202 Salt on Trees. 



things to do properly. Take a Rose-leaf, and lay it face downwards on a taLlo. It 

 will then represent a stem with two or three small leaflets on each side, and one at 

 the top. Down the centre of each of these small leaves or leaflets is a comparatively 

 thick midrib, with slighter ones branching off from it. Take a piece of fine wire 

 and pass it through the leaf (always selecting the top leaflet first), under one of these 

 slight ribs, and bring it up on the opposite side of the ribs. Subject two or three 

 of the ribs to this operation, always keeping close to the centre rib : in fact, work as 

 if you were sewing through the leaf, having the long stitches, if I may so call them, 

 on the wrong side, and it will bo found to take great care and practice to keep them 

 from being seen on the right side. The wire should be cut off at the top, so as not 

 to let it appear above the point of the leaf. The other part should then be drawn 

 down the long stem, and given a twist here and there ; but take care to keep the 

 wire from being visible. The little side leaves should be done in the same manner, 

 the only difference being that the wire is cut off at each end, and not brought down the 

 long stem like the top on%. To do all this well takes some little time and trouble ; 

 but a Rose-leaf, if not mounted as just described, is liable to get out of shape, and 

 to hang down ; if wired, however, it keeps stiff, and can be bent back and arranged 

 according to fancy, just as one would adjust an artificial leaf. — The Garden. 



Salt on Trees. 



EDITOR of The Horticulturist : — I notice in your May number a note on the 

 destructive effects of common salt on trees. I apprehend that the injury done 

 is more frequent than is often suspected. Last week an acquaintance called and 

 requested me, as familiar with fruits, to examine his cherry trees in his front door 

 yard, which were dying, while the same varieties in adjoining yards were not only 

 healthy, but in full bloom and vigor. I noticed that the injury was done to four 

 trees, three Black Tartarians and one Elton. Other trees, within sixty feet, had no 

 dead limbs or blackened bark. No insect was to be discovered. At last I sug- 

 gested — you have four new boarders ; they wet at night the roots. The salt in the 

 solutions of the. effete water of the body has done the work. He was incredulous, 

 as the grass was not killed by the salt, yet soon discovered the habit I refer to. 



Another man emptied on a sidewalk a half barrel of beef brine. He thought it 

 would do the walk no harm, and it did not ; but it killed just the half of a pine 

 shade tree, which was fed by the roots under the gravel village sidewalk. This 

 shows that certain trees are fed by parts of themselves, by roots from certain 

 directions, as the roots from the street gave healthy sap to the part of the tree next 

 the street. 



A dog of a visitor had the habit of wetting a pot in which was a fine Orange Tree, 

 whose graft was before full of oranges and blossoms. Since that time, now three 

 years, no fruit or blossoms have appeared, and though the earth has been several 

 times changed, no fresh healthy growth has taken place. 



So are often plants and trees in and out of doors. We suggest care. 



S. J. Parker, M. D. 



