THE 



Gardener's Monthly 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Vol. XXII. 



JULY, 1880. 



Number 259. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Lately we were in a very stylish garden, 

 which had at considerable expense been re- 

 modelled by a distinguished landscape gardener ; 

 and we were seated with the excellent proprietor 

 in a " summer house," designed after some dis- 

 tinguished European model, and which we were 

 expected very much to admire. It was a board 

 building, and the outside was covered with bark 

 and moss. The inside was faced with split 

 rods made to represent stars, diamonds, and 

 other figures. It was indeed a very pretty piece 

 of work ; but oh ! wasn't it hot I It was indeed 

 a "summer" house, and the writer of this 

 heartily wished for a winter one. It was an 

 octagon, and the " door " and two window holes 

 let in all the air. It is an excellent illustration 

 of the absurdity of imitating European styles in 

 our country. Far better would it be to provide 

 some arbor of vines, which, while keeping out 

 the heavy sun, lets all the cool breezes through. 

 And by the way, did any one ever notice how much 

 more cool and pleasant some vines make a place 

 than some others will? and also that some trees 

 seem cooler than others ? People say it is always 

 cool under a willow or a walnut, and they are 

 certainly cooler than some other trees are. The 

 reason to our mind is that they have an im- 

 mense number of small leaves, through which 



the cool air circulates ; while stiflF, broad-leaved 

 trees shut out the air as thoroughly as our 

 friend's English summer house did. 



New sown lawns are liable to be crowded with 

 weeds. There seems no better remedy than to 

 hand-weed, filling the holes made with earth in 

 those cases where the roots are large. In some 

 cases this hand-weeding will have to be done for 

 two or three successive years. The seeds of the 

 common Plantain, for instance, do not all ger- 

 minate the first. It is often three years before 

 they all grow. The greatest labor is during the 

 first year of sowing, however. The increased 

 encouragement of the grass helps to keep down 

 weeds. 



Ornamental hedges that are thin at the base 

 receive much encouragement from cutting back 

 the strong top shoots. Indeed, this applies to all 

 growths, trees and shrubs, evergreens included. 

 Any check to the more vigorous shoots while 

 growing encourages the weaker ones. Remark- 

 ably beautiful specimens of anything may be 

 had by noting this. The branches are rendered 

 uniform in vigor by this sort of watchfulness, 

 and can be made regular from bottom to top. 



Plants set against wall and piazzas frequently 

 suffer from want of water at this season, when 

 even ground near them is quite wet. Draw 

 away the soil around each plant so as to form a 

 basin ; fill in with a bucketful of water, allowing 



