THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
431 
of plantations in Central Park, New York, bv the re- 
moval of dead or failing specimens has been more large- 
ly in the cutting of Norway Spruce than any other 
species. The growing dissastisfaction with Norway 
Spruce for landscape planting has resulted in a greatly 
increased use of Hemlocks for evergreen effects, and 
the change has been a satisfactory one where the Win- 
ter sunshine has not been too warm ; it is not so much 
the actual depth of the thermometer's descent into the 
lower regions which does the damage as its unexpected 
rises and sudden heats in early Spring. Where a mass 
of evergreen foliage is required, the slender interlacing 
branches with their feathery foliage are sufficient pro- 
tection to one another to withstand the most extreme 
changes of our Winter climate. The walks which lead 
through this department should not be to any great 
distance in a straight line if it can be avoided, neither 
should they be too much twisted. There is something in 
a fine, gentle sweep or easy curve so pleasing in a walk, 
that few are insensible of its beauty. The width of 
the walks should be regulated bv the length and scale 
of the ground, as too narrow walks for principal ones 
have never a good effect. In disposing of walks, it is 
necessary to lead them to the principal buildings and 
other interesting parts of the grounds, that one may be 
conducted insensibly, as it were by accident, and with- 
out turning back, or seeming to go out of the way to 
every object deserving notice. Havir.g Nature in view, 
walks should not turn without some apparent excuse. 
Taste must determine their general course from the 
range of the objects to be displayed. Apparent reasons 
for particular turns may be created by art, but this re- 
quires taste and judgment in maintaining connection in 
the parts. It is, therefore, the safest resource for the 
gardener to create his artificial reasons for these devia- 
tions by planting trees or placing some other artificial 
impediment in the way. The best walks are direct and 
convenient ; straight walks are more appropriate to little 
gardens than curved walks. The ideal walk is pleasing 
to the eye, ear, and foot ; not glaring, noisy, scratchy, 
hard or muddy. Grass comes nearest the ideal, but is 
expensive to maintain and cannot stand hard wear. 
Stepping stones make paths available after rain but in- 
crease expense. 
THE YELLOW SWEET PEA. 
TN the report of Mr. David Burpee's address to the 
eighth annual meeting of the American Sweet Pea 
Society, it is stated that if the Yellow Sweet Pea ever 
comes it will be as a result of crossing Lathyrus odora- 
tus with some other species. In regard to the Legu- 
minosae, the statement is made that "Species crosses are 
extremely rare in the family, and, in spite of the work 
of many hybridists, there is on record no well-established 
case of a cross between Lathyrus odoratus and any 
other species of Lathyrus." In 1910 I devoted the whole 
of the Summer to an attempt to cross varieties of L. 
odoratus with the pollen of L. pratensis. It was tedious 
work, requiring a considerable amount of patience, and 
I made hundreds of crosses from our little native 
species. The pollen of L. pratensis, I discovered, is 
rarely found in a suitable condition for the work of the 
hybridist, and out of thousands of flowers I only suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a very small quantity that was of. 
any use for my purpose. After a considerable expendi- 
ture of time arid labor I managed to get one pod of seed. 
It was carefullv kept, and six or seven seeds were sown 
in the early spring of 1911. One seed germinated, the 
others failed. In the F 1 generation the plant was a poor 
grandiflora tvpe, with an ordinary sized dirty blue flower. 
I knew that' the seed parent was homozygous, and the 
appearance of the hvbrid, even in the F, generation, 
convinced me that the cross was successful. I saved one 
or two pods of seed, and if I had any doubts previously, 
J had none when I saw the young seedlings in genera- 
tion F 2 . When the seedlings were only two inches in 
height it was evident from their appearance that a 
successful break was an accomplished fact. In due 
course those seedlings flowered, and blooms were shown 
to Mr. William Cuthbertson and one or two others. The 
summer of I'll 2 was disastrous to seed-sowing in my 
district, and I was unable to save a single seed from any 
of my Sweet Pea seedlings. I imagine, however, that 
the flowers of the cross between L. odoratus and L. 
pratensis were sterile. 
I had some correspondence on the subject with Mr. 
Hooper Pearson, and he advised me to have specimens 
of the flowers, foliage and stems dried for reference, so 
that I could prove that I had made this cross. I followed 
Mr. Pearson "s advice, and the dried specimens are now 
in existence. A year or two ago an Australian gentle- 
man claimed to have made this cross, and a note from 
him was duly published in the columns of this journal. 
He took the credit of being the first to make the cross, 
but I dealt with that at the time, as reference to the 
indexes of his journal will prove. 
I also succeeded in making the cross between L. 
pratensis and L. odoratus. The seedlings have never 
flowered, but in cases of certain crosses between species 
this is nothing unusual. Mr. W. R. Dykes has drawn 
attention, in these pages, to the difficulty of obtaining 
crosses between bearded and non-bearded Iris, and to 
the experience of Sir Michael Foster therein, so far as 
the non-flowering of the hybrid is concerned. 
What has been done before can be done again, and I 
am prepared to do it if necessary. But, in the mean- 
time, I see no prospect of obtaining any adequate return 
for the time and labor that is necessary if the hybrid is 
to be obtained. — George M. Taylor in The Gardeners' 
Chronicle (English). 
BUDDLEIAS. 
DUDDLEIAS have come into much notice of late 
years, though some of them are not at all new 
shrubs but have been long in collections. There are 
two divisions of them, one bearing panicles of flowers, 
the others having them in globular heads. One of the 
latter, B. globoso, was to be seen in English gardens 
half a century and more ago ; but coming from Chili it 
is not hardy with us except in states where but little 
frost occurs. 
The panicled ones are those seen in our gardens, 
represented by Lindleyana, japonica, asiatica, intermedia 
and the like. These are termed panicled, but as the 
panicles continue to lengthen a long time, they become 
racemes, almost pendulous in some cases. 
The Buddleias are quite unlike most other shrubs. 
They flower from the shoots of the current season, the 
plants being well pruned back in Spring, as is best done 
to all Summer blooming shrubs. When so pruned we 
have seen them make shoots of four feet to six feet, 
these shoots bearing a panicle of flowers at their ex- 
tremities. These panicles start flowering very soon, but 
continue to lengthen and flower until often some of them 
measure a foot in length. The flowers are small but 
numerous, varying in color from white to violet and 
yellow, according to the species or variety. 
The best display of these shrubs is made in August 
and September, which encourages their planting in 
shrubberies, the greater number of shrubs being out of 
flower at that time. Florists have grown some of these 
Buddleias under glass for their flowers, with what profit 
we do not know. — Exchange. 
