480 



HORTICULTURE. 



April 3, 1909 



Fig. 4. 

 KEY TO FIG. 4. 



Cement Post. 

 Temp. 2x4 Stringer. 

 Temp. Flooring. 

 Cement Flooring. 

 Drainage Slot. 

 Outside Clamp. 

 Ontslrte Board of Mold. 

 Inner Clarap. 



■ Board of Mold. 

 Temp. Plug to hold Boards apart. 



removed, the inner part of the clamp 

 be taken off, the temporary posts re- 

 moved, and the stringers and flooring 

 will then drop, and you can use the 

 lumber for the construction of other 

 benches. 



Fig. 3 will illustrate the method of 

 applying the clamps; Fig. 4 will show 

 cross section of the bench. The com- 

 pleted bench is simply one continuous 

 piece of cement, with one inch side 

 board and one inch of cement flooring. 



supported by five-inch posts. There are 

 no other supports or obstructions ex- 

 cept these posts. This bench can be 

 constructed at a cost for material of 

 2 l-4c per square foot. 



C. M. DICKINSON. 



PLANTING FOR WINTER EFFECT 

 IN THE NORTHERN STATES. 



A Paper by George E. McClure, before 

 tbe Society of American Florists. 



During the really marvelous decade 

 through which we have passed, in 

 which the masses have shown a re- 

 sponse to the education which has 

 been imparted to them by the many 

 landscape gardeners,, artists and na- 

 ture lovers, who have labored with 

 such untiring devotion to the cause of 

 outdoor art, the people of the north- 

 ern states have learned to appreciate 

 the beauties of the winter season, and 

 though, to many, the term winter is 

 equivalent to death, in that all activ- 

 ity of growth is at rest, they do not 

 realize that rest is as necessary as 

 growth and that even in the tropics 

 there is a season of rest though it may 

 not be expressed in the same manner 

 as in our snowbound latitudes, yet to 

 others winter means only a change 

 from the pervading green of summer, 

 through the high coloration of fall, to 

 the gr.-iy effect of the woods and the 

 brilliant berry and evergreen effects 

 with a ground work and background 

 of glistening snow. The subtile effects 

 are always lost in summer by the mas- 

 sive foliage and it is only the hand of 

 winter that can reveal them to us. 

 The Long Northern Winters. 



When we realize that in the northern 

 parts of the northern states there is a 

 winter season of from four to five 

 months' duration, it behooves us to 

 study our material thoroughly in or- 

 der to make our home surroundings, 

 whether large estates or small city 

 lots, as attractive and delightful as the 

 art of the landscape artist can sug- 

 gest. 



Winter Pictures. 



The aim of this paper, which might 

 more properly be called "planting for 



winter effect in the northern part of 

 the northern states," is to stimulate 

 the growing desire of aesthetic people 

 in this belt of our country, to produce 

 landscape pictures which will gladden 

 and cheer through the winter season. 

 Although many excellent articles have 

 appeared in recent years in our best 

 journals on the subject of planting for 

 winter effect, yet almost all of this 

 valuable information has been written 

 for winter effects which could be pro- 

 duced in the latitude of New York 

 City or along the Atlantic Coast as far 

 north as Boston, and in many cases 

 this information, as applied to the re- 

 gion of the Great Lakes has often re- 

 sulted in partial, if not complete fail- 

 ure. This has served to discourage 

 those who sought to reproduce the 

 winter pictures painted by writers 

 from a more temperate region. Al- 

 though a great many of the trees and 

 shrubs which are useful for planting 

 for winter effect, come from foreign 

 lands and are useful in this country 

 only when extremes in temperature 

 are not very severe, yet a long list of 

 iron-clad materials is at hand to se- 

 lect from for the extremely cold re- 

 gions of our northern states. 



The Beautiful Winter Woods. 



When we contemplate planting for 

 winter effect, the mind turns first to 

 the evergreens, then to berry plants, 

 and to the bright colored branches of 

 the dogwoods and osiers, etc., but sel- 

 dom do we think of the beautiful effect 

 of the winter woods, the persistent fo- 

 liage of some of the beeches and oaks, 

 w^hich although brown and dry, yet is 

 cheerful in its effect. Little is thought 

 of the beautiful shades of brown, grey 

 and white, in the trunl; and branch, 

 or of the variety of the framework of 

 (he various trees, which gives an ele- 

 ment of strength to tne winter land- 

 scape, or to the variety in trees and 

 shrubs, in the delicate tracery of their 



smaller twigs, as evidenced by some of 

 the birches and alders, etc., in the 

 trees, and in the shrubs by such as 

 Stepanandra flexuosa, the coral berry 

 (Symphoricarpus vulgaris) and some 

 of the spireas. Among the deciduous 

 trees which are attractive during win- 

 ter might be mentioned the oriental 

 plane (Platanus occidentalis), which, 

 with its pendant balls of fruit borne 

 high against the sky, seem to take 

 away the barrenness of the deciduous 

 trees, and is suggestive of the Christ- 

 mas decorations so admired by the 

 young folks, on Christmas trees. While 

 this tree is beautiful in winter it has 

 also much to recommend it as a fasc 

 growing tree for summer effect. Its 

 beautiful bark, with the irregular 

 patches of green and grey, is also in- 

 teresting in the winter season. In 

 much the same manner the liquidam- 

 bar (Liquidambar styraciflua) is in- 

 teresting with its fruit in pendant 

 spiked balls. Its symmetrical form of 

 growth and extremely corky branches 

 are noticeable to those who are only 

 casual observers. The shell bark hick- 

 ory (Hickoria ovata) while suggestive 

 of strength is also especially interest- 

 ing on account of its peculiar bark 

 formation, which is unlike any other 

 common species of tree. If planted 

 near the shell bark hickory and other 

 trees with rough bark the American 

 Beech (Pagus ferruginea) shows to ad- 

 vantage, as its grey bark is the 

 smoothest of any of our hardy Ameri- 

 can trees, and never fails to attract 

 attention from those who seek the 

 beauties of winter as found in our 

 woods. It is also especially attractive 

 in winter as the young trees often hold 

 their dry leaves as do some of the oaks 

 well into the winter. Among other 

 trees which might be mentioned as be- 

 ing attractive in winter, from the 

 standpoint of their bark coloration, 

 are the yellow branched linden (Tilia 

 platyphyllus var. aurea), the Babylo- 



