1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



227 



men of an embalmed folly is before you, which 

 samples neither grove nor forest, nor decent 

 thicket. 



It would seem that the " Yank " should long 

 ago have sent this old w^orld folly into the outer 

 dai'kness to which he has consigned so many 

 important whim-whams. One single example 

 of such wasted time and labor well undone is 

 before me, in the grounds of Hon. Nathaniel 

 Wheeler, of sewing machine immortality. An 

 old world artist had, before his ownership, bor- 

 dered his grounds with all the ins and outs, and 

 thick planting of these irregular horrors, No 

 end of toil and lots of money, and years of 

 growth had been wasted in a trial after the pic- 

 turesque. The only cure possible was like that 

 of the Spitz dog, whose tail they cropped close 

 behind his ears. Mr. Wheeler was not studied 

 up in landscape ; but a sound head, a broad 

 nature and good eyes, had educated a taste 

 which always finds its best help in large com- 

 mon sense. He tore out the unsightly wall of 

 growth which hemmed in and dwarfed his 

 grounds With the help of fine fruit trees, and 

 well-grown evergreens, in one season he changed 

 the whole aspect and expression of his place. 

 To-day, for grace of lawn and tree groups, and 

 reaches of tasteful vistas all through its extent, 

 I know of no more perfect specimen of sense- 

 ful planting. But there was no thinning, no 

 half-way work. His improvement was a new 

 creation in his borders. 



Before ending, let me give unction to Mr. 

 Beecher's sentence. It is not the fancy of a 

 man without long and large experience in the 

 garden. He is no mere amateur. His study and 

 work covers more than forty years of his sixty. 

 His rule of " supreme safety " is the conviction 

 forced on a shrewd observer, by years of trial. 

 No man in this country, outside perhaps of some 

 large nursery has had a wider and more varied 

 personal planting than he. Every plant and 

 tree tough enough to stand our Summer's sun 

 and wintry blast, has a home beside him, to 

 cheer and shelter his. I say, therefore, to all, 

 heed well his counsel, of Supreme Safety in a 

 Mulch., Summer and Winter. It is the voice of 

 a Seer in the homeland and the wood. 



RHODODENDRON OCCIDENTALE. 



BY "W. C. L. DREW, EL DORADO, C'AL. 



One of the grandest fiowers I ever beheld is 

 the Rhododendron occidentale, or California 



Azalea. It is a native of California, where it 

 grows along streams of crystal water in thickly 

 wooded districts, throughout the State, The finest 

 are found in the Sierra Nevadas, and the best I 

 ever saw were in the section of county around 

 the Silver Creeks, where they are covered with 

 snow for four months in the year. 



Rhododendron occidentale is a shrub growing 

 three to six feet high ; the foliage is the hand- 

 somest I ever saw ; the leaves are lanceolate in 

 shape, about four inches long, and one to one 

 and a half inches across, of a rather firm texture 

 when fully developed. In color they are a 

 bright shining green, when half grown they 

 have all the appearance of being freshly var- 

 nished, and as will be readily admitted by all 

 who have seen it, this bright green foliage is 

 half the charm of the plant, and makes a most 

 charming setting for the large and conspicuous 

 flowers. 



The flowers are two and a half, to three inches 

 long, with a conspicuous calyx composed of dis- 

 dinct oblong sepals, the corolla is usually snow 

 white with the upper lobe yellow inside, they 

 are sometimes, however, found with rose-tinged 

 flowers. The stamens and style are much ex- 

 serted, moderately curved, and very conspicuous. 

 The flowers are borne in large clusters of from 

 ten to twenty each. 



Rhododendron occidentale blooms in the 

 Summer, and is constantly in flower during 

 July and August. 



For Eastern gardens, I think it will be found 

 the best of any flower which California has sup- 

 plied, as it grows where the snow lays on the 

 ground four to five months in the year, where it 

 freezes eleven months, and yet where the sun 

 in Summer will send the thermometer over 

 130°. The soil it seems to require is moderately 

 light, black soil. It will not grow well under 

 trees or in the shade, but requires plenty of sun- 

 light. 



PICTURESQUE LAWNS. 



BY S. B. PARSONS, FLUSHING, N. Y, 



The picture effects to be obtained by color 

 in foliage are familiar to all who have studied 

 nature. The Silver Poplars, quivering in the 

 lightest breeze, relieve the more sombre Maples 

 on the mountain sides. The light-green Tulip 

 Tree and the darker Chestnut or Hickory are 

 found together, while the White Spruce and the 

 Hemlock aid to show oft' the beauty of each 

 other. 



