EVEUGREENS— THEIR USE AND CULTURE. 



never for a moment even, should become dried during the process of transplanting. To 

 this end they must not bo exposed to sun or wind. If this rule is observed, in ninety- 

 nine cases out of a hundred, your trees will live. We have taken pains to test this in va- 

 rious ways. A few summers ago, early in the season, we set out a long screen of Arbor- 

 vilae, taken up and sent us from the woods of Maine. Our good Uncle, a skilful horti- 

 culturist, said that we should lose a very large percentage of them; our " minister" 

 uliio au fait in such matters, prophecied their speedy death; our neighbors declared they 

 couldn't live. "We were careful to have them taken up with the sod on, in a damp stormy 

 week. Six of them we set aside in a tub of water. Some three or four we left exposed 

 to a drying wind, though the day was cloudy. AYe did not cut or trim them in the least, 

 and out of two hundred and ten trees, we only lost foui — 'the four we had left exposed. 

 The six we had placed in the water were neglected for three weeks or more, till, finally, we 

 carelessly planted them, with little thoughts of their surviving, though in a disadvanta- 

 geous situation. They all lived. Again: in planting some fifty Norway Spruces, from 

 four and a half to six feet high, we were careful to have them brought us in a moist day. 

 The sun, however, came out, before we had finished setting them, and one of the best of 

 the lot was somehow or other overlooked, and allowed to remain a number of hours with 

 the roots exposed to the sun. It died; but all the rest have done well. We might give 

 other illustrations, but we proceed to the second point; which is, that the trees should bo 

 carefully planted. The best manure for evergreens is peat earth, or vegetable mould, 

 mixed with ashes, and allowed to remain if possible, through one winter to be decomposed, 

 and then mixed with part sand or sandy loam. We tread down a layer of sods in a trench 

 — dug deep to withstand drouths — then throw in, Avith our first layer of peat earth com- 

 post, a quantity of stones, large and small, to retain coolness and moisture, of which ever- 

 greens generally are so fond. We then mix the top loam with the compost, in finishing 

 uj) the operation of planting, throwing in enough Avater with the earth to have it settle 

 around the moist roots. 



Thirdly. It is important that transplanted evergreens, to grow and flourish, should be 

 kept wet and cool. To this end we must mulch; and, for evergreens we prefer fine hub 

 chips, saw dust, or spent tan, (though for fruit trees meadow hay is better,) as with a 

 little ashes, they make a good manure for the next year. Always select small young trees, 

 before those that are large, especially before those that are old and stunted in their growth ; 

 they thrive much better; and large trees in the process of rooting are likely to lose their 

 foliage, and much of their beautiful spray and branches, and thus become unsightly, scrag- 

 gy, and desolate looking objects enough. The best time for transplanting evergreens is 

 in the May or early June storms; they may, however, be taken up and do well at any 

 time of year, if these precautions are taken — although the very best season is just asthe 

 buds are swelling to burst, and before the}^ have started and grown so as to wilt in the 

 hot sun. 



Of the varieties of evergreens, their different characteristics, of the beauty and extent 

 of the native kinds, we hope soon to apeak further, as well as of the effect of their judi- 

 cious grouping, in a future article. The evergreens, indeed, that are indigenous to our 

 own soil — if there were no exquisitely feathery and graceful Deodars — no rich green, 

 strange, coral-like Araucarias, so long and so difficult to acclimate, — no dark sombre 

 Yews, — no solemn, grand " Cedar of Libanus," no fringed spiuce of Norway, — would be 

 all sufficient to cheer and warm and enliven the wintry scene. The thick verdue of the 

 w Spruce with its lively hue, seems to shed sunshine around in the gloomiest day 

 hat border or shrubbery is more rich or charming, than a grand group of Ka 



