THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[January, 



usually classified. Amateurs should pay more 

 attention to the scientific — if we may so term it — 

 study of the rose, and its classification and gen- 

 eral management; no class of flowers is more 

 easily understood, and no one affords so rich a 

 fund of perpetual interest. 



Wherever any part of a tree does not grow 

 freely, pruning of such weak growth, at this sea- 

 son, will induce it to push more freely next year. 

 All scars made by pruning off" large branches 

 should be painted or tarred over, to keep out the 

 rain. Many fruit trees become hollow, or fall 

 into premature decay, from the rain penetrating 

 through old saw cuts made in pruning. Also, the 

 branches should be cut close to the trunk, so 

 that no dead stumps shall be produced on the 

 tree, and bark will readily grow over. Many 

 persons cut off" branches of trees in midsummer, 

 in order that the returning sap may speedily 

 clothe the wound with new bark, but the loss of 

 much foliage in summer injures the tree, and 

 besides, painting the scar removes all danger of 

 rotting at the wovmd. 



CO MM UNICA TIONS. 



A PLEA FOR PLANTING PYRUS CORONARIA. 



BY MR. W. T. HARDING. 



I was much pleased with Mr. Stauff"er's re- 

 marks, in the March number of laat year, on our 

 native Pyrus coronaria, the American or Gar- 

 land Crab Apple. He, Mr. S., is an excellent 

 writer, — good, sound logic always seems to flow 

 from his pen, — and, that he loves the beautiful, 

 is also evident. He lets us know his heart is 

 where it ought to be, and feels " as happy as a 

 king " when beholding a crab tree. 



It occurs to me, that when a boy, and reading 

 of a traveler (Waterton, I think), returning home, 

 after a long absence, observing, that " of all the 

 beautiful or wonderful sights he had seen, at 

 home or abroad, nothing pleased him so much 

 as the sight of an old crab tree, blossoming in a 

 hedgerow at the margin of a wood." 

 "O Jmppiness, our being's end and aim, 

 Good, pleasure, ease, content, whate'er thy name." 



I endorse every word the genial Staufler and 

 other aesthetic writers say about the crab apple. 

 To quote his language, "A more beautiful object 

 cannot be found when in full bloom, together 

 with ita delightful fragrance (early in spring)." 

 He may well ask, "Why is it that we do not find 



it in cultivation ?" " There's the rub." His de- 

 scription of its merits, I assure the reader, is no 

 exaggeration, and it ought to be in every garden 

 or lawn. It would be the glory of the green- 

 house in winter, and would seem, either in 

 groups or as isolated bushes, the loveliest of the 

 lawn. In many respects it far surpasses the 

 favorite Cydonia japonica as an ornamental 

 shrub. It flowers more freely, and is as sweet as 

 a Bon Siline rose. In the Southern forests, the 

 blending odors of the Carolina jasmine Gelsem- 

 ium sempervirens, and Pyrus coronaria, are as 

 exquisite as any floral perfumes can possibly be, 

 and are far more refreshing to inhale than frank- 

 incense and myrrh. 



I think the reader, ere this, will have discov- 

 ered the writer loves pretty things, and they may 

 feel assured that he would willingly sign a round 

 robbin, vote in person or by proxy, hold up his 

 right hand, or both hands, in favor of doing jus- 

 tice to the Garland Crab Apple. 



Before, and during the war, it grew abundantly 

 in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennes- 

 see. I met with it in the neighborhood of Col- 

 umbia, Beaufort, Daufuskie Island, Savannah, 

 Saint Augustine, Fernandina, and Knoxville. I 

 presume it grows there still, unless the indignant 

 people living in those parts grubbed them all up 

 when it was suggested to "hang Jeff" Davis on a 

 sour apple tree." Why "a sour apple tree" in- 

 stead of any other, I cannot imagine. I shall 

 never forgive Mr. Doggerel, who first hinted at 

 putting such a beautiful tree as Pyrus coronaria 

 to so base a purpose as to make a gibbet for 

 any one. It would have been equally as consis- 

 tent to have advised smothering the unfortunate 

 man with flowers. 



As Mr. Meehan observes, " It is singular that 

 in all the botanical excursions of the editor, he 

 has never ran against this tree." No doubt he 

 will some of these days, and (providing he does 

 not break his shins when doing so), will say 

 something pleasant about it. In the meanwhile, 

 I will tell the editor how I " ran against this 

 tree." 



When in charge of Wade Hampton's estate, in 

 South Carolina, during "the piping times of 

 peace," I was often amused with the exciting 

 narrative of a coon hunt, one of the chief delights 

 of a darkey. So, "just for the fun of the thing," 

 I proposed to join the sable " Nimrods " in the 

 hunt about to take place that night. About nine 

 o'clock I heard a negro quartette approaching, 

 and as they advanced from a copse of magnolias 



