258 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



great deal better transplanted in fall, provided 

 means be taken to keep them from being drawn 

 out by frost. In spite of all care, herbaceous 

 plants will sometimes die out, and it will be a 

 good precaution to save a few seeds and sow 

 sometimes, of the scarcer kinds. 



CO MM UNI C A TIONS. 



AMONG THE ELDER BUSHES. 



BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J. 



Probably no tree or shrub is better known to 

 the generality of people than the unassuming 

 elder. We look upon it as an intimate sylvan 

 friend, or old woodland acquaintance; and 

 pleasantly remember it in childhood's brief and 

 happy days, where in some neglected spot, it 

 drew our wandering attention to its profusion of 

 flowers or luscious looking fruit. And, although 

 time may have greatly changed us since then 

 yet with some of us I opine our early admira 

 tion for the beautiful has grown with our growth, 

 and ripened with the fulness of years. And 

 happily for those who are so constituted as to 

 faithfully love from first to last, beauteous na- 

 ture, whose endearing young charms never 

 change. No, kind reader, the same placid fea 

 tures which her children gazed upon in prime- 

 val times remain unwrinkled now. And thus 

 it will ever be to all her loyal votaries whose 

 unswerving fealty warms the heart and bends the 

 knee in her consecrated shrine. 



But, I find I am wandering away from the 

 fair elder tree, which, to the writer, still remains 

 all my fancy painted it so many years ago. 



Sambucus nigra is the euphonious name by 

 ■which the black elder is technically recognized, 

 and together with its varieties, is well known to 

 the botanist and landscape gardener, who finds 

 them useful and ornamental little trees or 

 shrubs. And as they possess a constitution 

 strong enough to endure every vicissitude of 

 climate, they will flourish under every condition 

 of life. Yet, with all their good qualities, I re- 

 gret to say, are but seldom seen where they 

 ought to grow. I trust no one will disparage 

 them because they have seen them growing wild 

 in and about the woods, forgetting that the most 

 useful and beautiful trees and shrubs known to 

 science are somewhere growing where nature 

 placed them. 



Perhaps the Elder may not appear to some 



people's ideas as handsome as some other things 

 but, as '' beauty is in the eye of the be- 

 holder," let me say it, in all possible candor, I 

 have seen many a pretty Elder. When in flower, 

 their lovely white cymes are as interesting and 

 fair to look upon as are most flowering shrubs. 

 Neither do their good looks diminish later on, 

 when bending with heavy clusters of fruit. 



I presume most of your readers who are ac- 

 quainted with them will remember the peculiar 

 cut-leaved S. laciniata, or parsley leaved elder. 

 But the kinds which have lately come to the 

 front, are S. aurea and S. laciniata variegata. 

 The first named, with its bright golden foliage, 

 is one of the most conspicuous and useful shrubs 

 the landscape gardener is at present using. And 

 the second is like unto it, with this difference — 

 it is a silver, cut leaved variety, which produces 

 a fine effect when in contrast with other things. 



These very ornamental shrubs the writer 

 recently saw in the shrubberies in various parts 

 of England. I had occasionally seen them at a 

 distance, among other things, too far ofi" to 

 identify, until I had an opportunity to closely 

 inspect them in Selton Park, and other places in 

 the environs of Liverpool. 



I am not aware whether they are to be had in 

 the nurseries on this side of the Atlantic or not. 

 But if not already here, they will, I feel assured, 

 be soon found in company with other good 

 things of recent introduction. Then there is the 

 old S. variegata, S. alba punctata, S. pyramidalis 

 and several other kinds, all distinct in habit, 

 and deserving of cultivation. I have an idea 

 that S. aurea and S. laciniata variegata will 

 prove useful adjuncts to the mixed tropical plant 

 beds or borders in the summer season. They 

 would be equally effective, too, as isolated speci- 

 mens on the lawn. 



CUTTINGS FROM OLD WOOD. 



BY MISS M. M. B. RODMAN, WASHINGTON, N. C. 



Seeing your correspondent's note on Hydran- 

 gea cuttings reminds me of a little bit of my own 

 experience. I had occasion to cut down a large 

 pink Lagerstrcemia, and sawing off the larger 

 branches, set them in the earth to be used as 

 bean-poles. The Lima beans were planted all 

 around the posts, shading the ground thor- 

 oughly, I was surprised to find the following 

 spring that every pole was throwing up thrifty 

 young shoots; they bloomed when two feet 

 high, and suggested the thought that a hedge 



