GARDENING IN THE UNITED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1927, 26 October 1888, Page 10

GARDENING IN THE UNITED STATES.

It is scarcely necessary to apologise for omitting our usual garden notes this week in order to make reom for the following iateresting letter from the State of New York and Mr Thomson's paper, which appears below it. Notwithstandiug the fact that the climates are so essentially different — that of New Zealand being perhaps one of the most temperate in the world, while that of New York varies from extreme heat to extreme cold,— good cannot fail to result from an interchange of ideas. What Mr Falconer, of Glen Cove, New York, lias to Say to New Zealauders. Editob Garden, Otago Witness,— My Dear Sir : A friend of mine in New Zealand sends me an occasional Witness, and as I'm a horticulturist clear through and nothing else of any sort, I feel quite interested in the doings of my friends in the same business at the antipodes. This is why I write to you. Although I don't know you nor you me, the peculiar brotherly feelings permeating a garden the world ever has always been introduction enough for those who have flowers and fruits and lovely trees in their hearts as well as yards. As I dou't know anything at all about horticulture in New Zealand I cannot compare notes, nor write in eulogy or criticism of anything you do in that far-off land, so will content myself with telling you something about HOW WE DO GARDENING IN AMERICA. As you know, this is a big, big country, with lots of people in it— 60,000,000 folk, I guess; and we come from every spot oa the face of the earth, and have all manner of tasks. But there is room enough and a good living for everybody who is willing to work and has a determination to go through fire and water if need be to get work. And by the sweat of our brows we get a few dollars together, and with this a home. Be it ever so humble, There's no place like home. It is our own home— land, house and all. Ah, that's the key of palriotism. Every evening after the mechanic or labourer returns from his daily toil and cleans and sups, he digs, or rakes, or sows, or plants, or fixes up things in his garikn for use or ornament. It isn't work; it's recreation. And, with his neighbour, he .strives who shall hays the neatest place, the prettiest home. Rich aud poor are all alike. The country farm, suburban villa, and workman's yard show forth at once the joyful sign of homo, against the dismal look of. tenement. And this gives impetus to business. The horticultural trade— FLORIST, SEED, AND NURSERY BUSINESS — in America to-day is simply enormous. Within the last five years it has doubled. The demand is equal to the supply. But the old fogies and plain conservative firms are weakening, and the business ie falling into the hands of young and vigorous concerns that are straining their very souls to reach the people, and display their goods in such a plain and glowing style that the public are compelled to buy. The people really don't know what they do want, but, mark you, the seedsmen and florists tell them fast and forcibly enough. Printers' ink is the key to trade. A few years ago we organised A NATIONAL FLORISTS' SOCIETY, It has done a wonderful sight of good. We hold an annual meeting at some great city ; east one year, west the nest. We have 1000 members, and from 600 to 800 attend our annual gatherings. This brings the whole trade into immediate contact with one another, and they become acquainted with each other and each other's ways. This national society has given rise to local societies in every city, and which are to the city what the mother society is to the wholu couutry. And we have a National Nurserymen's Society and a National Seedsmen's Society. THE HORTICULTURAL PRESS has al°o made powerful strides recently. The old " Gardeners' Monthly"— the leading garden paper here for the past 25 years — has coased ; but m:my children have been born. Garden and Florist is a weekly, and a very high-toned and authoritative paper. The »• Florist " is a semi-monthly, and the brightest and best paper of to class in the country. It is purely a trade paper and owned by the florists. "Popular Gardening " is a monthly for amateurs, and * bright, smart, pithy paper. The " American Garden " is a monthly, artistic in its way. It has changed hands many times, and even now there is a report that there is to be another change. "Orchard and Garden "i« a monthly, mostly devoted to ftuir, and a bright, practical paper it is, too. Of PARKS AND PUBLIC GARDENS we have a good share for a new country, and devote much money and attention to caring for and rendering them as attractive and gay as possible. We have some very fine private gardens, but none after the style of the old gardens of Europe. A garden is the work of one man ; at his decease ie is generally broken up and sold for the benefit of the estate. OUEENHOUSES, both in private and commercial gardens, are in« cre^ing very fast, and are thickly scattered all over tho country. Heating greenhouses by steam, in tho case of large ranges, and where the greenhouses ire built together, is to a large extent displacing hot water arrangements. Orchids, feruß, and other tender tropical and moisture-loving plants grow as well in steamheated houses as they do in hot- water-heated structures. LANDSCAPE OAUDKNINO has made very much progress recently, and we have some most tasteful landscape architects. The natural style is preferred. Glaring bedding is called "damnable." Lawns, undulatioD.s, and trees, trees in groups and iso- I lated gems, breadth and grass. But we will j always have people enough to admire the glowing geranium and coleus in mass, and become rapturous ovur what would set a bull or a turkey cock crazy. ORCHIDS have become so popular that Sander, of England, —the largest collecting and importing concern in the world — has established a permauent agency here, and ships enormous quantities to be sold here at auction. We have other home firms carrying tens of thousauds of plants in stock. Beside these, Veitch, Williams, and Low, of London, send special representatives over hore every year to sell us orchids. Some of our American private collections are equal to any in Europe. OUR FAVOURITES. New Holland plants are a race of cool greenhouse decorative plants that used to be much grown in the Old World, but here have never found favour. Pansiea, carnations, geraniums, and roses are the sort of stuff we love. We can get along with anything that will grow well and bloom right off j but if we have to wait a year or two before

we see it bloom, then.take it right away ; we don't want it. Ehemann's canna has found much favour with us. I have it 10ft high, and flowering all summer. Then there are Prennces de Griece, nentoni, and the host of new French flowering ones that are grand. Bulbs, too, we grow admirably. On Long Island now we have fields of gladioli in bloom that eclipse anything ever grown by Kelway or Lemoine. And they grow and bloom splendidly. So, too, do dahlias, tuberoses, &c. The new varieties of Sanndersi gladiolii have stamped anew era for these bnlbs ; the flowers are so large and gay. Montbretias are grand when planted out. Of course, like everybody else, we have the chrysanthemum fever ! They do as well here as anywhere under heaven, and seed abundantly; hence we raise any quantity of new varieties, but the majority of them are vile wretches, neither worth name nor recognition. No new seedling should be named unless it is at least as good as the best of the type it represents. Trees ! Now you've got me ;— that's my weakness. Now, Ido love a noble tree ; and how my soul hankers after a new one ! And hardy herbaceous perennials ! But don't let me ride my own hobbies and become a nuisance to you, If you ever come to America come to see me and stay over night with me. With love to you and all your folk in your distant land,— l remain, your brother in the garden, William Falconer. Glen Cove, L.I , New York, U.S.A., September 10, 1888. THE INTRODUCTION AND NATURALISATION OF FOREIGN WILD FLOWERS. Being a Paper Read by Mr George M. Thomson at a Recent Meeting of the Dunedin Horticultural Society. Among the means which are from time to lime proposed for the enriching of the scenery of these islands by adding to the natural beauties of the country those which gladden the eye in other lauds, one constantly suggested is the introduction of gay and familiar wild flowers, suoh as tho3e who hail from the Old Country associate with many of their most pleasing reminiscences. We are constantly urged also to introduce the floral beauties of other countries, and thus decorate our woods and hillsides with gems gathered from all lands. Only the other day, in urging the formation of an association for conserving and adding to the natural beauties of this naturally beautiful spot of earth, Mr A. Bathgato, a gentleman with a very good knowledge both of the Home aud lucal flora, urged the advisability of scattering the seeds of familiar wild flowers in suitable spots. When we consider that this part of New Zealand has now been settled for 40 years and other parts for over half a century, and that tho attempt to introduce favourite wild flowers has been made over and over again, and has met with only partial success, it must surely strike anyone who thinks of it that the problem is not suoh a simple one as appears on the surface. We may scatter the seeds with a lavish hand, the climate may be favourable, and the plants spring and grow, but they don't become acclimatised. It has seemed to me that the question is one which is of very general interest, and which might be appropriately considered by such a society as this, especially as it is chiefly a question of the modes of fertilisation of the flowers. As a preliminary to the inquiry, let us notice first, that probably no country of its size in the world has so few brightly-coloured native plants as New Zealand. In many cases, too, where species occur of genera common to this and other countries, our species are the most, poorly coloured and inconspicuous; e.g , our fuchsias are poor compared with those of South America. The reason of this poverty is not very far to seek. These islands have geologically been solated from all other parts of the earth for an enormous length of time, and have only acquired a few showy plants by stray immigration or a more or less broken land connection. The few bright flowers we have are chiefly of Australian origin', but a few are endemic, and the history of their development has yet to be worked out. For instance, our large white clematis (C. indivisa) is one of the most beautiful species of the genus; it is endemic, but its nearest allies are Australian. Only two species of Olianthus are known, and of these the Australian specieß (C. dampieri), though a poorer looking plant, has a more splendid flower than our C. puniceus. Again, the finest buttercup in the| world is our Ranunculus lyalii, but this and its ally R. buchanani are not very closely related to any other forms, and are apparently old and highly differentiated forms on these islands. And this leads me to mention the remarkably fine Alpine flora, mostly of white-flowered plants, which occurs at elevations of 3000 ft to 6000 ft in our mountains, which are chiefly antarctic in their affinities, and about whose fertilisation we know very little In the second place let me referjbriefly to The Insect Fauna of New Zealand, as far as we know anything about it. Of all the families of insects only four fertilise flowers in different parts of the world, the others doing little or no service in this respect. These are Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, &c). Bees are probably the most important agents. In New Zealand there are singularly few, and of these only a portion seem specially modified. Most of us are familiar with a small yellow bee which makes holes in hard banks and walks. This is an indefatigable pollen collector, and no doubt is a great fertiliser of flowers. Next to bees come butterflies and moths. The former are very rare in New Zealand, there nob being more than 15 species, and most of these uncommon. In Britain, on the other hand, there are hundreds. Moths are more numerous, several hundred species being known, and no doubt many of these are flower-visitants. Of (lies we have a considerable variety in New Zealand, and from what observations I have made I think they are among the most important agent 3we have in bringing about the crossfertilisation of flowers. We have also a number of flower- visiting beetles here, though not nearly j so many as occur in Britain. It is now a well-recognised fact that, the bright colours, conspicuous appearance, fragrance, and nectar of flowers are possessed by flowers in varying degrees as so many lures or attractions for insects, and that flowers and the insects which visit and fertilise them have developed their special characters paripassu. Every horticulturist is aware of the facts of fertilisation of flowers, and puts them into practise in the hybridisation of desirable forms. But every one is not aware cf the f »ct that even in New Zealand, with its comparatively poor flora and paucity of highly-differentiated insects, folly one-half of the wild flowers are incapable of self-fertilisation from one cause or another, and that more than one-third of the whole depend upon insects to fertilise them. I need not go into all the modes of this fertilisation ; the subject haa already furnished matter for many a ponderous tome. The main fact which I want to mpress on you is this : tha,t in every country the

inspects and the flowers which depend on them for fertilisation have Developed Side By Side Hence, if a flower has become very highly specialised in ■ structure, and is transported to a country where no insect similar in form to the one which fertilised it in its native habitat is found, that flower in its new home will become infertile. A remarkable example of this is furnished in the case of the orchid, whose pods yield the delicate aromatic essence vanilla. Vanillas of various species occur in thetropioal parts of Central and South America. The Indian Government, desirous to introduce such a valuable plant into cultivation, had it transported to Ootacamund; in the Nilgberries, in some quantity, bat the -plant has persistently proved infertile. Pods can be gotj by |crossfertilising by hand, but none are formed when the plant is leffc to natural agents Evidently np." moths of a suitable structure ocour in India ; hence its infertility. At the present time we have in this part of New Zealand between 100 and 150 species of introduced flowering plants. Most of these are weeds of cultivation, and are not conspicuously coloured. If they were they would not probably spread as they do Many arc. wind fertilised like our grasses, stitr.l, docks, and ribgrasses. Others, while ni'itd >t\ insects, are capable of self-fertilisanon lik-i chick weed, mouse-ear (Cerastium),kni)t-t!r.v..- (Polygonum), &c. Of those which are brightly coloured the majority are of a type readily fertilised by any insect which visits flowers. To this class belong most of our introduced composites, as daisies, ox-eye daisies, dandelion, capeweed, thistle, &c. Of the few brightly flowered forms a special remark may be made. Thus the small wild heartsease (Viola tricolor) yar, arvensis, occurs in a few places. This is the smallest aof the violas, but both it and the wild pansy seed freely enough. These are highlyspecialined flowers, with honey guides, nectaries, &o. But then we have native violas of two species, nearly as highly differentiated. We have also introduced hive bees and, more recently, humble bees, and the latter especially are great fertilisers of flowers, having a very long proboscis, when enables them to get honey out of many flowers inaccessible to other forms. Whin and broom are probably fertilised by hive bees mainly. Mullein (Verbascuro Thapsus) is not uncommon in places, and seeds freely. In England it is fertilised by various : bees and flies, and being an open flower with a short tube is probably so fertilised here. Mimulus luteus and M. moschatus (musk) 'occur commonly in streams. Both are fitted for fertilisation by insects, and have an irritable stigma, but two species similarly fertilised occur native here. Foxglove occurs wild here aud there, but not as commonly as we might expect, which is singular, as it seeds very freely in gardens. In Europe it depends entirely oh the humble bee, but is also self-fertile. Here it is its self -fertility on which it alone depends, as it seeds all tha year round. The clovers, chicory, borage, centaury, pimpernel, self-heal, roses, buttercups, &c, either are visited by suitable insects or are selffertile. Many attempts have been made to Introduce Other Desirable Flowers, but with little success— and the reason appears to be that in most cases suitable insects are wanting. It is remarkable that almost no Australian plants (with only one or two exceptions) have been introduced into this part of New Zealand. This is perhaps partly due to climate, but mainly to the peculiar character of the typical Australian flora. I would like to run over a few of the flowers which we would like to see introduced, and suggest, where possible, any hints as to their capability of acclimatisation. Of buttercups and their allies, I would suggest Ranunculus lingua, a handsome species which grows in swamps and lakes; the globe-flower ( Prollius europaeus) of home woods, which occasionally seeds here in gardens ; and the columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris), which though a highly bpecialised flower is self-fertile in the absence of insects. j The poppies, though very beautiful in the fields, are dangerous weeds to introduce, and fortunately do not seem to acclimatise here very readily. This is singular, because the flowers of ihe common scarlet poppy (Papaver rhceas) are self-fertile, and as they contain no honey are only visited by pollen-seeking insects. Eschscholtzia Californica tends to acclimatise here. In the Upper Clutha Valley it covers ncres of ground. Of the fumitories the common purple species, Fumaria capreolata var. muralis, occurs here, and is quite capable of self-fertilisation. The pretty Corydalis lutea doss not to my knowledge produce seed in our gardens, and hence, though occasionally self-fertile, does not appear capable of easy acclimatisation. Of the pink family, a small form of sweetwilliam (Dianthus barbatus), Silene anglica, and its variety S. quinquevulnera,andthe grassleaved stitchwort (Stellaria graminea) all occur here freely. But the other species of pink, .silene, and lychnis, though showy, bright, and desirable introductioßS, are chiefly dependent upon long-trunked moths, and do not seed naturally in our gardens. Of English cranesbills or geraniums, the dark brown G. phceum, the bright blue G. pratense, and the red G. sanguineum are desirable, and would probably increase in suitable localities. Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenura) depends in Britain almost exclusively on hawkmoths. Here it very occasionally produces fruit, probably owing to visits of the hive-bee. Bluebells (Campanula Sp.) ought to acclimatise here readily, especially now that humble bees are increasing. The allied plants here are probably fertilised by small bees or flies. Of heaths and their allies there are many desirable species which would probably be readily fertilised here. Nothing is known as to the fertilisation of our native snowberriea (Gaultheria), yet they fruit very freely. Of the British species, Vaccinium myrtillus, the bilberry or blaeberry is visited ODly by bees ; so also are most other species of the genus, which includes the cranberry. Erica tetralix depends on the humble bee, but the Alpine E. carnea is only visited by butterflies. Common ling or heather (Calluna vulgaris) is fertilised by many kinds of insects. The various English species of primula (cowblip, primrose, oxlip, &c.) would be most welcome plants in our woods, and considering how readily they grow and bloom in our gardens, it seems at first that there ought to be no difficulty in acclimatising them. I dp not think, however, that the attempt, though often made, has hitherto proved successful. As the plants do not seed naturally in our gardens, this would point either to the absence or extreme paucity of suitable insects. Now, however, that humble bees — which are their most common fertilisers n Britain — are increasing the possibility of inducing them to grow in the wild condition is increased also. The hive bee cannot fertilise them, not being able to reach the nectary. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum) ought to reproduce itself on dry banks and other suitable places. The flowers are visited chiefly by bees, which alone are strong enough to force open the lips and so get at the honey. The plants seed freely in gardens. Of monoco tyledono.ua flowers, which are

among the most beautiful we have, it is guffi. cient to say that nearly all the desirable species are infertile in the garden. That at least is my experience of lilies, crocns, narcissus in all its species, lily of the valley, &c. . The pretty yellow flag (Iris pseud-acoras) would be & desir. able plant for ponds ; it is fertilised in Europe chiefly by humble bees and long-tongued flies. These are some of the plants which suggest themselves to one familiar with the floral beauties of the Old Country, and whose presence in our woods and pastures would add charm and interest to onr rambles, but whether we shall live to see them familiar denizens of this land remains to be seen. What I have hoped to emphasise is the fact that mere scattering of the seed of plants which will grow in this climate will not ensure their successful acclimatisation. It is requisite for this; above all, that the plants seed freely in a state of nature ; and this in most cases depends on various species of insects of which no similar types are here. Hence it will probably be found that any plant which does not. seed freely in the garden has no chance in the open, and will not acclimatise.