422 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
lure can not be given, the plant should not be 
purchased, no matter how beautiful it may ap- 
pear in the hands of a skillful gardener. In ad- 
dition to this, none but strictly ■winter-blooming 
plants should be grown in the small greenhouse 
of an amateur, as the object in having such a 
luxury is not to make the greenhouse a store- 
house for summer-blooming plants, but to have 
a continual bloom during the dreary winter. 
Our selections, therefore, will have especial 
reference to this desideratum, and we shall 
divide them into separate classes. We can 
only briefly name the most suitable genera and 
species, for our space will not admit of an ex- 
tended notice or description of each. 
HARD-WOODED PLANTS. 
AbutUon. This is a well-known genus of 
easily grown plants. They grow rapidly, but 
take up much room in the greenhouse, and on 
this account should be severely pruned. They 
require plenty of light. In our opinion, they 
often displace plants of greater beauty. 
Acacias are all beautiful, but some species 
grow to a great size. A. decurrens and A. cul- 
triformis are two of the best. 
Ardisia crenulata, desirable on account of its 
bright, glossy foliage and brilliant red berries. 
Azaleas. All the varieties of Chinese Azaleas 
■are elegant, but owing to their being so 
numerous, and new ones being brought for- 
ward every year, it is difficult to say which are 
the best. "We have grown the following vari- 
eties with much satisfaction : Admiration, pure 
white, striped, and flamed with salmon ; Baron 
tie Vriere, pale rose, spotted and shaded with 
crimson, and edged with white; Beaute del'Eu- 
rope, white, spotted, and striped with rose; Cri- 
terion, salmon rose, edged with white; Em- 
press Eugenie, bright rose, with black spots 
■on the upper petals; Fielder's, white, pure 
white ; Eulalie Von Geest, rose color, shading 
to white on the edges of the petals, with car- 
mine spots ; Iveryana, white, striped, and shaded 
with rose ; Magniflora de Spae, white, washed 
with salmon, bordered with white, and with 
dark spots ; Narcissiflora, double white ; Vittata 
rosea and Vittata Fortune!; these last two being 
early winter-blooming varieties. 
Burchellia capensis — Beaufortia decussate — 
Bouvardia leiantha, and its varieties. 
Camellias. No collection is complete that 
does not include several varieties of this superb 
plant. Of the numerous varieties in the cata- 
logues we recommend the following as being 
perfect in form and free bloomers, opening their 
flowers easily, which many varieties do not. 
The Double White ; Candidissima, white, bloom- 
ing late in the season ; Fimbriata, white, with 
the edges of the petals fringed; Bonomiana, 
white, striped, and spotted with deep red ; Lady 
Hume's Blush, blush white; Imbricata, deep 
rose, with large splashes of white; Bealii, deep, 
rich crimson ; Myrtifolia, carmine, shading to 
pale rose; Saccoi nova, varying in color from 
pale rose to carmine, and sometimes spotted 
with white; Teutonia, produces flowers all red 
or all white, or sometimes half white and half 
red on the same plant; Commensa, or Reine 
des Fleurs, vermilion red, sometimes splashed 
with white; Donklaarii, is a single-flowered 
variety, with very large vase-shaped flowers of 
a deep crimson color, spotted witli white. 
Chorizema varium — Coronilla glauca— Correa 
pulchella — C. speciosa, and their hybrids. 
Citrus, or Orange. The best varieties for 
ordinary greenhouse culture are the Myrtle- 
leaved, the Bergamot, and the Seville, or Bit- 
ter Orange. This has very large flowers. The 
Otaheite is a very pretty, dwarf-growing spe- 
cies. Lemons, Limes, Citrons, and Shaddocks 
are only suitable for large conservatories, as 
they take up a great deal of room. The three 
varieties we have named above, are moderate 
growers and free bloomers. 
Daphne odora — D. Indica rubra — D. Fioniana 
and D. Cneorum — Dracaena ferrea and D. indi- 
msa — Diosma ericoides and D. ciliaris — Eranthc- 
mum pulchellum — Erica Mediterranea — E. arbo- 
rea and E. persoluta — Euta.ria myrtifolia. 
Fuchsia — F. serratifolia — F. corymbiflora and 
F. speciosa are free winter-blooming varieties ; 
the ordinary varieties do not bloom until April 
and May — Genista ramosus and G. rhodaphne — 
Sabroiliamnus elegans and H. corymbosus — He- 
liotropium Peruvianum, and its varieties — Hoya 
carnosa — Jasminum rewlutum — J. grandiflorum 
and its double-flowered variety — Justicia carnea 
— J. speciosa and J. nervosa — Kennedya Marryat- 
ice — K. coccinea — K. rubicunda, and K. bimacu- 
lata — Linum trigynum—Libonia floribunda. 
Myrsipliyllum asparagoides and Mandevillea 
suaveolens, both fine climbers. 
Melaleuca elegans and 31. speciosa — Metrosi- 
deros floribunda and M. semperflorens — Pittospo- 
rum Tobira, and the variety with variegated 
leaves — Poly gala myrtifolia and P. Dalmaisiana 
— Pimelia decussate. 
Rhododendron arboreum, and its various hy- 
brids. Many of these latter, as P. Russellianum, 
are of much dwarfer habit than the original spe- 
cies. A number of new species from the Him- 
alayan Mountains have been introduced of late 
years ; many of these are remarkable for their 
large foliage and flowers; they require a cool, 
moist atmosphere. P. Falconeri, B. Gibsoni, 
P. niveum, and P. ciliatum are very fine. 
Pondeletia speciosa — Phyncospermum jasmin- 
oides, a beautiful climber — Thea viridis, the Tea 
plant — Viburnum Tinas, the Laurustinus, and 
Monthly Roses. 
SOFT-WOODED PLANTS. 
Begonia fuchsioides and B. Ingramii. 
Calceolarias. These are generally raised from 
seeds, obtainable in fine variety at any of our 
leading seed stores — and the same remark ap- 
plies to Cinerarias. 
Pelargoniums of nearly all the species. Of these 
the varieties are so numerous, and new ones 
are so rapidly being brought out, that it is better 
to make the selections from the catalogues from 
time to time. P. Comptoniana is a true win- 
ter-blooming species. 
Penlas carnea and P. rosea — Cuphea eminens 
and C. platycentra. 
Primula Sinensis. Of this species there are 
now a great number of varieties, both single and 
double, white, and of various shades of red. All 
the double-flowered varieties are desirable, and 
of the single varieties what are known as the 
fringe-flowered and the fern-leaved are the finest. 
Puellia formosa — Slrelilzia regina and Tetra- 
iheca verlicillata — Calla JEthiopica and the varie- 
gated-leaved variety — and winter-blooming 
Carnations and Pinks. 
SUCCULENT PLANTS. 
Aloe margaritifera — A. retusa and A. variega- 
te — Pochea coccinea — Craisula iiersieolor and their 
varieties — Sempervivum arachnoideum and 8. 
tabuloformie—Cereusgrandiflorus—C. Maynardii 
and C. speciosissimus — Epiphyllum crenatum — E. 
speciosum — E. Jenhinsonii — E. May-Fly — E. 
truncatum, with its varieties, violaceum and Rus- 
sellianum — Echinocactus Eyresii, and E. Ottonis. 
BULBOUS PLANTS. 
Hyacinths — Narcissuses — Early Tulips — Cro- 
cuses — Amaryllis Johnsoni — A. vittata and their 
hybrids, and A. undulate. 
Lachenalia tricolor and L. quadricolor — Leia 
crocata — I. viridiflora and J. speciosa — Oralis fla- 
belliformis—O. versicolor — 0. rosacea and 0. spe- 
ciosa — Ornitlwgalum arabicum — 0. aureum, and 
0. tJiyrsoides alba — Sparaxis tricolor — Troprno- 
lum iricolorum — T. Jarrattii and T. pentaphyl- 
lum. These three are delicate climbers. — Cy- 
clamen persicum, and its varieties. 
TERRESTRIAL ORCHTDS. 
Bleiia hyacinthina — Cypripedium insigne — 
CalantJte veratrifolia — Cymbidium aloifolium, 
and C. sinense. 
FEHNS. 
Davallia Canariensc — Platycerium alcicorne — 
Adiantum Capillus Veneris, and A. cuneutum — 
Blechnum corcovadense-Pleris cretica albo-lineata 
—P. serrulate, and P. serrulata-vanegate — Ony- 
chium Japonicum — Cyrtomium falcatum — Las- 
trcea Sieboldii, and Didymochlama pulchernma. 
- ' f » i « 
Fruit-Growing about Leavenworth. 
The fame of Kansas as a fruit-growing State, 
honestly won by competition with all the States 
in fairs held at the East, where the largest and 
choicest displays lake place, had awakened an 
eager desire to visit Leavenworth, one of the 
largest and longest-settled towns in the State. 
It may be that Dr. Stayman, whose heresies 
about pruning and planting had been troubling 
the wise men of the East, had something to do 
with our curiosity. There is generally quite as 
good occasion for heresy in the garden as in the 
pulpit, and we always like to meet a man who 
fights against dogmatism, even if he is a little 
dogmatic himself. "We were hardly prepared 
for the display of fruits at the Planter's House, 
on the occasion of the reception of our party. 
Though prepared under many disadvantages, 
and drawn mainly from the immediate vicinity. 
it would have done honor to any State exhibi- 
tion. A friend took us out to Dr. Stayman's 
house in the suburbs of the city, where we 
found a fine display of fruit. But we there 
learned that the Doctor had met with so many 
discouragements on the bottom land of the Mis- 
souri, that he had given up fruit-growing in the 
valley and gone on to the bluffs, some two miles 
out of the city. Others, less fastidious, keep 
planting in their city yards, and though they 
have some blight among the pears, and some 
varieties of apples fail, they are in the main 
successful, and raise a great abundance of ap- 
ples, peaches, pears, plums, and grapes, besides 
the smaller fruits. Grapes seem to be entirely 
at home in this valley, all the way from St. 
Louis up, and we presume much farther north. 
We found Dr. Stayman where we always like 
to meet a fruit grower, under his own vine 
and apple-tree. He has selected the south-east 
spur of a bluff that extends for miles along the 
west bank of the Missouri. It is a limestone 
soil, and the rock crops out in some places. The 
land was in a rough state, and covered with 
brush, when he took it in hand a few years ago. 
The only preparation of the soil was the re- 
moval of the brush and deep plowing. The 
bluff is 160 feet above the Missouri River. The 
reason for selecting this spot was the more even 
temperature which he found to exist here. The 
thermometer shows that the air is five degrees 
warmer at morning, and five cooler at noon, 
than in the adjacent valley. This difference in 
temperature is found to be very favorable for 
grapes. And this difference probably exists 
between the high bluffs and the valleys all 
through the State It is a fact of very great im- 
portance to all the settlers, who are just begin- 
