34 



THE GARDENERS MONTHLY 



[February, 



beauty is one of the best marks of an educated 

 taste. Those of our readers who have followed 

 the excellent papers on new or rare trees and 

 shrubs given in our columns last year, will have 

 good guidance as to what to choose. 



All of this in a general way. It may be as 

 well to offer a few practical suggestions in the 

 matter of detail work suited to the season. 



Many delay pruning shrubbery until after se- 

 vere weather passes, so as to see what injury 

 may be done — but with March all should be fin- 

 ished—taking care not to trim severely such 

 shrubs as flower out of last year's wood, as for 

 instance, the Wiegela — while such as flower from 

 the spring growth, as the Althaea, Mock Orange, 

 &c., are benefited by cutting back vigorously. 



Those which flower from young wood, cut in 

 severely to make new growth vigorous. Tea, 

 China, Bourbon and Noisette roses are of this 

 class. What are called annual flowering roses, 

 as Prairie Queen and so on, require much of last 

 year's wood to make a good show of flowers. 

 Hence, with these, thin out weak wood and 

 leave all the stronger. 



To make h,andsome, shapely specimens of 

 shrubs, cut them now into the forms you want, 

 and keep them so by pulling out all shoots that 

 grow stronger than the others daring the sum- 

 mer season. 



Graft trees or shrubs where changed sorts are 

 desirable. Any lady can graft. Cleft grafting is 

 the easiest. Split the stock, cut the scion like a 

 wedge, insert in the split so that the bark of the 

 stock and scion meet; tie a little bast bark 

 around it, and cover with Trowbridge's grafting 

 wax, and all is done : very simple when it is 

 understood, and not hard to understand. 



If flowers have been growing in the ground 

 for many years, new soil does wonders. Rich 

 manure makes plants grow, but they do not 

 always flower well with vigorous growth. If 

 new soil cannot be had, a wheelbarrow of ma- 

 nure to about every fifty square feet will be 

 enough. If the garden earth looks grey or yel- 

 low, rotten leaves — quite rotten leaves — will im- 

 prove it. If heavy, add sand. If very sandy, 

 add salt — about half pint to fifty square feet. If 

 very black or rich from previous year's ma- 

 nurings, use a little lime, about a pint, slacked, 

 to fifty square feet. 



If the garden be full of hardy perennial flow- 

 ers, do not dig it, but use a fork, and that not 

 deeply. 

 Dig garden ground only when the soil is warm 



and dry. Do not be in a hurry, or you may get 

 behind. When a clot of earth will crush to 

 powder as you tread on it, it is time to dig — not 

 before. 



If perennial plants have stood three years in 

 one place, separate the stools, replanting one- 

 third, and give the balance to your neighbor 

 who has none. 



Box edgings lay well now. Make the ground 

 firm and level, plant deep, with tops not more 

 than two inches above ground. 



Roll the grass well before the softness of a 

 thaw goes away. It makes all smooth and level. 



In planting trees remember our repeated ad- 

 vice to use the pruning knife freely. 



We would again repeat a suggestion we re- 

 cently made in regard to rustic summer houses. 

 They can often be very cheaply made. In our 

 country they should be open on all sides. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



PROPAGATING YUCCAS. 



BY A LADY OP CHARLESTON, S. C. 



Yuccas, or as we in South Carolina call them, 

 " Spanish Bayonets," grow wild with us. At a 

 pic-nic in the woods I had left our party and 

 was hunting wild flowers at the edge of a tide 

 swamp when I came upon a quantity of large 

 Yuccas lying across my path. Evidently they 

 had been cut oS" the land to clear a path for 

 some wood cutters, and there they lay in the hot 

 sun in a heap. 



I had the handsomest brought to Charleston, 

 and used them on my house for Christmas de- 

 coration, where certainly they remained for 

 several days. They were afterwards thrown into 

 a corner of the yard. Sometime afterwards I 

 perceived my trees were throwing out roots, and 

 I finally planted them about the garden. They 

 all grew but one, and are now fine specimens. 

 As I put in the ground the great stems entirely 

 without roots, I thought it might interest florists 

 to know they can be propagated in that way. 

 Planted in the shifting sand of a bluff by the 

 sea, they prove excellent aids to preserve the 

 bluff from being blown away by the wind, and 

 when in bloom in large heaps, as we see them, 

 they are very imposing, the heads of blossom so 

 exquisitely white against the stiff dark leaves. 

 There is a large-flowered Evening primrose, 

 CEnothera, (originally the seed was brought from 

 Germany, it is said,) which covers the sands 



