210 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Each upright evergreen should be well furnished on every side, and should 

 present a perfect cone fron) the surface of the ground to the apex — whetlier 

 this figure be short or long, it should be complete: if otherwise, the deformity 

 is not only irremediable, but it will prooressively increase, as the lower limbs 

 will become relatively shorter than the more thrifty ones above them. Xow, as 

 we have learned that the leader of an evergreen may be amputated without 

 endangering the vitality of the tree, we need have no apprehensions about 

 cutting back the ends of the lateral branches, and this must be done whenever 

 they project beyond those below tliem. Oat them in severely, if necessary, so 

 as to expose the ends of all the lower branches to the sun and dew — as this is 

 carried on progressively from one tier of laterals to the next above it, the 

 conical figure is insured. 



In ornamental planting the beauty of an evergreen is lost, whenever the 

 lower limbs grow shabby and liave to be trimmed away, as is too often done; 

 whereas, by carefully preserving their vitality and vigor, the best effect is 

 possible on the plan just proposed — the branches will rest on the surface of the 

 ground, or near it, and the graceful evergreen cone will seem to have its base 

 resting upon the greensward, the stem being perfectly concealed from view. 



To you, ]n"actical nurserymen, it might be considered almost a work of 

 supererogation to make any reference to that valuable implement, the tree- 

 digger, but as all nurserymen are not familiar with its merits, it is mentioned 

 at this time, not so mucli to vaunt its services in digging trees, as to speak of 

 its great value when used as a root-pruner of all trees that are likely to become 

 overgrown in the nursery, and particularly those evergreens that are liable to 

 make an excessive growth. Tiiis cutting of the roots checks their under vigor, 

 multiplies their fibres, and with comparatively little labor, is equal in its 

 ameliorating effects to another transplanting, and may save many a block of 

 evergreens from the destructive flames of the brush heap. 



THE WITCH HAZEL. 



The Eural New Yorker has the following good note on a very modest shrub 

 so common in our Michigan woods : 



We do not know that the witch hazel is ever spoken of as an ornamental 

 shrub, and yet a few days ago as we were looking at a thicket of these plants 

 in full bloom it occurred to us it might well be used with good effect. The 

 flowers borne on hardy shrubs, now that the leaves are falling and severe frosts 

 have occurred, are not to be despised even though less showy than the most 

 indifferent of those which bloom during the spring or summer. The witch 

 hazel flower is peculiar; the four yellow petals are less than an inch in length, 

 and less than a line in width. But three of these flowers are clustered together 

 upon a single flower stalk, and the stalks are often close together, so that the 

 shrub, after all, makes quite a showy appearance. The witch hazel begins to 

 bloom just as its leaves are falling and continues in bloom long after every leaf 

 has fallen. The fruit, however, is not perfected until the next spring and 

 often persists until fall when the shrubs are again in bloom. It may as an 

 ornamental shrub be considered the opposite of the favorite Forsythia virdis- 

 sima offered in every nurseryman's catalogue. This unfolds its golden flowers 

 in the spring before the leaves appear. Hamamelis virginica is its botanical 

 name, and it is a close relative of our liquid-amber or sweet gum. It grows 



