June 20th, 188S. 
663 
There is also a fruit called the “ Tan,” which I don’t 
suppose many Europeans know much about. It grows 
on very high trees, whose wood, by the way, is beauti¬ 
fully grained and very hard, though nice to work. 
The fruit is shaped much like an Apple, and also 
grows in bunches as some Apples do, but if you take 
one in your hand and press it, when ripe, the skin will 
come clean off, and the inside is then found to be 
beautifully clear jelly-like substance, which, when 
placed in the mouth, melts into water. This jelly 
surrounds a brown stone, of which the natives make a 
sort of cake, after it has been soaked for some days. 
The “ Papau,” or Mummy Apple has also some curious 
facts connected with it that are useful to know. The 
very young Apples, when boiled, make a most delicate 
substitute for Vegetable Marrow; the stalks and leaves, 
if boiled with clothes, will render them beautifully 
clean and white ; they come out of the boiler a bright 
gamboge yellow, but when hung up to dry in the air, 
they turn perfectly white again ; a small piece of the 
leaf or stalk, boiled with an old fowl or tough piece of 
meat, makes it quite tender. 
SELECT HARDY PERENNIALS. 
(Continued from p. 650.) 
Abnebia eohioides, on Russian Bugloss. —This is 
probably one of the most pleasing and interesting of 
hardy plants, and at the same time one of the most 
fioriferous. It grows about a foot high, and has a 
neat compact habit; the flowers are somewhat 
variable and usually of a chrome-yellow colour on 
being first expanded ; they then change to sulphur- 
yellow, and subsequently a dark, almost black, blotch 
appears in the centre of each petal. For a front row 
plant, or the rockery border, it is one of the most 
telling things I am acquainted with. It belongs to 
the Borage family, and is a native of the Ural Moun¬ 
tains. 
The Asphodels, or “ King’s Spears,” are vigorous 
growing perennials about 3 ft. in height, suited for 
the back row in the border, the shrubbery, or any 
similar situation. A. ramosus has white flowers ; A. 
luteus is yellow, and there is a double-flowered variety 
of it. All are easily grown and thrive in any ordinary 
soil. It is suited also to town gardens or smoky 
districts. 
Asters, or Michaelmas Daisies.— This is an exten¬ 
sive and highly valuable group of hardy plants ; some 
of them it is true are worthless from a decorative 
point of view, but there are others equally valuable, 
and which hold positions among hardy perennials 
which it would be impossible to fill without them. For 
massing, for the mixed border, for lines, and for 
general decorative purposes, they are most useful, 
and some few varieties too, with their immense 
panicles of flowers, form very attractive objects on the 
large rockery, where they may well be allowed a ledge 
of rock to themselves in order to show them to the 
greatest advantage. As this is one of the most extensive 
groups of hardy perennials, I will not enlarge further 
upon them, but briefly mention a few of the very best, 
most distinct, and free flowering. 
Aster alpinus has flowers of a pleasing pale lavender 
colour, with orange disc ; it grows about 9 ins. high, 
and flowers in May and June, and is well-suited for 
the rockery or border. There is a pure white form of 
this plant which, though scarce, is well worth search¬ 
ing for, as it make such an excellent companion for 
the type. 
Aster Amellus forms a compact bush of sturdy, 
vigorous stems, and somewhat downy leaves, about 
2 ft. high. It is one of the very best perennials, and 
is of extremely simple requirements. The flowers are 
violet-blue, and about ins. across ; it flowers during 
June and July. There is also the Bessarabian form 
of this, A. Amellus bessarabicus, a grand perennial, 
with large rich purplish-blue flowers, and similar in 
height and time of flowering to the type. 
Aster dujiosus is a good kind for September flower¬ 
ing, -with bright purple flowers, height 21,- ft. 
Aster ericoides attains a height of 3J ft.; flowers 
white and small, but very numerous. Time of flower¬ 
ing September and October; one of the most pleasing 
and elegant of this group. 
Aster longifolius var. foriiosus is one of the freest 
flowering of all. It grows 14 ft. to 2 ft. high, forming 
densely symmetrical bushes, which are covered for 
a considerable time with its bright rose-coloured 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
flowers. It is also very useful as a pot plant, and may 
be introduced into the cool conservatory with very 
good effect during the summer months. It is certainly 
one of the most useful of all. 
Aster Shortii produces its large lavender - blue 
flowers very abundantly during August, and grows 
21i- ft. high. 
Aster versicolor is a very effective kind, producing 
most abundantly masses of white and rose-coloured 
flowers during August; height 4 ft. 
Aster discolor has white flowers, changing to pink 
and seldom exceeds a foot high; very distinct. All 
the foregoing will be found well worthy a place in the 
hardy border, placing them in suitable positions 
according to the height given. 
Aubretia. —We now have to confront the genus 
Aubretia, so beautiful among spring plants either for 
masses, lines for' the border, or rockwork, in fact a 
plant that is at home anywhere, even clothing the 
crumbling walls of old castles and other ruins. These 
thrive well in toivn and villa gardens, are easily 
increased by seeds or division, and when established 
carpet the ground with their pleasing tufts. The best 
forms are — A. Campbelli Improved, Hendersoni, 
Eyrei, gneca, and deltoidea grandiflora. There are 
several others, but these are among the best. Singularly 
enough the prevailing colour in this group is blue, 
violet, or lavender, -with varying shades. At Belvoir, 
however, exists a rose-coloured form, which one 
cannot forget the sight of, and a pure white variety 
we have yet to wait and watch for. 
A few words in season anent Aubretias may be 
helpful. The season of flowering is past, and as the 
seeds are not required the plants may be cut over if 
becoming too large. If it is required to increase the 
stock of these, it should be done a fortnight or so 
after being cut back, at which time numerous young 
shoots will be forming at the base of the plants. 
Lift them carefully with a spade, and shake or wash 
the soil from the root-stocks ; it will then be an easy 
matter to separate them in quantity from the old 
stool with roots attached, when they may be planted 
as required. If not required in quantity the old 
clumps may remain undisturbed, and when the 
cuttings are about 14 in. long, strip them off with a 
heel attached, and place them under hand-lights in a 
shady position in sandy soil; if attended to they will 
emit roots in about three weeks. There will be no need 
for the use of the knife in making these cuttings, they 
should be inserted just as they are detached from the 
original plant. 
Bocconia cordata.— From the exceedingly usefuL 
Aubretias I now pass to one of the handsomest and 
noblest of perennials, Bocconia cordata, a hardy, fine 
foliage plant, which attains a height when well 
established of 8 ft., and is admirably adapted for an 
isolated position on the lawn, or in any conspicuous 
position where it will have room for free and full 
development. The flowers are borne in terminal 
panicles, and are of a peculiar brownish colour. It is 
of no particular beauty in flower, but on account of 
its large handsome foliage it should not be over¬ 
looked.— J. 
— q ^ ^ — 
PLANTING MEMORIAL TREES, 
I hope that the example set of planting trees as 
monuments, will do as much for American landscape 
as the best of our authorship has done for American 
literature. The trees may outlive the memory of 
more than one of those in whose honour they were 
planted. But if it is something to make two blades of 
grass grow where only one was growing, it is much 
more to have been the occasion of the planting of an 
Oak which shall defy twenty scores of winters, or of 
an Elm which shall canopy with its green cloud of 
foliage half as many generations of mortal immor¬ 
talities. 
I have written many verses, but the poems I have 
produced are the trees I planted on the hill-side 
which overlooked the broad meadows, scalloped and 
rounded at their edges by loops of the sinuous 
Housatonic. Nature finds rhymes for them in the 
recurring measures of the seasons; winter strips them 
of their ornaments and gives them, as it were, in 
prose translation, and summer reclothes them in all 
the splendid phrases of their leafy language. What 
are these Maples and Beeches and Birches, but odes 
and idyls and madrigals ? What are these Pines and 
Firs and Spruces but holy hymns, too solemn for the 
many-hued raiment of their gay deciduous neigh¬ 
bours ? 
But I must not let my fancy run away with me. 
It is enough to know that when we plant a tree we 
are doing what we can to make our planet a more 
wholesome and a happier dwelling-place for those 
who come after us, if not for ourselves. As you drop 
the seed, as you plant the sapling, your left hand 
hardly knows what your right hand is doing. But 
nature knows, and in due time the Power that sees 
and works in secret will reward you openly. You 
have been warned against hiding your talent in a 
napkin; but if your talent takes the shape of a 
Maple-key or an Acorn, and your napkin is a shred of 
the apron that covers “the lap of earth,” you may 
hide it there unblamed, and when you render in 
your account you will find that your deposit has 
been drawing compound interest all the time .—Oliver 
Wendell Holmes. 
—■ — o — 
POETRY IN BUSINESS. 
Those who are behind the scenes in large retail 
establishments can generally on demand tell amusing 
stories of the strange orders which occasionally reach 
them. Orders for seeds of the Pine Apple, for ounces 
of Primula and Cyclamen, for two or three sorts of 
Peas, all of which could be served out of one sack, and 
many even more ludicrous than these have frequently 
been shown to us, but we have seldom come across a 
customer who turns his commands into rhyme, so 
seldom indeed that we think the following, which Mr. 
T. S. Ware received lately in the ordinary course of 
business, deserves a better fate than burial in a pigeon 
hole. We should add that we have the name and 
address of the writer, but have not his permission to 
publish it. 
Mr. Ware,—Be so kind for my Eden to choose 
Two climbers, some branches to cover ; 
A Clematis will do, say the best of the blues, 
With a white one to match for the other. 
In my limited plot, rich with Flora select, 
I have placed two forked Oak branches there, 
Just to tickle the eye with a rustic effect, 
And for climbers to mount into air. 
Only five feet in height, but with gardening skill, 
To a trellis can train them with ease, 
For an old adage says “ There’s a way for a will,” 
And I mean just to try, if you please. 
With my scanty lined purse, pray consider and do 
Your best for a poor London scribe, 
And give price by return, my best thanks shall be due, 
From one of the amateur tribe. 
* * * * 
The plants duly sent are the pink of perfection, 
Graceful enough for aesthetical taste. 
I tender my thanks for your skill and direction, 
And sign myself truly your debtor, in haste. 
— g— . — 
VIBURNUM PLICATUM. 
This is a grand Guelder Bose, and represents 
an introduction from Northern China about the year 
1845. Just now it is very fine in the gardens of 
Gunnersbury Park, Ealing, where several large 
specimens of it can be seen. The flowers are similar 
to those of the English Guelder Bose, but larger, 
whiter, and, if anything, more freely produced, and 
they develop themselves along the branches, having 
short stems. When first introduced some doubts were 
expressed as to whether it would prove quite hardy, 
but all doubts on that point may be removed. We 
may call it the China Guelder Bose. The English 
Guelder Bose is Viburnum Opulus, and it is some¬ 
times called the Snowball Tree, probably from its 
Bose-like balls of white blossom. It is a variety of 
the Water-Elder, introduced from Gueldres, and 
therefore named the Guelder Bose. In England its 
flowers are dedicated to Whitsuntide, probably 
because it flowers at that time of the year. The 
French name of the Guelder Bose is “ Boule de 
Niege,” and it is very appropriate. “ It is a variety 
of a common hedge plant, whose chief beauty lies in 
the bright red berries with which it is adorned in 
autumn. The modest inflorescence of the parent forms 
a striking contrast to the dazzling brilliancy of its 
offspring’s blossoms. Sterility is, however, the price 
paid by the latter for its ephemeral splendour.”— 
Quo. 
