8(iU 



HORTICULTURE 



March' 24, 1906 



mens of the others I was surprised at the failure of 

 these, and I found it so everywhere. 



There were magnificant specimens of the Califor- 

 nian redwood, Sequoia Wellingtonia and S. sempervi- 

 rens, but these are out of the question with us. They 

 will not live at Wellesley. 



Ochtertyre, Crieff (Scotland), was next visited. This 

 was the most beautifully situated of all the places I 

 saw. It pained me to see the place neglected. This 

 used to be a noted place, but lack of money and worse 

 — lack of interest — gives it a deserted look. The walk 

 along the mountain side one lovely sunshiny day was 

 enchanting, and although I saw practically nothing of 

 the place, 1 was well repaid by the scenery. The road- 

 side above mc was plentifully planted with Norway 

 spruce, Douglas firs, Nordmann firs, Abies nobilis, and 

 Abies grandis. They were magnificent in size but, 

 closely planted, had lost their beauty. It must be 

 massive and imposing to look from the opposite lull- 

 side, with water, waterfowl, and an old water mill 

 between — an artist's dream. Below me, far below, I 

 could look over the tops of the largest of them— some 

 over a hundred feet high — large specimens of Douglas 

 firs, Nordmann's, and Norway spruces, crowded and 

 neglected with no more right to grow than the meanest 

 forest tree. 



Drummond Castle next, and this was a surprise. We 

 drove for three miles through a beautiful avenue of 

 beeches, which made what appeared at a distant view, 

 and only, and always in the distance — a continual arch. 

 Going round the old castle to the courtyard I met a 

 piper, who in a mixture of Gaelic and broad Scotch, 

 tried to direct me to the greenhouses, where I should 

 find the gardener. The difficulty was overcome by the 

 gardener coming into view. The surprise was the 

 Italian garden — it is really a combination of Dutch 

 and Italian statuary and pattern flower beds mixed. 

 The flower beds are in regular and corresponding 

 designs and in solid colors, for distant effect. It is 

 best seen from the courtyard as a whole. The effect is 

 almost lost when walking through it. 



Going up to Murthly Castle is an avenue of Abies 

 nobilis. It is perfectly straight and about a mile long. 

 The trees are young yet, but if they are well taken care 

 of, and attain the dimensions of others seen— over 

 100 feet high — the effect should be wonderful in 30 

 years time. Change of ownership, or rather a succes- 

 sion of heirs affects large places like Murthly. We 

 find part of one plan not finished, and other ideas 

 commenced and not carried out, so we come across a 

 planting here and there, with no semblance of order. 

 There is a short avenue of Abies grandis which well 

 bears out the name, but why it is there, one cannot see. 

 Another of Araucaria imbricata also without any rea- 

 son; still another of Wellingtonia gigantea. shut in 

 across one end by a mu of beautiful specimens of 

 Tsuga Pattoniana. Araucaria imbricata and Welling- 

 tonia gigantea were both disappointing. They were 

 rather new things when I left home 23 years ago, and 

 much was expected of them. As trees, they are short- 

 lived or, to say the most, become untidy and straggling, 

 before reaching maturity. Tsuga Albertiana here takes 

 the place of our native hemlock: I would defy anyone 

 to tell the difference looking at them. There must be 

 physiological differences, not visible, for the tree is not 

 hardy in the eastern states. There were two trees of 

 our native hemlock on the place, and asking what the 

 difference was, as they observed them, was told that 

 T. Albertiana never branched, whereas T. canadensis 

 almost always did. Tsuga Pattoniana which we have 



only as a small tree, being somewhat new to us, is here 

 a very handsome tree. Its "outstretched arms" or 

 main branches covered with pendant secondary ones, 

 much in the way frequently seen on Norway spruce, 

 made a lovely picture. The Douglas spruce, the Nor- 

 way, Nordmann's fir, the balsam and silver firs do ex- 

 ceedingly well and many specimens are over 100 feet 

 high. The Japan firs and spruces and also our Rocky 

 Mountain kinds do not thrive satisfactorily. 



In all the places I visited put together I did not see 

 as many species and varieties of coniferous trees as at 

 Wellesley, nor as fine specimens. 



Mechanical Watering 



"Aye free aff han' your story tell 



When wi' a bosom crony. 

 But still keep something to yoursel', 



Ye scarcely tell to ony. 

 Conceal yoursel' as weel's ye can, 



Frae critical dissection. 

 But keek thro' every ither man 



Wi' sharpen'd sly inspection." 



Mr. Louis Wittbold must surely have read the above 

 lines and kept it in his mind when delivering his paper 

 before the Detroit Florists' Club. The readers of Hor- 

 ticulture are probably as wise after reading his re- 

 marks as they were before. Before reading the article 

 I expected I was going to get some insight into the 

 workings of the mechanical watering machine. How 

 lovely it looks on paper! Theory may be all right in 

 mechanical greenhouse watering but when put in prac- 

 tice 'It's all bosh." Sometimes a man on the end of 

 a hose is a dangerous thing; would the mechanical 

 man be sensitive enough to find out dry spots and see 

 red spider? What a dream. 



A mechanical watering and syringing apparatus was 

 used in an adjoining town here, many years ago and I 

 think the proprietor went out of business. Outside 

 watering can be accomplished successfully by mechan- 

 ical means, but inside — never. A few years ago there 

 was a craze for having cement benches built to hold 

 water, stretching chicken wire over them, having moss 

 laid on the wire before putting in the soil, then planting 

 carnations. How many of them are in use today? 

 Certainly we are in a progressive age but at some things 

 our progress halts. [ quote one of his (Mr. Wittbold's) 

 paragraphs : "Looking back at our predecessors we 

 smile and pat each other on the back and feel our 

 superiority to such a degree that we generally find it 

 necessary to go out and buy a size larger hat." Some 

 of the old fellow* who have passed to the great beyond 

 have given us points which we are using today, having 

 discarded them in our haste for something new and, 

 finding the latter all wrong in practice, have gone back 

 to the" old ways. Steam boilers and mechanical stokers 

 are a great improvement over the old flues, but until 

 we get a mechanical waterer with gray matter enough 

 to work right let us hang on to the watering can and 

 the hose. 



I think if "Job" has any medals left he should send 

 one out to Chicago by registered mail. 



