34 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



receives the heaviest weights with perfect indif- 

 ference. A well made road of this character will 

 bear public travel for a hundred years, provided 

 a facing of the half-inch material is added occa- 

 sionally, as the little wear that takes place needs 

 So far as public roads are concerned, loads of 

 this stone might be hauled to the yards of peni- 

 tentiaries, and broken by heavy machines worked 

 by convdcts ; and with a view to just such useful 

 labor these buildings might very often be erected 

 convenient to stone of this character. We trust 

 that these hints on roads will be useful at this 

 season of the year especially. 



In many parts where our magazine . goes it 

 will be necessary to bring up the preliminaries 

 for active spring work. 



Many delay pruning shrubbery until after se- 

 vere weather passes, so as to see what injury may 

 be done, — but with March all should be finished, 

 — taking care not to trim severely such shrubs 

 as flower out of last year's wood, as for instance, 

 the Wiegela — while such as flower from the 

 spring growth, as the Althaea, Mock Orange, &c., 

 are benefited by cutting back vigorously. 



Those which flower from young wood, cut in 

 severely to make new growth vigorous. Tea, 

 China, Bourbon and Noisette roses are of this 

 class. What are called annual flowering roses, 

 as Prairie Queen and so on, require much of last 

 year's wood to make a good show of flowers. 

 Hence, with these, thin out weak wood, and 

 leave all the stronger. 



To make handsome, shapely specimens of 

 shrubs, cut them now into the forms you want, 

 and keep them so by pulling out all shoots that 

 grow stronger than the others dui'ing the summer 

 season. 



Graft trees or shrubs where changed sorts are 

 desirable. Any lady can graft. Cleft grafting is 

 the easiest. Split the stock, cut the scion like a 

 wedge, insert in the split, so that the bark of the 

 stock and scion meets; tie a little bast bark 

 around it, and cover with Trowbridge's grafting 

 wax, and all is done : very simple when it is 

 understood, and not hard to understand. 



If flowers have been growing in the ground for 

 many years, new soil does wonders. Rich ma- 

 nure makes plants grow, but they do not always 

 flower well with vigorous growth. If new soil 

 cannot be had, a wheelbarrow of manure to 

 about every fifty square feet will be enough. If 

 the garden earth looks grey or yellow, rotten 

 leaves — quite rotten leaves — will improve it. If 

 heavy, add sand. If very sandy, add salt — about 



half a pint to fifty square feet. If very black or 

 rich from previous year's manurings, use a little 

 lime, al)0ut a pint, slacked, to fifty square feet. 



If the garden be full of hardy perennial flow- 

 ers, do not dig it, but use a fork, and that not 

 deeply. 



Dig garden ground only when the soil is warm 

 and dry. Do not be in a hurry, or you may get 

 behind. Wlien a clot of earth will crush to 

 powder as you tread on it, it is time to dig — not 

 before. 



If perennial plants have stood three years in 

 one place, separate the stools, replanting one- 

 third, and give the balance to your neighbor who 

 has none. 



Box edgings lay well now. Make the ground 

 firm and level, plant deep, with tops not more 

 than two inches above ground. 



Roll the grass well before the softness of a thaw 

 goes away. It makes all smooth and level. 



In planting trees remember our repeated ad- 

 vice to use the pruning knife freely. 



The rule for pruning at transplanting is to cut 

 in proportion to apparent injury to roots. If not 

 much the worse for removal, cut but little of the 

 top away. Properly pruned, a good gardener 

 will not have the worst case of a badly dug tree 

 to die under his hands. In a nursery, where 

 these matters are well understood, trees " never 

 die." 



(JOMMUNICA TIONS. 



TOUCHING THE HARDIHOOD OF CONIFERS, 



BY F. R. ELLIOTT, CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



Your comments, friend Meehan, in the De- 

 cember number of the Gardener's Monthly, are 

 just to the point, in so far as my own experience, 

 in practice and observation, proves. It has been 

 my study at all times to use new and untested 

 varieties touching hardihood, to place them 

 where they could be protected from the winter's 

 sun, and at the same time relieved measurably 

 from the severe cold winds of winter. I have 

 found among those Mr. Hoopes classes as tender, 

 that the Abies Smithiana and A. Douglasii 

 only needed the protection from Avinter's sun; 

 so also Cupressus Lawsoniana. I have in mind 

 a tree of this latter planted on the north side of 

 a building, but in a bleak exposure, on the bor- 

 der of Lake Erie, Avhich has for six years borne 

 the winter without a blemish. Similar exposures 



