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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[November, 



Kentucky or Green Grass of Pennsylvania — 

 botanically Poa pratensis — is better than any 

 " mixture " for making a first-class American 

 lawn. For reasons we have given, lawns run out 

 faster when a mowing machine is used, than 

 when scythe-cut, but the advantages of a machine 

 are so great, that it is no wonder they are 

 now in general use. There are many good ones 

 now, all excellent for the purpose. 



Every one who has dug up a potato knows 

 that when the tuber has finished its growth, all 

 between it and the parent stalk dies. If the 

 potato were to remain undisturbed till Spring, 

 frost and other things of course uninjuring it, it 

 would push up from the place where it stood, and 

 a new set of potatoes push out, and the space 

 between them and the original, get wider every 

 year. So year after year there would be this 

 continual progression, — a wandering away from 

 the first centre, until in time the living plant 

 might be a mile away from the original spot 

 which gave it birth. Something of this kind 

 goes on in all herbaceous plants,^a part pro- 

 gresses, and a part dies every year. It is for the 

 want of this knowledge that so many friends lose 

 these plants. Though all herbaceous plants 

 move in some such manner, they do not all 

 go directly under ground, but make bunchy 

 stocks just above ground. In their native places 

 of growth the}' manage to get covered with de- 

 caying leaves from the woods or shifting sands 

 on the plains, but in cultivation nothing of this 

 kind can be naturally accomplished, and unless 

 art comes to aid the plants they soon die away. 

 An Auricula, a Primrose, or a Carnation is a 

 good illustration of this. In the two former a 

 new crown is formed on the top of the old one, 

 and as the lower parts in time die away, unless 

 new earth is drawn up, success with such flowers 

 will not be great. The best plan is to take up 

 and replant every few years, or cover the run- 

 ning parts above ground with earth, so that they 

 may have a chance to get new roots from the 

 advancing stocks. This is noticed here at this 

 season to show that earth is the natural covering 

 for herbaceous plants, and therefore one of the 

 surest ways of preserving them safe through 

 Winter is to draw earth over them. In the 

 Spring they can be unearthed and then divided 

 and set a trifle deeper than before, which is all 

 they want. We are often asked how to preserve 

 Carnations, Chrysanthemums, Pansies, Phloxes, 

 Hollyhocks, and so forth, safe till Spring. The 

 principles here laid downwill explain the practice. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE CERCmiPHYLLUM. 



BY PROFESSOR D. B. PENHALLOW% JAPAN. 



A note in the Monthly for May, having 

 reference to the Cercidiphyllum, serves as a sug- 

 gestion that a few words respecting its natural 

 habitat, and value both for ornamental and tim- 

 ber purposes, may not be untimely ; and I am the 

 more inclined to offer what little I can, since I 

 fully believe the tree will not only prove per- 

 fectly hardy in Massachusetts, but will be valua- 

 ble for shade and also as a source of timber. • 



The Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, (Katsura) is 

 found sparingly in the mountain ranges of Nip- 

 pon, and abundantly in the forests of Yengo, 

 where its true home appears to be. So far as 

 my observations have extended, it is but rarely 

 found growing on bottom lands, or where there 

 is a large accumulation of moisture, but it 

 delights in the well-drained and gentle slopes of 

 foot hills, along the base of which it forms a 

 narrow belt, its zone of distribution, with refei'- 

 ence to altitude, being slight, since it does not 

 appear to thrive on the higher and more com- 

 pletely drained slopes. 



It is very common in the larger trees for the 

 trunk to divide from two to five times, at a dis- 

 tance of eight or ten feet from the ground. Two 

 trees of very common size, were measured at a 

 distance of three feet from the ground, and in 

 each case found to have a circumference of twen- 

 ty-seven feet. The common height appears to be 

 between eighty and one hundred feet. 



The foliage is small, graceful and compact, 

 while the tree as a whole, forms a stately and 

 most beautiful object. The flowers are so incon- 

 spicuous as to be of no value for ornamental 

 purposes, while the fruit, consisting of small 

 pods about three-fourths of an inch in length, 

 would be no serious objection to the tree as an 

 object of ornament, on account of its diminutive 

 size, while any objection might arise on this 

 account, could be easilj^ overcome by taking care 

 to select only the staminate trees for planting. 



That there will be little or no difficulty in 

 establishing the tree in Massachusetts, seems 

 very probable. Comparing the meterological 

 record taken at Amherst, Massachusetts, for 

 eleven years from 1867-'77 inclusive, with the 

 record taken at Sapporo, for the years 1877-'78, 

 we find but slight difference in the climates so 

 far as temperature and humidity are concerned, 

 and though a comparison of an equal number of 



