Y2 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[March 



Rocky Mountain Silver Spruce. — An Ohio 

 correspondent says : " I am not a little sur- 

 prised that any one conversant with this tree 

 should class it as Menziesii — but perhaps I have 

 never seen a true Menziesii — but of this Abies, 

 with its silvery blue green foliage, I have 

 gathered thousands from the forests or wilds of 

 the upper lakes, grown and sold them. In 

 damp — not wet^ — soil, of a light loamy or sandy 

 nature, it grows freely, and its gently drooping 

 branches, with its usually perfect sharp conical 

 form, makes it one of the beauties among ever- 

 greens." 



[Our correspondent evidently refers to Abies 

 alba, and a beautiful tree. — Ed.] 



An Illinois correspondent who has paid much 

 attention to the Rocky Mountain conifers, writes 

 that Ahies Menziesii is undoubtedly the tree re- 

 ferred to. He also adds that Colorado seed pro- 

 duces hardier and better plants every way, than 

 seeds of the same trees from the Pacific. He 

 regards this species as one of the handsomest to 

 cultivate. He has had plants of Finns ponderosa 

 from Californian seeds killed, when those from 

 the Rocky Mountains were quite unharmed. 



Raising Clematises. — X. Y., Rochester, New 



York : Clematises are generally raised from 

 seeds ; but they mostly take one year to 

 grow. The hybrid kinds are grafted on roots 

 of the Clematis flammula, or perhaps other 

 kinds. The improved clematises have been 

 a long time in this country, having been intro- 

 duced soon after the appearance of Clematis 

 lanuginosa, which is one of the parents of the 

 great hybrid race ; it being a very free seeder. 

 The hybrid clematises have not, however, made 

 much headway with us, owing, we believe, to 

 some root injury, apparently of a similar nature 

 to that produced by the phylloxera on the grape. 

 Where they do well there is nothing more beau- 

 tiful, and you may safely " experiment in their 

 propagation with a view to selling them." 



Tar Walks. — Very good walks are made by 

 mixing gas tar with gravel. It softens somewhat 

 in summer, but is an admirable winter path. 

 They fail sometimes — and a correspondent of the 

 Countn/ Gentleman suggests that this is often 



j through employing professional "walkers," who 

 boil the tar, and in this way make a very little 

 tar go a great way. There is not enough tar to 



' make a lasting walk under such circumstances. 



^REEN MOUSE AND MOUSE p'ARDENING. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Visiting the greenhouse of a lady at Doylestown 

 recently, who keeps no gardener, but does all her 

 own work, it was interesting to note that tlie pots 

 were not only full of earth, but it was mounded 

 up so that the plants seemed to be growing on a 

 small hill in the centre of the pot. The first 

 impression of the good gardener would be that 

 this practice was wrong. There is no place for 

 the water. It would all run off. And this indeed 

 was remarked by a gentleman of the company. 

 The lady did not defend the practice against re- 

 cognized horticultural rules, but timidly remarked 

 that she was so ignorant about watering plants, 

 and found in practice that she always gave them 

 too much, she had made a mound as an insu- 

 rance against over-watering. To us, however. 



the plants made no objective response. The 

 great health they presented shoAved that they 

 were quite satisfied with the treatment. The 

 little fibres peeped through the surface as happily 

 as the little chickens under their mother's wing. 

 Now we are often asked by window gardeners 

 how often they should water their pot plants, for 

 every one seems to know over-watering is an in- 

 jury. It is always hard to give an answer to this 

 question, but in the light of this lady's experience 

 we would say, fill up the pots full, mound it, 

 and then you may water every day or as many 

 times a day as you please. It will always do good. 

 In most places where our readers are, March 

 is a busy greenhouse month. For those who live 

 in Labrador or Australia of course we have no 

 March hints to give. But they understand that 

 what we say here must be sooner or later for 

 them. 



