December 19, 1908 



HORT1CI) LTU RE 



831 



The Man with the Scissors 



At soiir' time during the spring and fall you are apt 

 to find gently tapping at your door an individual bear- 

 ing unmistakable signs of baving an acquaintance with 

 the soil and plants and flowers. When you lind him 

 your eyes will be attracted by a pruning shears that he 

 dallies with as deftly as a cow-puncher handles his 

 shooter. There is a method in this sicssors play, serv- 

 ing to emphasize the fact that you are in the presence of 

 a gardener, should you fail to be impressed by the other 

 distinguishing marks. 



To the man in the business this stage play produces 

 no results but to the householder who, at these periods 

 of the year finds himself in need of such a man's serv- 

 ices, the results are sure and certain. There is always 

 something to be done around a house in the gardening 

 line, and it is with the knowledge of this fact that this 

 itinerant gardener presents himself. His strong point 

 is in the manipulation of the shears. If there are any 

 shrubs around the house he will convince the owner 

 that they need pruning. If given the job he will go at 

 the plants, regardless of the suitability of the time of the 

 year, like a bull at a fence, filling the air with flying 

 branches. The average person watches and hopes for 

 the best but the results, of course, only evidence them- 

 selves too late. The scissors man has flitted to other 

 fields and will not return, perhaps for months, or until 

 the victim's anger has subsided. 



As a recent practical example of what this class of 

 imposters can do we have in mind a house around which 

 there were as many as fifty shrubs of different kinds, in- 

 cluding a couple of Crimson Kamblers. It was upon 

 these that one of these gardeners alighted and what he 

 did and how he did it would take but few words to tell. 

 He cut everything off level and the 

 only things that escaped the slash- 

 ing were the very low bushes that, 

 happily for them, had not reached 

 his line of horizontal beauty. After 

 reaching the Bamblers, either from 

 remorse of conscience or more prob- 

 ably because the scissors had made 

 his hand sore, he contented himself 

 with cutting off only the tips of the 

 branches and leaving masses of hard 

 canes that should have been re- 

 moved, seasons before. This is not 

 an unusual case but unfortunately 

 a good example of what is being 

 done on an extensive scale. 



A man who is willing to work and 

 has ability can pick up a good liv- 

 ing by sneh jobs as these and once he 



has proved his worth to those thai employ him, their 

 patronage can lie depended on yearly. There is in 

 every community plenty of work for the jobbing gardener 

 who understands shrub and tree pruning. Thus far he 

 is a rare commodity. 



An Innovation in Conservative 

 Architecture 



Our cover illustration this week shows the possibilities 

 in U-Bar construction. The conditions which were 

 overcome in erecting this house were most difficult. The 

 space was very limited ami from necessity the house had 

 to be located on an exceedingly steep grade, which made 

 the usual greenhouse treatment out of the question. 



Tin' house is 60 feet long and divided into two 

 compartments. Being very close to the residence, it 

 must of course be more or less ornate. 



The lower part is used for a potting room, and the 



green! -e i- reached by a spiral stairway, which has 



been handled voy effectively. 



The gardener's cottage is just at the left, in the cellar 

 of \\ hich is the boiler which heats both it and the green- 

 house. 



You will note how the architect has taken advantage 

 of the little note- of acceni which the side wall ventila- 

 tion gives. In effect it is almost a continuation of the 

 feeling of the balustrade at the front of the greenhouse. 



Le Brun, architect of the famous 48-story Metropoli- 

 tan tower, who designed the residence, also' designed the 

 greenhouse. 



Specimen Chrysanthemum Miss Clay Frick 



Grown by W. 



Yonkers, N. 



