1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULT URIST 
63 
it was one of the new plants for which Mr. Bull had 
certificates from the London Societies, but did not 
give it special attention at that time. Indeed, the 
Campsidium went quite out of-mind until last fall, 
when at Rochester, Mr. W. C. Barry called our at¬ 
tention to some fine specimens in the extensive 
greenhouses of Ellwanger & Barry. Mr. B. was 
quite enthusiastic over its beauty, as well he might 
be, and predicted for it great popularity. When 
• ,we returned home, we looked for our own speci¬ 
men, that came from Mr. Saul, and were glad to 
find it had grown to a vine two or three feet long, 
and clothed with leaves of the most graceful kind. 
The engraving will show the character of the fo¬ 
liage : according to the English catalogues, the 
leaves grow to the length of about five inches, 
though on our small plant they are only about half 
that; each leaf consists of six to twelve pairs of 
small leaflets, with a terminal one, these leaflets 
are lobed and toothed, and, being of a fine green 
color, the foliage has a strikingly fern-like aspect, 
and reminds one of some of the aspleniums. Its 
very beautiful foliage, and the delicate, twining 
stem, makes the plant a most admirable one for 
decorative work, especially for vases and baskets, 
where it can hang gracefully down the sides. It is 
suited to many of the uses, to which Myrsiftfiyllwn 
(Smilax) is put, and is superior to that in the greater 
delicacy and variety of its foliage. We notice that 
in England it is classed with the stove-plants, but 
ours appears to flourish in the greenhouse. It is 
said to bear cutting well, pushing out a new growth 
freely after it had been cut back ; another point in 
its favor is the ease with which it may be propa¬ 
gated from cuttings. Should it become as popular 
as it promises to be, uo doubt our florists will soon 
find the best manner of managing it, to supply it in 
such quantities, as they now do the deservedly 
popular “ Smilax.” The plant is a native of the 
Feejee islands. A word as to the name we have 
adopted. The flower is not known, and when the 
plant was received in England, it was called a 
Campsidium, from its resemblance in habit and fo¬ 
liage to other species of that genus, and the de¬ 
scriptive specific name, JUicifolium, or “ fem-leav- 
ed,” was given to it. But the best botanical authori¬ 
ties do not admit Campsidium as a genus. Bentham 
and Hooker find that it is not distinct from Teconia, 
the genus of our “Trumpet-flower.” Hence if, 
when the flowers and fruit are known, it should be 
found that its relationships were properly inferred, 
from its foliage, its correct scientific name will be 
Tecoma ftlicifoha, which readily Anglicises into 
“Fern-leaved Trumpet-flower,” a name under 
which it will stand a much better chance for pop¬ 
ularity, than if it is to be Campsidium filicifoliurn. 
But our name, like that, depends upon an if. 
--——--- 
The Pampas Gbass. —The plumes of this stately 
grass have been sent from California this fall in 
large numbers, to New York and other Eastern 
cities. Nothing can be finer in the way of orna¬ 
mental grasses, than these spikes, about a yard 
long, cf a dense wavy mass of silken florets and 
hairs, of nearly pure white. This grass (Gynerium 
argenieum) is dioecious, the pistillate or female 
spikes, being greatly inferior to tlje staminate in 
size and silkiness, so much so that some dealers 
supposed that another grass had been sent to them. 
The Pampas Grass must be cultivated largely iu 
California, probably expressly for these plumes, 
which appear as if they had been exposed to sul¬ 
phur fumes, as they are much whiter than we have 
seen them elsewhere. The first consignment sold 
at $3 for a pair of plumes, but later they came in 
such quantities and so variable in quality that deal¬ 
ers ofiered them at §1 and less. This grass is scarce¬ 
ly hardy at New York, though it may usually be 
kept through the winter by giving the roots a 
covering. A cask placed over the clump, filled 
with leaves, and covered with boards to shed rain, 
makes a not very sightly, but an efficient covering. 
- — ■■ — *- «ra l O Pl* »-•.-. 
A Rouble Crop—Cauliflower and Lettuce. 
BY PETEK HEXDERSOX. 
In the vicinity of our large cities there are acres 
of glass devoted to the forcing, or forwarding, of 
lettuce, radishes, etc. The principal crop, however, 
is lettuce, which is raised during the winter months, 
either iu the old-fashioned hot-beds, heated with 
stable manure, or else iu the more recent green¬ 
houses, heated by hot water pipes. But by far 
the largest quantity of early or forced lettuce is 
grown in the “ cold frames,” such as are used for 
keeping the plants over winter. These are simply 
two boards set on edge, and placed parallel to one 
another. The one at the back being about 1 foot 
in hight, the front one about 9 inches; the dis¬ 
tance apart being according to the length of the 
sash, which is usually 6 feet. These frames are al¬ 
ways placed in a position naturally sheltered from 
the north-west, or else a high board fence is built 
to shelter them. The soil is pulverized and en¬ 
riched in the best possible manner, and the lettuce 
is planted usually (here) about the first week in 
March, or nearly a month before operations can be 
begun in the open field. When the ordinary size 
of sash (3x6 feet) is used, about 50 lettuce plants 
are set under each sash, or 5 rows of 10 plants in 
each, as shown in figure 1. But when a double crop 
of lettuce and cauliflower is grown under the same 
sash, they are planted, as shown at figure 2, with 
three entire rows of lettuce, and three of the 
lettuce plants in the other two rows replaced by 
cauliflower, the cross (x) showing where the cauli- 
1. SASH OF LETTUCE. 2 LETTUCE & CAULIFLOWER. 
flower plants are placed. Thus planted, each sash 
contains 44 plants of lettuce, and 6 plants of cauli¬ 
flower-Presuming that both are planted on 
March 1st, and protected in the usual way with 
sash, the lettuce will be fit for use, and cut out by 
about May 1st, leaving the whole space in the frame 
to be occupied by the six plants of cauliflower, 
which, at this season, protected by the glass, will 
now grow so rapidly that it will be necessary to add 
to tfie frames another board in hight, so as to give 
it head room. With proper attention to airing and 
watering, an excellent crop of cauliflowers is al¬ 
most certain by the end of May, or about three 
weeks sooner than it would mature out-doors, if it 
matured at all; for all cultivators know how pre¬ 
carious a crop cauliflower is when planted in the 
open ground in our hot, dry Juue weather. In 
England the crop rarely fails, when planted in 
spring out-doors, for there they get very nearly the 
conditions of temperature which we give when for¬ 
warded under glass in the way above described.... 
The advantage of this double crop is apparent. 
Only six plants of lettuce are lost by the presence 
of the cauliflower, while three weeks longer use of 
the sash matures the cauliflower, which at that 
season readily sells in New York at from $6 to $9 
per dozen, and by averaging the lettuce at 85 per 
100, a moderate estimate for the double crop of 
lettuce and cauliflower per sash, would be $5. The 
variety of lettuce used is the Boston Market, and 
of cauliflower, the Early Erfurt. Though the new 
dwarf sort known as Snowball, will probably, with 
its compact growth and short leaves, do even better. 
— 
The Crossing of’ Lilies. 
BY PIIOF. ASA GI’.AY. 
Mr. Francis Parkman is famous as a horticultur- 
istas well as a historian. Iu anew number of the 
“Bulletin of the Bussey Institution”—of which 
lie was formerly Professor of Horticulture—he has 
now given the history of his “Hybridization of 
Lilies,” carried on for ten or a dozen years. He be¬ 
gan by crossing two superb Japanese Lilies, L. spe- 
ciosum and L. auratum. The first year he failed; 
the second year brought one splendid success ; for 
it gave us that superb lily, twelve and even four¬ 
teen inches from tip to tip of the extended petals, 
which, when sent to England, astonished thp horti¬ 
cultural world, and which there received the name 
of Parkman’s Lily {LVium Parkmanni). The other 
results obtained in this and the succeeding opera¬ 
tions, were of little or no practical value, but were 
as surprising as the Parkman Lily is magnificent. 
We expect offspring to take after both parents, 
a hybrid to inherit somewhat equally the charac¬ 
ters of the two species that compose it. That w 7 as 
the case with the Parkman Lily, which has the 
fragrance and form of L. auratum, and the brilliant 
color of the best races of L. speciosum. But this 
was the result in only one case out of more than 
fifty. Every other seed that germinated and lived 
to bloom, produced flowers exactly like those of 
the female parent, L. speciosum. But they were hy¬ 
brids nevertheless. Mr. Parkman took all the 
necessary precaution to q>revent access of own pol¬ 
len ; and the seedlings showed the blood of the 
male parent in their stems, though not in the blos¬ 
som ; for these were mottled in the manner charac¬ 
teristic of L. auratum. Though the male parent 
showed for so little in the first generation, there 
was reason to hope it might be impressed on the 
second. So Mr. Parkman fertilized several of these 
hybrids witli the pollen of L. auratum, precisely as 
their female parent had been fertilized. The result 
was a very little seed set, but enough to produce 
8 or 10 young bulbs. Of these, when they bloomed, 
one bore a flower combining the features of both 
parents. All the rest bore flowers not distinguish¬ 
able from those of L. speciosum. 
Was this invetrate habit of taking after the 
mother only, or mainly, a peculiarity of these two 
species, or was it a character of Lilies generally ? 
To settle that question, Mr. Parkman crossed L. 
umbeUatum with the pollen of L. auratum. The 
progeny was not to be distinguished from L. aura¬ 
tum, yet showed its hybridity in the imperfect 
condition of the stamens of many of the blos¬ 
soms, and in the abortion of the pistil of some of 
them. Next he crossed L. Vmgiflorum with the 
pollen of a deep red variety of L. speciosum. Seeds 
were abundantly formed ; but the plants raised 
from them produced the flowers of the female pa¬ 
rent, unchanged, the pure white being without tint 
or spot. Some of these he now crossed with L. au- 
