. — J. L. Normand, 

 Marksi'ille, La. 



[Note. — The water lily to which our correspondent 

 refers is probably a native species, Nehtinbiiim luteuni, 

 not the oriental lotus. — Ed. Am. G.] 



The Japanese Cypresses (retinispora) are very diffi- 

 cult to classiii', and sport greatly. The opinion of many 

 experts that all the so-called retinisporas are only sports 

 of one species is made probable by the surprising rever- 

 sions of the garden sorts to the simpler forms. A large 

 tree of R. squarrosa , 10 feet high, near here, has two 

 main trunks, one of K. squamosa Veitchii z.wA the other a 

 very blue form of R. pisifera. — F. L. Temple. 



Not Manettia Cordifolia. — The Manettia mentioned 

 in March issue (p. 181) as brilliant scarlet, tipped with 

 yellow, is Manettia bicolor, not M. cordifolia . The latter 

 is all red, and not so strong a grower as M. hicolor. — 

 David Gindra. 



