866 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 



September or October. These are watered and covered with straw and left until spring. 

 They furnish a magnificent display of early bloom and die off in time to allow for asters 

 and geraniums to be planted for later bloom the same season. The same bed of tulips 

 does well for two years and in some cases three years. 



Besides the tulips planted out of doors, several hundred are potted and stored in 

 the cellar. They are kept in the dark and watered as often as they show considerable 

 dryness. As the cellar here is rather dry the tulips are watered about every three weeks. 

 About the time of the Christmas holidays, a few of the more forward plants are removed 

 to a shaded place in the house, watered and left for a few days and then removed to 

 more light and watered, and in the course of a couple of weeks open into flower. Before 

 these have done blooming, others are brought and so a succession of flowering tulips is 

 kept up until Easter. 



TREES AND SHRUBS. 



Starting a Hedge or Windhreah. — Many more applications are made to the Sta- 

 tion for a start in young trees and shrubs than the Station can supply. Nearly every 

 application is for a tree or shrub to set out. If it could be realized how much more 

 easily and quickly a tree can be started from a seed or a cutting than young trees from 

 two to four feet high, there is no doubt that the applications would be for seeds and 

 cuttings rather than for trees. 



In 1912 it was decided to start a caragana hedge quickly, and in order to hasten 

 matters two-year old plants were obtained in good condition from the Experimental 

 Station at Lacombe, and at the same time we planted- caragana seed in a nursery row. 

 At the end of the season of 1913 the plants in the nursery row were as tall as those in 

 the hedge, and at the end of the season of 1914, which indicated three seasons' growth 

 in every case, those planted from the seed in 1912 and left in their original places 

 were all taller than those two year old plants planted at the same time, and they 

 showed a great deal more foliage, and were in every way more desirable plants. 

 The same results have been shown repeatedly in the case of Manitoba maple, and also in 

 Russian poplar. If Russian poplar cuttings are placed where the tree is wanted to 

 grow the resulting tree will be larger at the end of the season than will a two year old 

 tree transplanted at the same time the cutting was planted. Besides the actual advant- 

 age of quicker growth and stronger tree, there is the added advantage of saving of 

 expense by shipping sets of cuttings, and the saving of labour in planting the seeds or 

 the cuttings instead of planting the trees. 



For shade trees there is perhaps no quicker growing trees for the purpose than a 

 number of varieties of Russian poplar. This species is propagated very easily by means 

 of cuttings and frequently makes over three feet of growth in a single season. For a 

 windbreak any of the number of varieties of willow propagated by means of cuttings 

 is satisfactory as well as the Manitoba maple propagated by means of seeds. 



For hedges, the caragana propagated by seed, and the laurel-leaved willow pro- 

 pagated by cuttings, are, perhaps, the most satisfactory. 



Of the ornamental shrubs the most easily eared for are the Tartarian honeysuckle, 

 Rosa rugosa, and many of the large number of varieties of lilac. All of these are slow 

 to propagate and young jdants may be had from any of the well recommended nur- 

 series and occasionally from the Experimental Stations. 



Native spruce and larch were obtained in their natural location north of Duck 

 lake in the seasons of 1911-12-13. These plants were of heights varying from 1 to 6 

 feet, and out of nearly three hundred trees less than ten died. In transplanting the 

 spruce very special care was exercised to prevent the roots becoming dridd. On the 

 wagon bottom was placed moss to a depth of about 4 inches which was thoroughly 

 soaked with water. As much earth was left with the young tree as the root would 

 carry, and the trees were placed in the wagon as soon as lifted. Frequently during the 



ROSTHERN. 



