506 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



— just the wood which will bear flowers the following year — and the yield will 

 be abundant. 



Late blooming flowers appear upon the growth made during the same year. 

 Such shrubs can be pruned very early in the spring. Take the Hydrangea 

 paniculatagrandiflora, for example. Cut back the wood of last year to a couple 

 of eyes. Then, during the next summer cut out the weakest shoots, and the 

 result in September will be immense blooms at the extremity of every strong 

 branch. The late flowering tamarisk which, by the way, is much better than 

 the other one in ordinary cultivation, which flowers in June, when cut back on 

 this plan, makes amazing growth, and with waving plumes of the most delicate 

 form and color. 



Transplant the Natives. — Why people will pay great prices for tender 

 exotics when we have more beautiful natives we can never understand. 

 "Croppie," in New York Tribune, mentions a few delicate ones: 



Some of our pretty little wild trees are never seen in cultivation. An intro- 

 duced plum now completely naturalized in many places is known as sloe, or 

 blackthorn, and when enveloped in early spring with its myriads of little white 

 flowers suggests its appropriateness for mingling in large groups of similar 

 large shrubs. How seldom do we notice that exceedingly showy native tree, 

 the serviceberry or shadbush, and yet how suitable it is also in similar situa- 

 tions with the above. And there are several attractive large shrubs among the 

 native viburnums rarely found in cultivation, although rich in foliage and 

 more than noticeable for beauty of bloom. 



The gorgeous red-berried elder of the mountains casts all brilliant tinted 

 fruits of other shrubs in the shade. When seen at its best, no flowers could 

 possibly be more striking. The variety with white fruit is also exceedingly 

 pretty, but rarer. The witch hazel of our lowlands is noticeable on account of 

 its flowers appearing after all others have gone. Then the golden-yellow clus- 

 ters of this hardy shrub lighten up the mass of branches, even when the foliage 

 has disappeared. The Kalmia latifolia, or as it is often known, the mountain 

 laurel, is not so difficult to cultivate as many suppose. Where the soil is often 

 poor, thin and slaty in character, there this plant frequently flourishes and 

 charms us with its wealth of flowers. There is- no special rule to observe in 

 growing it, other than to select a partially shady spot — if facing the north all 

 the better — and to secure a cool, moderately moist soil for the roots to ram- 

 ble in. 



The Natural Eoadside. — The Springfield Kepublican scores a point on our 

 side of the question of preserving the natural beauty of the roadside : 



The greedy ax should spare the roadside trees, and along the hot and dusty 

 expanse of suburban and country roads there should be planted the spreading 

 elms and leafy maples, the hemlocks, willows and white pines. In many 

 places the laurel along the roadsides might well be encouraged, instead of being 

 ruthlessly cut down, grubbed up and burned, with a sort of vicious enmity, as 

 the farmers do now. All over our hill country this glorious bush grows pro- 

 fusely, and makes many a forest walk and drive a rare delight. Nature has 

 some rights, and an improvement association on Arbor Day ought to bear that 

 in mind. 



A country road should not be like a park drive, unless in the streets of some 



