570 



THE Y SA V. 



Nothing can look more barren at this season than the 

 wild heath {^Hiidsonia ericoides). Here are acres of it 

 apparently dead, as if scorched by fire, but if you could 

 come next May, you would see a sight never to be forgot- 

 ten. It will be one grand flower-bed of clear yellow, by 

 which all our cultivated plants look shabby and poor. 



Did you ever go out for a walk and count the differ- 

 ent wild flowers in bloom ? If not, try it once, and see 

 what an extra interest it will excite in even an ordinary 

 walk. Still better, it will be to make a list of the different 

 plants, not merely the showy and beautiful ones, but 

 include the humble and unpretending ones also. You 

 will find many that are new to you, and perhaps you 

 will not know their names, and, too, you may find sev- 

 eral which you thought alike to be very different on 

 closer observation. You will note these differences in 

 your mind and soon will know each plant you meet. If 

 you have a text book of botany, it will help you 

 Many a delightful afternoon may be spent in the fields, 

 book in hand, learning nature's secrets. With a little 

 practice with your book, you can find the names of most 

 of the plants you meet, but let me say right here, do not 

 take it for granted that the common name you know a 

 plant by will always be the one given in your text book, 

 as common names are in many cases only local in their 

 use. — F. L. Bassett, New Jersey. 



Color Variation in Primulas. — Having very choice 

 varieties of Chinese primroses, we concluded, last 

 winter, to try an experiment on the variation of color. 

 Two varieties were chosen for our purpose, one being 

 the new porcelain blue, and the other a white-flowering 

 variety with red stripes and blotches. We crossed the 

 striped variety with pollen from the blue, thinking to 

 produce a sort having the national colors — red, white 

 and blue — in the same flower. From the seed produced 

 by this crossing, we succeeded in growing about a hun- 

 dred plants. In all stages of growth, the foliage and 

 general appearance of the plants were identical with 

 those of the blue-flowering variety, but when in bloom, 

 not one flower was produced which had a speck of blue 

 in it. About one dozen plants in the entire lot bore 

 striped flowers — red on a white ground. The others 

 produced flowers of a beautiful china rose with a very 

 faint reflection of blue, forming a variety wholly unlike 

 any which we previously had. The improvement in the 

 size of bloom, and the low, robust habit of foliage is 

 decidedly marked, and shows clearly that the influence 

 of the pollen from the blue had materially affected the 

 seed of the striped variety. The plants were, to all 

 appearance, likely to produce blue flowers, but it 

 turned out that not one did so, and, except that the 

 flowers have but a mere noticeable reflection of blue, 

 they do not -at all resemble those of the blue variety, 

 though the foliage is decidedly similar. We shall con- 

 tinue our experiments by crossing the blue upon these 

 new striped and rose-colored varieties, and we may 

 eventually develop a more prominent influence of all 

 the blue in the bloom as well as in the foliage. — John F. 

 Rupp, Skirejnanslown, Pa. 



Nigella Sativa. 



Some Good Old-Fashioned Plants. — I agree with 

 Conference Corner for May about the Nigella Damas- 

 cena, or "love-in-a-mist," also called "ragged lady." 

 But in connection with it, I would notice Nigella sativa, 

 "garden spice." There was always a bed of this in my 

 grandmother's garden, and the seeds were used for 

 flavoring apple pies, and in my boyhood's memory gave 

 a flavor not surpassed by any of the spices of the 

 tropics. It is now rarely found in the lists of the 

 seedsmen, as it is less showy 

 than the N. Daniascena. 



Don, in his greenhouse diction, 

 ary, calls it "Cultivated Fennell 

 Flower," to distinguish it from 

 many species growing wild in 

 southern Europe. He says: 

 "Formerly, the seeds of N. 

 sativa were much in use as a car- 

 minative stimulant and nervine, 

 but this medicine has become 

 deservedly obsolete. They are 

 still used in some parts of Ger- 

 many and Asia in cookery in- 

 stead of spice, being a pleasant 

 aromatic. Said to be used ex- 

 tensively in the adulteration of 

 pepper." The cost of the seeds and the peculiar flavor 

 would interfere with this last use, but it is worthy of 

 being restored among the sweet herbs in every garden. 



Adonis aiitiunnalis ■ — "Flos Adonis," "Peasant's 

 Eye," "Soldiers-in-Green" — is another old-fashioned 

 flower worthy of retention. It thrives with common 

 care and is very hardy. It blooms in autumn, and 

 continues to blossom till the ground freezes. Its blood- 

 red flowers, surrounded with its finely cut leaves, is very 

 striking in its effects when all other flowers but, per- 

 chance, a stray pansy, are faded. Pressed in the leaves 

 of a book, it makes the prettiest souvenir in the whole 

 floral kingdom. 



There was also a dwarf rose, called "button rose," 

 or '' Burgundy rose," half hardy, that we have not seen 

 in many years, that we would like to see again in every 

 quarter. — T. S. Gold, Cream Hill, Conn. 



What Makes the Difference? — A splendid bush of 

 the Mrs. John Laing rose, which has been filling the 

 house with pleasant odor from its many blossoms, is 

 standing in the window. This rose is only of recent in- 

 troduction, but is surely winning its way to the hearts 

 of the rose growers, although no great stir has been 

 made over it, as was done when the now almost worth- 

 less Majesty was brought out. For two seasons, both 

 in the greenhouse and out of doors, the former has 

 proved for me a most gratifying success, while the 

 latter, under like conditions for three years, has proved 

 almost an unmitigated failure in everything, except that 

 it makes a fair growth. Why two roses so much alike, 

 and from the same English source, should so greatly 

 differ in worth, seems to me a problem worthy of serious 

 consideration. — E. E. Summey, Niagara Co., N. Y. 



