1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



39 



The Destruction of the Laurel Hill 

 Cedar of Lebakon. — It will not restore the 

 dead tree to life, and all reproach on the poor 

 thing who cut down the tree will do no good 

 now. But it must have some influence on others 

 who might be in the atmosphere of a similar 

 evil spirit, to know how the intelligent commu- 

 nity regards such a dalliance with a demon, and 

 for this reason we give the following from the 

 January American Agriculturist : 



"At Laurel Hill Cemetery, in, or near Phila- 

 delphia, there were two Cedars of Lebanon? 

 each some 50 feet high, and well known to lov^ 

 ers of trees as among the finest specimens o 

 of this Cedar in the country. We learn from a 

 late Gardener's Monthly that one of these 

 trees were cut down ! And why ? Because the 

 tree was in the way; it interfered with the read- 

 ing of the inscription on some paltry gravestone 

 or monument ! We say ' paltry,' with no refer- 

 ence to the particular handful of dust that the 

 stone may for a few years mark, but any monu- 

 ment whatever, by the side of such a tree is a 

 miserably paltry affair. A few dollars and a 

 few day's work may restore a gravestone or a 

 monument ; whatever lettering there may be — of 

 no possible use to the -dead, and only flattering 

 the vanity of the living who put it there — could 

 be easily replaced. But that tree ! The miser- 

 able marble thing of to-day would sink into ut- 

 ter insignificance before any tree 50 feet in 

 height — but before a Cedar of Lebanon of 50 

 feet, before any Cedar of Lebanon, how miser- 

 abh' paltry seems any work of man. It is well 

 to be charitable, and assume, difticult as it may 

 be, that this person knew no better. Could he 

 have known that the very ancestors of this tree 

 are now regarded as among ' the most renowned 

 natural monuments of the universe ;' that they 

 furnished Solomon wood for the Temple ; that 

 this very tree descended from those mentioned 

 all through Sacred History ; had he known that 

 to this day even the Arabs hold the ancestors of 

 this tree as sacred, could he have cut down a 

 Cedar of Lebanon, as if it were a used up tele- 

 graph pole? This tree would no doubt, live for 

 centuries after the elements had obliterated the 

 letters chiseled into the slab or monument ; cen- 

 turies after the miserable piece of carbonate <'f 

 lime had crumbled away; centuries after the 

 memory of the dead whose monument was to be 

 preserved; and centuries after the memory of 

 the preserver of the monument liad passed 

 away, would this Cedar of Lebanon have stood, 



and been an object of interest and admiration, — 

 but it was in the way of somebody's head-stone, 

 and was cut down !" 



A Hybrid Fir. — Mr. Henry Yilmorin took a 

 tree of Abies Pinsapo and Abies Cephalonica 

 and dusted the male flowers of one over the 

 young cone or female flowers of the other. Only 

 a single perfect seed resulted. This has proved 

 to be a beautiful hybrid which is now eight feet 

 hi^h. 



The Yine Garden. — Portions of one's 

 grounds especially set apart for the culture of 

 hardy and wood}' climbing vines, would have a 

 very beautiful effect if the trellises were designed 

 to secux-e a variety of form, and then the shade 

 some of them would afford as arbors would be a 

 luxury in itself in the warm days of summer- 

 time. The writer will not soon forget the beau- 

 tiful effects in the scenery made by Yitis indi- 

 visa, as it rambled over trees and low bushes 

 along the Kansas River and other points in the 

 South-western States. 



MAURANDIA BARCLAY ANA. 



Besides the beautiful effects to be had from 

 permanent woody climbers, much beauty may 

 be had from a judicious training of annual kinds. 

 In looking over Mr. H. A. Dreer's catalogue, 

 the great variety of ornamental vines offered 

 suggested this paragraph. The old Maurandia 

 for instance, can be worked up into many beau- 

 tiful forms. 



Grafted Coniferje. — A writer in an Eng- 

 lish periodical refers to a prejudice against 

 grafted Coniferse, and shows that where they 

 have not done well it is chiefly because the 

 plants have been kept too long in pots. Where 

 the roots are not suffered to coil the}' do just as 

 well as seedlings; and this is our experience. 



