AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
61 
MAURANDIA BARCLAYANA. 
Two Useful Climbers. 
Last summer it became necessary to provide 
some kind of a screen for two long windows 
which came clown to a veranda. Rapidly 
growing plants were desirable, as well as those 
having beauty of leaf and foliage. Small 
galvanized wire was rim from one pillar of the 
veranda to another, to form a support, and 
several plants of Maurandia and Lophosperraum 
were set out. The wires were soon covered 
with a screen of foliage sufficiently dense for the 
purpose, and a constant show of flowers was 
kept up until hard frosts destroyed the vines. 
We were so much pleased with the result that 
we had drawings of the flowers made last sum- 
mer, and present them above. The Maurandia 
is the more delicate of the two, and has very 
pretty leaves of a pleasing light green and of a 
somewhat triangular shape. The commonest 
species is Maurandia Bardayana, a native of 
Mexico, and presents several varieties, which 
range in color from white and lilac to purple. 
Lophospermum (L. erubescens) is a much 
more robust grower, with larger stems, leaves, 
and flowers. Both the stem and leaves are 
clothed with an abundance of fine sticky hairs, 
which give the plant a pleasing velvety appear- 
ance. Both this and the Maurandia climb by 
twisting their lent" stalks around the wire, or 
other support, which they clasp with a remark- 
able degree of firmness. The calyx is conspicu- 
ous both before the flowers open and after they 
have fallen. The shape of the flowers is given 
in the engraving; they are downy and of a 
pleasing rose color. The name Lopho&parmum 
means crested seed, while Miiurandia is given 
in honor of a professor of botany named 
Mauramly; neither has any common name. 
Both of these climbers may be readily raised 
from seed, but un- 
less they are started 
under glass early in 
the spring they will 
be rather late in 
coming into flower. 
As they propagate 
readily by cuttings, 
they are kept by 
florists, and it is 
much better to 
obtain established 
plants. In the case 
above referred to the 
plants were set out 
in the border, but 
they may be grown 
to decorate balco- 
nies, taking care to 
give them plenty of 
pot room, or in 
window boxes. Sev- 
eral other climbers 
are useful for cover- 
ing screens and 
balconies, but the 
above have a deli- 
cate and refined ap- 
pearance that is par- 
ticularly pleasing. 
Some of the newer 
Tropceolums or Nas- 
turtians are brill- 
iant and showy, and 
are easily raised from 
seeds, though plants 
raised from cuttings 
may be had at the 
florists. The beautiful Canary-bird climber, 
also a Tropoeolum, so beautiful in foliage and 
curious in flower, and so easily grown, is a 
plant that cannot be too strongly commended. 
Cherries— Culture and Varieties. 
BT F. It. ELLIOTT, CLEVELAND, OHIO. 
[Mr.Elliott has given particular attention to 
the cherry, and has long been regarded as our 
best authority on the subject. In view of the 
general neglect into which this fruit has of late 
years fallen, we requested Mr. E. to prepare an 
article for the Horticultural Annual. The man- 
uscript came too late to insure its insertion in 
the Annual, ami thinking it too valuable to go 
unpublished, we present it here. — Editors.] 
From the large number of varieties of cher- 
ries that rank as best, it is a task difficult of per- 
formance to select a dozen that shall combine 
all the good qualities and be void of the bad. 
Nevertheless, having given the cherry my care- 
ful attention for many years, I will venture to 
make a selection, which I feel can be planted 
and the growth and fruit prove perfectly satis- 
factory, and although it may not combine, or 
rather embrace, all the good, I feel assured it 
will have less of the bad than any other list of 
the same number of sorts that can be made. 
Prefatory to the description of my list, let me 
say the cherry tree will not bear " wet feet," — 
in other words, the position where it stands 
must be well drained, so that at no time will the 
water remain stagnant in the soil about the 
roots. Gravelly and sandy soils require little 
or no artificial drainage, and the cherry seems 
especially at home when planted in gravelly 
loam ; but let no one, because his laud is clay, 
be deterred from planting the cherry, for I have 
LOPHOspr.RMrM F.nrr.EscExs. 
found it repeatedly doing equally well in a clay 
loam, when due attention has been paid to sur- 
face drainage. In the rich prairie soils, surface 
drainage is often quite as requisite as in soils of 
a heavier and more clayey nature. The fine- 
ly comminuted soil of the prairie seems to hold 
water in its pores, even when well undcrdrained, 
to such an extent as to create disease in the 
roots of all soft-rooted trees, producing an 
unhealthy, although perhaps rapid, growth, that 
results in death from climatic influence, either 
of summer or winter. In gravelly soils the 
growth of the cherry is quite moderate, and in 
strong clay soils, with good surface drainage, 
the growth is about the same; it completely 
ripens its wood and root and withstands ex- 
tremes of temperature as well as the apple. 
In procuring trees for planting, my advice is 
to get those only one year old from the bud, 
and see to it that they form their branches for 
the permanent head at not more than two feet 
from the ground. This low form will make 
them more capable of withstanding severe 
winds, and the foliage will shade the bodies 
from the effects of hot suns in summer. AYith 
these few remarks I will commence my enumer- 
ation and condensed description of my twelve 
soils, taking the xwect cherries first, and as 
nearly as possible in their order of ripening. 
Eakly Prnri.ii Gcigne. — The trees of this 
variety are poor growers in the nursery, and to 
make good orchard trees they should always be 
headed back while young. As orchard trees 
they are among the most hardy of all this class, 
producing abundantly, when they once acquire 
mature age — say ten or twelve years. A fruit 
of medium size, purplish-black, ami of sweet, 
rich flesh. As a market variety, its earliness 
makes it one of the most valuable. 
Rockfoht,— The free of this variety is very 
