422 
AMEEIOA]^ AGBIOULTURIST, 
[October, 
Notes From the Pines. 
I have a fondness for the much divided foliage 
of the Aralias, which, as shown in our native Her¬ 
cules Club {Aralia spinosa), produces fine tropical 
effects. Several j’cars ago I set out a number under 
different names, but which all proved to be forms 
of A. Chinensis. Even one that came to me under 
the all-sufficient name Bimorphavthm Mandshuri- 
cus, turned out to be but a variety of the Chinese 
THE NEW OREOPANAX. 
Aralia. I planted them all, and now wish they 
were back in Mandschuria and China. A recent 
“Revue Ilorticole” gives an engraving of one of 
the many new plants brought home from Central 
America by M. Edouard Andre, Oreopanax Epres- 
milianum, an own brother of the Aralias, and as it 
is likely to soon find its way to this country, the 
engraving may be properly reproduced. Its large 
divided leaves, of the richest green, give it a highly 
ornamental character, and Mr. Andre expresses 
the hope that it may soon be found in all the gar¬ 
dens near the coast in Ersvnee. Beautiful as it evi¬ 
dently is, if it has the spreading propensities of 
the related Aralias, I could not be induced to plant 
it. The few Aralias 1 have are now everywhere 
that they are not wanted. One sent its shoots 
under ground for twenty feet, and at that distance 
then came up in a rose bed, which they bid fair to 
convert into an aralia bed, and^the shoots appear 
in all sorts of unexpected places elsewhere. The 
aralias are not the only plants which illustrate the 
adage : “ Too much freedery begets despise.” I 
trust that the new Oreopanax is not a spreader, 
but, to say the least, it comes of a bad family. 
manning’s ELIZABETH PEAR. 
Many years ago the late Horace Greeley offered 
a prize for the best early and late fruits for general 
cultivation. Mr. Greeley’s object was to afford 
those who knew nothing about fruits, a list to aid 
them in making selections for planting a few trees. 
The choice for the best early jiear was Manning’s 
Elizabeth. This caused general surprise. I was 
tolerably familiar with pears, but I did not know 
Manning’s Elizabeth. That I might make her ac¬ 
quaintance, I planted a tree. 1 now wish that I 
had planted many ti'ees. The tree bears an abun¬ 
dant croi> yearly. The fruit is below medium size, 
is of great beauty with its coat of yellow, carmine, 
and russet; quality best, and is ripe the middle of 
August. This award was made some twenty years 
ago ; I wonder if any more trees of Manning’s 
Elizabeth have been planted since the award, than 
before it ? The pear has but one fault—its small 
size, but this may be remedied in part by severe 
thinning of the clusters of young fruit. 
THE VARIEGATED ROSE OF SHARON. 
Among all the shrubs with variegated foliage, 
but few hold their beauty during our hot summers. ’ 
One of the best and most per¬ 
manent shrubs of this kind is the 
Variegated Rose of Sharon {Hi- 
bisem Syriacus, var.) The one I 
have in mind originated with the 
late Robert Buist. Its leaves are 
margined with a very clear white, 
while the green portion is very 
dark. The flowers are so very 
double that they fail to open. It 
grows readily from cuttings, and 
bears severe pruning. It may be 
used as an ornamental edging, or 
as an effective line in ribbon 
planting. It is perfectly hardy. 
HYACINTHUS (OR GALTONIA) 
CANDICANS. 
Some European florist exhibii- 
ed a bed of this interesting bulb 
in full bloom on the grounds of 
the Centennial Exhibition,where 
it attracted much attention. The 
next year I saw the plant in.the 
grounds of a gentleman who is 
widely known as a horticulturist. 
I asked him it the bulb was 
hardy. “ Probably not,” 
was the reply.—“ Have 
you tried it?”—“ I have 
no time to waste in test¬ 
ing the hardiness of any 
plants from the Cape,” 
was his answer.—Being 
from the Cajie, he as¬ 
sumed that it could not 
be hardy. I left out a 
part of my bulbs the 
next winter, and found 
that it w’as hardy. 
Plants from warm countries often unex¬ 
pectedly prove quite hardy in our severe 
winters, and plants that naturally grow in 
swamps, often flourish muen better in the 
drier soii of the garden than they do in 
their native swamps. Apropos of swamp 
plants. There is here a row twenty feet 
long or more of the Cardinal Flower 
{Lobelia cardinalis) in a dry, sandy place. 
It is a mass of scarlet that can be equalled 
by but few exotics. 
THE SUNFLOWER CRAZE. 
The craze which started a few years ago, 
has not yet died out, I stili see ladies 
using the common sunflowers as dress 
ornaments, or carrying them in place of 
bouquets. The plants are more frequently 
seen in gardens than formerly, and I 
recently passed a house where sunflowers 
were growing, in pots. If people wish to 
make much of sunflowers, it seems a pity 
that they should select the common 
annual species, lldianthus annuus^ the 
coarsest and ugliest of the whole genus. 
There are some perennial species that are 
really handsome while growing, and better 
than the common annuals are for cut-flow¬ 
ers. Among the best are the graceful 
sunflower {Helianlhus orgyalis) and Maxi- 
milliaii’s sunflower {E. Afaximilliani), which are six 
or eight feet high, and when well grown, arc fine 
ornamental plants. For cut flowers, the double 
kinds, especially that known as ILcUanthus globosus 
fistvlosus, are vastly superior to the common one, 
which is only fit to grow for its seeds to use as 
chicken food. The first two kinds I have named, 
being perennial, the clumps increase year by year 
in size and beauty. Their foliage is pleasing. 
A New and Brilliant Poppy. 
The flowers of the Poppies are very short-lived, 
both of the annual and perennial kinds. In spite 
of their fugacious character, they have in some 
kinds a brilliancy of color, and in others a rich, 
erape-libe texture, hardly equalled by other flowers. 
Poppies are not suited for cut flowers ; but most 
useful for making brilliant the bed where they 
grow. The Perennial Poppies, such as Papaver ori- 
entale and its relatives, if given a back-ground of 
dark green, may be used with fine effect. The 
Annual Poppies, now less frequent in our gardens 
than formerly, are so difficult to transplant, that 
the only satisfactory method of treating them is to 
sow a bed with the seeds, and if the plants appear 
too thick, thin them where at all crowded. In 
thinning, cut or pinch out the superfluous plants, 
instead of pulling them, as that would disturb the 
roots of those that remain. There can scarcely 
be a more brilliant sight than a bed of the recent¬ 
ly introduced Shade-loving Poppy, Papaver um- 
brosum. The engraving gives a single flower three- 
fourths life-size. The plant is from one to two 
feet high, with hairy stems and much-divided 
paie-green leaves. The flowers, sometimes four 
inches across, are of the richest scarlet, which is 
made to appear still more intense in contrast with 
the large black blotch at the base of each petal. 
The flowers last but a day, but they are jiroduced 
in such rapid succession that a bed presents a con¬ 
tinuous mass of bloom. If the plants, when young, 
are pinched at the top, it will make them branch, 
and produce more numerous flowers. Anything 
more brilliant than a bed of this poppy, framed in 
the grass of a lawn, can hardly be imagined. It is 
THE SHADE-LOVING POPPY. 
claimed by some that this is a variety of the well 
known Corn Poppy {P. Plueae), of Europe, which 
is itself an exceedingly brilliant flower, though a 
weed in grain fields of England and the Continent. 
The Corn Poppy has given some double varieties 
that are very showy. Some varieties of the common 
garden or Opium Poppy are exceedingly double, 
and present a great variety of colors. If treated as 
above, they maj' be used on the lawn with fine effect. 
