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. C.V.UB. ^ 



THE 



GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE. ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXVII. 



MARCH, 1885. 



Number 315. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



This is the proper season to lay down box- 

 edgings. To make them properly, the soil along 

 the line of the edge should be first dug, and then 

 trod very hard and firm, so that it may sink evenly 

 together, or the line will present ugly-looking un- 

 dulations in time. Rooted plants should be em- 

 ployed ; cuttings are sometimes used, but frequently 

 die out in patches ; a good edge can rarely be 

 made from them. The plants should be set pretty 

 low down, leaving the plants, when set, one or two 

 inches above the soil, according to their stocki- 

 ness. Sometimes box edgings are laid around 

 beds formed in grass. When so, a few inches of 

 clear ground should be kept clean between the 

 grass and the box, or the weeds will be so inter- 

 mixed with the box, after awhile, as to render it a 

 nuisance. 



Walks should now have their spring-dressing — 

 the verges cut, and a thin coating of new gravel 

 laid on. Before putting on the new, harrow up 

 the face of the old gravel with a strong iron- 

 toothed rake. Roll well after the new is laid on. 



Ornamental hedges judiciously introduced into 

 a small place, add greatly to its interest. No 

 easier method offers whereby to make two acres 

 of garden out of one in the surveyor's draught. 

 The Arbor-vitas (Chinese and American), Hem- 

 lock, Holly, Beech, Hornbeam, Pyrus japonica. 



Privet and Buckthorn may be applied to this pur 

 pose. 



Shrubs are not nearly enough employed in plant- 

 ing small places. By a judicious selection a place 

 may be had in a blooming state all the year ; and 

 they besides, give it a greater interest by their 

 variety than is obtained by the too frequent error 

 of filling it up with but two or three forest trees of 

 gigantic growth. Plant thickly at first, to give the 

 place a finished appearance, and thin out as they 

 grow older. Masses of shrubs have a fine effect 

 on a small place. The center of such masses 

 should be filled with evergreen shrubs, to prevent 

 a naked appearance in the winter season. 



Many things that appear frosted a little at the 

 tops should be severely cut down ; it will prevent 

 disappointment in the end. Shoots that are in- 

 jured in winter — especially in the case of the rose 

 — will often have just sufficient vigor left to enable 

 them to put forth leaves, and sometimes even go 

 so far as to attempt to flower, and then die off 

 suddenly under the first hot sun. 



Pruning of roses and other flowering shrubs will 

 be the first operation in order. The " summer " 

 roses, or those which bloom only once in the sea- 

 son, the rule is to thin out the weak shoots and 

 leave the stronger ones, merely shortening their 

 tops. If pruned severely in the usual shortening 

 style, they will not bloom freely. The hybrid 

 perpetual roses, if wanted for early flowering, 



