260 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\Septemher, 



ones of Europe. But thanks to the experience 

 of some, and to the teachings of otliers, it has 

 been shown that our Osage Orange with ordi- 

 nary care can be relied on to make a good defen- 

 sive liedge, and tliere are now to be seen many 

 hedges which are as perfect as could be desired. 

 Not only here is the Osage Orange proving its 

 worth, but in neighboring States it is also highly 

 valued. In the vicinity of Delaware City, Del., 

 the writer lately saw miles of Osage hedging 

 just as good as any ordinary hedge he had seen 

 in Europe. It is the custom in that part of Dela- 

 ware to trim the hedges three times annually, 

 but it would be found that twice would answer 

 to make a good hedge. These Delaware hedges 

 were trimmed flat on the top, which, while de- 

 tracting from their beauty, tends to form them 

 with very bi'oad bases, which in time will make 

 them perfectly impenetrable. 



Osage Orange plants can be had at low prices 

 compared to those of a few years ago, and 

 with such care to the young hedge as the 

 Monthly has often recommended, there is no 

 excuse for those wanting a good cheap hedge 

 not having one. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Beautiful Hardy Flowers. — Among the 

 most beautiful of August flowers in the garden 

 are the Kansas Gay-feather, Liatris pycnos- 

 tachya; Helianthus mollis; and Heliopsis Isevis, 

 which, though coarse in some respects, makes a 

 gay appearance when mixed with other things. 



Live Fence Posts. — These are commended 

 every once in a while. We have an idea that 

 their advantages are purely hypothetical. Does 

 any one know of a case where the owner has 

 been satisfied with one for a continuous period of 

 ten years ? If so we should be glad of particu- 

 lars. 



Paulownia imperialis. — This, which is 

 called Blue Trumpet Flower in the West, is 

 known as Vanilla Tree in Paris, because of the 

 delicate scented flowers. 



Landscape Gardening. — M. Andre, who 

 visited Philadelphia during the Centennial, and 

 has studied gardening all over the world, has 

 just issued in French an admirable work on 

 landscape gardening. He makes a point which 

 those who have observed must often have re- 

 flected on, that abeaulifiil plan on paper is often 



ridiculous when carried out — from the diflerent 

 plane from which the Hues are observed. We 

 have seen some delightful grounds which would 

 be thought horrid on a plan. 



Public Parks and Gardens. — It is said by 

 the London gardening papers that among the 

 signatures to the petitions to Parliament for the 

 closing of public gardens, parks, museums, and 

 libraries on Sundays, side by side with the ngiints 

 of reverend signers are the names of tavern 

 keepers and liquor sellers, who seem to under- 

 stand that there are no "back doors" to the pub- 

 lic gardens as there are to the " gin palaces." 



Scarcity of Trees and Shrubs in Eng- 

 land. — The Gardener''s Chronicle says that a 

 good variety of trees and shrubs has been very 

 much neglected in England in favor of eveu 

 slight varieties of evergreens. This fact strikes 

 most visitors to England after a visit to the 

 leading American nurseries and private grounds. 

 A collection of over a thousand marked varities 

 and species of trees and shrubs, such as may be 

 found in some American nurseries, has probably 

 never been known in England. 



Mimulus for Fountain Decorations.— 

 Under the spray of the Boulder Falls in the 

 Rocky Mountains, where indeed so much spra}- 

 falls that one almost needed an umbrella, the 

 writer gathered a small Mimulus native to that 

 region, that was much more luxuriant than tlie 

 same species gathered under other circumstances. 

 There seems no doubt that the various species < f 

 Monkey-flower would make admix'able subjects 

 for fountain decorations. 



Growing Specialties.— One of the arts of 

 successful nursery or florist business is to find 

 out something in demand, and which one can 

 grow cheaper and better than anybody else. 

 The English papers are noting the success of 

 one florist who has given up everything else for 

 Mignonette. No one can grow it as well and as 

 cheap as he, and as there is a good demand for 

 the London market, he sold last season twenty- 

 four thousand pots of this sweet plant. We have 

 in our country some who have acted on the same 

 principle and grown wealthy. There is the 

 Dingee Conard Company in the rose specialty 

 as an illustration. They found their circumstan- 

 ces just suited to the cheapest possible produc- 

 tion of the plant in first-rate quality. They have 

 sold low accordingly, but still profitably, and 

 have their reward. 



