THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 7, 1893. 
289 
NEMESIA STRUMOSA SUTTONI. 
The most striking novelty in its way that appeared 
before the public for the first time last summer was 
the subject of this note. Even those who know 
little about annuals generally were much struck with 
the quantity, the size and richly varied colours of 
the flowers. Seeds were sent home from Africa by a 
correspondent of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, to 
whom we are indebted for the present opportunity 
of figuring the plant. Some seeds were sent to 
various seed growers on the Continent, in order to 
try the plant, but chiefly for the production of seeds 
to ensure that the plant would not get lost. Luckily 
for us, the seeds sown at Reading 
did better than those on the 
Continent and a fine lot of seeds 
was produced, making certain that 
the plant can readily enough be 
perpetuated in Britain in the open 
air. The plants are about a foot 
high, more or less according to the 
treatment given them and the rich¬ 
ness of the soil. The flowers are of 
peculiar form, and most varied in 
colour, ranging from pure white 
through yellow to the deepest 
shades of that hue, and from rose 
to magenta, and carmine or crimson. 
Many of the flowers are striped 
especially on the back of the upper 
lip of the corolla. In fact the 
general appearance of a bed or 
batch of plants would lead one to 
suspect that it was an old, estab¬ 
lished and much improved garden 
plant, instead of being a new thing 
as it really is. For early’ flowering 
the seeds must be sown in March 
under glass in a compost of light, 
sandy loam, with plenty of fibre in 
it. Pr'ck off the seedlings as soon 
as’fit to handle, and when estab¬ 
lished, gradually harden them off 
till fit to plant out in the open 
ground in May. Seeds may also be 
sown in the latter month where they 
are to bloom, ultimately thinning 
them out to 6 in. apart, to enable 
them to make good growth. 
THE CHRISTMAS 
TREE. 
It is interesting to note how the 
common or Norway Spruce Fir has 
come to be acknowledged univers¬ 
ally as the Christmas tree. It is 
Picea excelsa, a native of Europe, 
not indigenous to Britain, Ireland, 
Denmark, or Holland, but intro¬ 
duced to England at a very early 
date, and planted in this country 
■more for purposes of utility than for 
.ornament. So its fine proportions 
when as a large tree it has become 
fully developed are seldom seen to 
the best advantage; but if planted 
and grown under conditions favour¬ 
able to its full development, it is 
one of the handsomest of conifers 
for the decoration of the park and 
landscape when so grown. Stand¬ 
ing singly, when it has reached its 
maturity, its lofty trunk is feathered 
with branches from the base to 
the summit, the lower ones 
decumbent by the weight of 
their numerous branchlets, 
those higher up being horizontal, while the 
uppermost whorls are slightly inclined upwards. 
It is this habit of growth that so well fits it to serve 
the purpose of a Christmas tree. It must be admitted 
that the aspect of the tree is somewhat sombre on 
account of its dense foliage, which is lighter or darker 
in colour according to the soil or the situation in 
which the tree is growing. Our common Spruce 
Fir is known as the White Spruce, but there are the 
black and red varieties also. It is the wood of the 
Spruce Fir which is so largely imported from the 
Baltic under the name of white deal. 
Why called Spruce Fir ? Because the essence of 
spruce, from which spruce beer is made, is obtained 
from the branches. The young branches are boiled 
might, for the cones turned out to be pure silver. 
Going to the wood the next day in a fright at having 
the silver cones, she found the little man again, and 
he then added to*the wealth he had given the woman, 
some plants, which restored her husband to health ; 
and it is said one of the silver cones was preserved, 
and may be found in the Grund to this day ! 
It would appear that the use of the Fir as a 
Christmas tree was customary in Denmark, Russia, 
and Germany before it was employed in England. 
In Italy the Christmas tree is no longer popular, 
and only occasionally used, its place being taken by 
the Maypole and its accompanying floral festivities ; 
but it is said the symbolism is 
exactly the same as that associated 
with the Christmas tree. At the 
same time, very clear traces are 
found that the Christmas tree was 
once as popular in Italy as in this 
country. 
Fir means Fire tree, because the 
Fir is one of the most inflammable 
of woods. Old Gerarde wrote of 
Firs in Cheshire, Staffordshire, 
and Lancashire, "where they great 
in great plenty, as is reputed, before 
Noah’s floud ; but then being over¬ 
turned and overwhelmed, have lien 
since in the woods and waterie 
moorish gorunds, very fresh and 
sound until this day ; and so full 
of a resinous substance that they 
burne like a torche or linke, and the 
inhabitants of those countries do 
call it Fir wood and Fire wood untill 
this day.” 
In the traditions of northern coun¬ 
tries the Fir occupies a lofty posi¬ 
tion, it is the King of the Forest; and 
so in Switzerland and the Tyrol, the 
Geni of the Forest are always repre¬ 
sented with an uprooted Fir tree 
in their hands. These Geni dwell by 
preference in the Fir, and especially 
love old trees. When one of these 
trees is cut down, the Geni grieve 
and plead for its life. In many 
parts of Germany, on Christmas 
night, the inhabitants take branches 
of Fir and beat the fruit trees with 
them, so that they may produce a 
crop. Sometimes branches of Rose¬ 
mary are employed as well as 
Fir. In Austrian Silesia the May- 
pole is always of Fir, probably 
because it is plentiful and readily 
obtained. At Weimar and other 
places, Fir trees are planted 
before a house where a wedding 
has taken place, and it seems to 
be associated to some extent with 
a desire for children. In northern 
Germany, when they drive the 
cattle to pasture for the first 
time, they often decorate the last 
cow with small branches of Firs, 
as showing their wish for a 
pasturage favourable to the fecun¬ 
dity of the cattle. 
In the West of England, where 
the annual flower show is regarded 
as a district holiday, it is a custom 
to decorate the streets and plants of 
Spruce Fir are cut off close to the 
ground, and placed along the 
road sides, and frequently 
decorated will small paper 
lamps. Considerable sums are expended on 
street decorations, and the people who come in from 
the country villages are hugely delighted with all 
this ornamentation; the love of sight seeing, so 
strong in most of us, is with them a kind of passion. 
— R. D. 
-•«*-- 
A National Flower for America.— Congress fias had 
the national flower question brought before it. Con¬ 
gressman Butler, of Iowa, has introduced a resolu¬ 
tion that the Pansy be adopted as the national 
flower, and that the stars on the national flag be 
arranged in the form of this flower. The resolution 
also provides that the change in the flag be made at 
the time of opening the World’s Columbian Exposi¬ 
tion at Chicago .—American Florist. 
in water, and by the evaporation of the decoction 
the essence is obtained, somewhat of the consistency 
of honey. 
By the Egyptians the Fir cone was adopted as the 
symbol of their Goddess Isis. She taught them 
agriculture, and governed the people with mildness 
and equity. The Fir cone has been regarded with 
interest, if not with reverence, by other nations, 
and a great deal of traditional lore has gathered 
about it. Thorpe relates a singular legend from the 
Norse mythology. The hill of the Harz was covered 
with Holy Firs, amidst which a village nestled, and 
two explanations were offered to account for its 
NEMESIA STRUMOSA SUTTONI. 
existence; one to the effect that it was flung by a 
giant out of his shoe as a grain of sand which hurt 
him ; the other set forth that the mountain floated 
there during the Deluge. But it does seem beautiful 
F’irs cones are found there, which are wrought into 
various ornaments. On one occasion the wife of a 
poor and sick miner went to gather Fir cones, to 
sell them, as a last resourse against the starvation of 
her family. She met a little man in the forest 
having a long white beard, who told her where she 
could get the best cones. When she reached the 
point indicated, the cones fell so thickly that, being 
frightened, she ran away. Nevertheless, the cones 
had fallen into her basket, and this basket, as she 
went homeward, grew constantly heavier, Well it 
