3i6 THE \ 



A Grand Floral Exhibition to Be, is the one now 



under consideration by the New York Florists' Club. 

 They are at work in a way that will win. Each member 

 is allowed the privilege of subscribing a given sum, and 

 cannot go beyond a stated amount, and all are on terms 

 of perfect equality, while a subscription is not compul- 

 sory. Any member can offer a prize of any amount and 

 for anything he chooses, in flowers, fruits or plants, and 

 for this purpose the members are responding nobly. An 

 amazing array of premiums will be offered, and on the 

 day of exhibition there will be such a show of flowers, 

 fruits and plants as cannot be made outside of the me- 

 tropolis. When the florists become interested, as they 

 now are, their liberality, ability as growers, the unlimit- 

 ed means at hand, together with their taste and skill in 

 arrangement, will unite in giving an entertainment never 

 before equaled in its way. — C. L. A. 



Coleus for the Window Garden. — There are but 

 few plants better adapted for the window garden or liv- 

 ing-room than the finer colored varieties of the coleus. 

 The larger leaved and more highly colored forms seem 

 more at home in the house than those that do best out 

 of doors. The heat which is so injurious to many house 

 plants is just what the coleus enjoys. We have never 

 seen finer specimens in the greenhouse or on exhibition, 

 than we lately saw in a farm house window, with a 

 southern exposure. The temperature of the room was 

 always high ; never below 60° at night, the heat being 

 furnished by an ordinary coal stove. The plants were 

 started in September last from cuttings, which root free- 

 ly in water. When well rooted they were transferred 

 to tin cans, fruit size, in which we saw them growing. 

 When six inches high the ends were nipped, and they 

 branched at every leaf. These branches in due time 

 were nipped, and the plants are now regular in outline, 

 completely clothed with the most gorgeous foliage, and 

 without exception, the handsomest window plants we 

 have ever seen growing. — C. L. A. 



Algerian Locusts. — The unseasonable weather of the 

 past winter has had a malign result in Algiers and Tunis, 

 for the locust pest threatens to be more terrible than 

 ever. The insects put in their appearance discourag- 

 ingly early, being already at work in February, notably 

 in the province of Constantine. The Algerian officials 

 have made arrangements, as in the two past years, to 

 attack the enterprising locusts, tooth and nail, from the 

 beginning of their egg-laying. — W. H. W. C. 



A White Erythronium. — In a late issue of the Gar- 

 den a writer speaks of the dog-tooth violet, Erytln-onutm 

 Americanum, as yellow in bloom. On our hill-sides we 

 find this little gem in profusion, but there are fewer yel- 

 low than brown, white, rose and pink ; some are solid- 

 colors ; others splashed. They grow deep in a shady, 

 rich soil ; but nature has withheld from me the secret of 

 transplanting them successfully; all I have handled have 

 died. — Wild, Cloverport, Ky . 



[This white form is not uncommon in various parts 

 of the country, particularly in the west. — Ed. Am. G.] 



SA Y. 



London Purple and Foliage. — Much of the injury 

 to plum foliage which has been attributed to London 

 purple is found to be due to the shot-hole fungus {Sep- 

 toria cerasi/za). This fungus produces a premature fall- 

 ing of leaves, and is often very serious. The leaves are 

 marked with circular brownish spots, and these spots 

 eventually fall out and leave shot-holes. 



Harvard's Garden of Glass. The botanical de- 

 partment of the college has been receiving during the 

 year a very valuable collection of glass flowers. They 

 are made by a secret process by a firm named Blatchka, 

 consisting of father and son, in Dresden, Germany. 

 The flowers are of exquisite workmanship, and cannot 

 be distinguished by the eye from the real ones. These 

 flowers are the only ones of the kind ever made, and the 

 firm has agreed not to manufacture for any institution 

 but Harvard College. Three or four hundred specimens 

 have now been received. The collection when complete 

 will illustrate all the families of plants in North Am- 

 erica, all economic plants, and the more important of the 

 lower plants, including enlarged parts and sections of 

 the finer details of plants for study. Mrs. Ware, of 

 Boston, is the donor of this valuable addition to the 

 facilities of the university. — N. Y. Tribune. 



The Season in the South. — The "Sunny South" 

 has deserved its title this season, at all events ; day 

 after day and week after week, we have enjoyed clear, 

 balmy spring weather, with no suggestion even of win- 

 ter. Heavy dews alone have kept the delicate plants 

 alive and enabled the trees to don their spring attire a 

 month ahead of time. By the third week in January, 

 the gardens of Savannah were bright with anemones, 

 roses and azaleas, in addition to their wealth of japoni- 

 cas and the usual winter blooms, and the Charleston 

 gardeners were gathering strawberries on the 20th of 

 February. One florist of the latter place had eight 

 acres of roses in full bloom ; a gentleman of Savannah 

 was gathering magnificent specimens from his bushes. 

 Capt. Christy, Souvenir, Safrano, Marie Van Houtte, 

 Marie Henriette, Mermets, Marechal Neil, etc. The 

 flowers, however, though full size, fragrance and color, 

 were very perishable, owing, doubtless to the lack of 

 rain. The woods now, February 27, are fragrant with 

 the yellow jessamine and swamp azalea, and bright 

 with the red maple, judas tree, dog-wood, fringe and 

 spiraea ; while the ground is covered with violets and 

 other modest blossoms, all a month or six weeks ahead 

 of their season. Fruit trees are in full bloom, while 

 Japan plums are ripe and of full size and flavor. — M., 

 Savannah , Ca . 



The Phylloxera in Europe. — The French vintage 

 of 1888 was good, both in quantity and quality, and the 

 vineyardists were greatly cheered by this fact, and by 

 the encouraging progress made in combatting the phyl- 

 loxera. But the official report for i88g is not so agree- 

 able. The phylloxera has extended its ravages, and has, 

 during the year, invaded three new departments, Aube, 

 Carthe and Haute Marne.— W. W. C. 



