i;h« barter's JtlontMg. 



121 



Begonia Digswelliensis— This I consider to 

 be one of the best and most useful plants which we 

 possess for yielding a constant supply of cut flowers 

 throughout the autumn and winter months, and 

 these with me being in constant demand, I am 

 able by keeping some eight or nine plants of it in a 

 temperature of from 60° to 65°, to cut a nice quan- 

 tity of flowers from them two or three times a week, 

 and they last well in water. So vigorous is this 

 variety of Begonia that the more one cuts it, the 

 thicker it breaks and flowers. In addition to the 

 gaiety of the blossoms, the foliage is beautifully 

 green, so that when once this variety has become 

 fairly known it cannot fail to be appreciated. — J. 

 Ford, Brainfield, near Welwyn, in Gard. Chronicle. 



LiLiUM SPLENDIDUM — A record of the New Flow- 

 ers of the past year must include that fine variety of 

 Lilium auratum named splendidum, which Messrs. 

 W. Cutbush& Son, ofHighgate, exhibited at South 

 Kensington in August last. Instead of the usual 

 orange-colored band on each petal, this had a band of 

 dullish crimson, which made the flower highly at- 

 tractive. No attempt has yet been made to classify 

 the varieties of L. auratum j on account of the 

 comparative scarcity of the plant. 



There are varieties extant, not only noticeable 

 from the difi*erenceof the "marking" of the flowers, 

 but also in striking diff"erences of foliage, though 

 it does not appear to have been clearly demonstra- 

 ted as yet, that a variation in the length or breadth 

 of the leaves, or a difi'erence in the hue of color of 

 the same, necessarily implies such a deparature 

 from the original type of the flower as will constitute 

 a variety. — Gard. Chronicle. 



Datura ceratocaula. — The noblest half-hardy 

 annual in cultivation is, in my opinion, Datura 

 ceratocaula ; and it may not be amiss to draw some 

 of your readers' attention to it just now, at the seed 

 ordering period. Not suited for bedding, or any- 

 thing ot the kind, it yet has charms which entitle 

 it to a place in every garden where any interest and 

 variety is sought. These are, in form and odor, of 

 the highest type. If well grown in some rather 

 warm spot with a rich soil, it will give forth a fra- 

 grance as valuable for the open-air garden as the 

 Indian Daphne is for greenhouse ; and the beauti- 

 ful satiny pink flowers open in the evening almost 

 as large as to cover the crown of one's hat. Sow 

 on a gentle hotbed in April, and prick out into some 

 quiet nook, or into the border, in May. It might be 

 most advantageously associated with a few other 



hardy or half-hardy sweet-smelling plants, especially 

 if proprietor or cultivator were fond of such. — Via- 

 tor, in Gard. Chronicle. 



^OHiPsSir Infpnigpnrp. 



The Climatology op Fruit Culture.— At 

 a meeting of the Fruit-growers', Col. D. A. Rob- 

 ertson said it has been ascertained by costly exper- 

 iment, that most varieties of fruit trees will not 

 survive the winter climate of Minnesota, while 

 some few of northern origin, such as the Duchess 

 of Oldenburg, successfully resist the rigors of our 

 winters. It is also a matter of fact, that in climates 

 whose winters are as cold as ours, apples, etc., 

 thrive well, but the experiment of introducing these 

 hardy varieties from Lower Canada, northern Ver- 

 mont or Maine, has also generally proved a failure. 



But these failures have not disheartened Col. 

 Robertson, who has an abiding faith that the Apple 

 may, in time, be educated to our climate, and that, 

 in the meantime, there are many existing varieties^ 

 besides those already introduced, which are entirely 

 adapted to our climate. He assumes that these va- 

 rieties may be found in analagous climates. This 

 principle has been generally recognized by intelli- 

 gent horticulturists, their only error being in re- 

 garding those climates as analagous whore the win- 

 ter temperatures, or, still more loosely, where lines 

 of latitude, correspond. But atmospheric moisture 

 is almost as important an element of climate as tem- 

 perature, and this principle of climatology has been 

 very generally overlooked by our fruit growers. 

 Gruyot divides climates generally into two classes — 

 the maritime or oceanic, which covers the sea-ward 

 slopes of continents with the humid atmosphere of 

 the sea, and the interior or continental ciimateSj 

 where a dry atmosphere prevails, such as reigns over 

 the interior plains of Asia and America. 



Now, the climate of Minnesota is a blending of 

 these two in summer ; while, in winter, the arid in- 

 terior atmosphere generally prevails. It is in a cor- 

 responding geographical situation in the Eastern 

 Hemisphere that we must seek for the chmatic par- 

 allel of Minnesota, both as to heat and moisture. 

 We, long ago, pointed out the striking coincidence 

 both of temperature and rain measures, between the 

 climate of Minnesota and Central Russia, and it is 

 here that Col. Robertson is led, by his researches 

 in Natural History, to look for the apples, pears, 

 plums and cherries which are suited to the peculiar 

 conditions of our Minnesota climate. The subject 

 is one of such great importance as will justify prac" 



