52 



• GARDENING. 



Nov. y, 



mend is the silver. Purple-leaved beech 

 is worthless south here, so far as retain- 

 ing the color of the foliage goes. Harh^ 

 in the spiing the color is bright enough 

 but early in May it turns to a dingy 

 green, and furthermore it docs not grow 

 well except in rich clay soils. Other good 

 shade trees would be the box elder yAcer 

 Negundo). American white ash, the 

 cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata), 

 the paulownia, the soapberry {Sapindus 

 warginatiis), maidenhair tree (Ginkgo 

 hiloba), and the Texas umbrella tree 

 (Melia Azedarach iiwbraciilifera)." 



flflRDY SHRUBS IN OCTOBER. 



The coloring ot the Japan maples is 

 very fine this fall. We have a very sturdy 

 variety called purpureum latifolium. but 

 on account of the very fine color it 

 assumes in the fall purpureum autumnale 

 would describe it better. Add to this its 

 crop of large purple andgreen seeds which 

 are still hanging on it and giving it a very 

 distinct appearance. 



We have in bloom the hardy Erica 

 tetralix, white; B. ciliaris, pink, and long 

 in bloom; E. vagans carnea, light pinlj; 

 and Menziesia purpurea, a gem, it has 

 been in bloom forthree months, andit ap- 

 jjears to be quite hardy here. 



The fertile form of the sea elder or 

 groundsel-tree {Baccharis halimifolia) is 

 ver3' conspicuous because of its heavy 

 crop of long, white pappus. It has been 

 full o1 its white fluff for a month or more 

 and will last the month out. 



Hypericum multifforum has some new 

 flowers again— a very valuable point. 

 .Although we have had this valuable 

 shrub for years it is only now that it is 

 beginning to be called for much. 



J. R. Trumpv. 



Kissena, L. I., Oct. 24, '94. 



ADVICE ABOUT SHRUBS. 



W. P. W., Flushing, N. Y., has a place a 

 little less than an acre and there is an 

 irregular belt of shrubs consisting of 

 thirty-four kinds and several plants of a 

 kind planted near the fence. "They have 

 been planted several years and are now 

 too large and close together. What new 

 ones can I add, and which of the old ones 

 would you advise me to remove? How 

 far apart should they be planted? I en- 

 close a sketch showing how they arc 

 arranged and the different varieties." 



.\s this is a case that should be seen to 

 be intelligently dealt with, we have ad- 

 vised our correspondent by mail to ask 

 Mr. Trumpy of Kissena, who lives in 

 Flushing, to call and see them. Mr. 

 Trumpy, on the spot, could give him more 

 pointed advice in twenty minutes than 

 we could, without seeing the shrubs, on a 

 ream of paper. 



Probably this may be, like most other 

 crowded plantations, not a case of cut- 

 ting out the larger and more overcrowd- 

 ing plants so much as a reaiTangement of 

 the whole plantation. In making planta- 

 tions of shrubs we should draw a plan 

 and on it indicate the position of every 

 tree and shrub we wish to remain perma- 

 nently just as we would trees in an 

 orchard; for immediate effect however, we 

 may interplant other shrubs and orna- 

 mental plants between the permanent 

 ones, but cut away or dig out these 

 supernumerary bushes just as soon as 

 they touch the pennanent ones. Then 

 there are lilies and other bulbous plants 

 and hardy perennials to stop up all tem- 

 porarj' gaps. 



How far apart to set shrubs is very un- 

 certain because in shrubbery we seldom 

 set many plants of one kind in a row as 



we would currant bushes, we plant in 

 groups, in clumps, irregularly, often 

 several kinds together, and all for a pleas- 

 ing effect. Three feet apart may be 

 enough for daphnes and yuccas, four feet 

 for azaleas, five feet lor Deutzia gracilis, 

 six feet for Berberis Tbunhergii, seven feet 

 for Deutzia crenata and weigelias, eight or 

 nine feet for lilacs and mock oranges, ten 

 to twelve feet for Pyrusfloribunda and so 

 on. Now everj'one of these distances is 

 misleading and apt to do mischief. Most 

 all of us have seen single plants of rhodo- 

 dendrons eight to twelve feet across, but 

 who, in planting a rhododendron bed 

 would ever set the plants eight to twelve 

 feet apart? We wouldn't. We would plant 

 far thicker and later on thin out the 

 plants, or lift and reset e^ery plant in the 

 bed, placing them farther apart than they 

 were before. 



The Hybrid Catalpa.— J. B., Michi- 

 gan, asks: "Is the hybrid catalpa from 

 Japan a verv hardy tree? Some claim 

 that it will stand 40° below zero. Will 

 it grow more compact than the common 

 catalpa?" We presume you mean Teas' 

 hybrid catalpa. If so it is an American 

 tree raised from seed of C. Kcempferi, a 

 Japanese species, supposed to have been 

 fertilized bj* one of our American kinds. 

 Yes, it is verj' hardy, and a strong fast 

 growing tree of somewhat compacted 

 proportions. Plants raised from seed 

 often differ considerabh' from each other. 



Creepi.ng Snowberry [Cbiogenes his- 

 pidula).—\ have found it growing in a 

 cranberry marsh under some small spruce 

 trees. The plant formed a thick green 

 mat covering a space 9 feet in diameter. 

 On pulling up a handful of the vines I 

 found a number of small pure white cran- 

 berry-like berries. These were full of 

 small seeds all through the pulp, and they 

 had a pronounced flavor of wintergreen; 

 indeed the whole plant had. M. N. 



Chippewa Falls, Wis. 



Greenhouse and Window. 



REX BEOONIflS. 



The true Rex begonia is one of the com- 

 monest and still one of the best of all 

 begonias. It comes from Assam. But it 

 is not alone in its gloi-j'; since it came 

 into cultivation, and especially of recent 

 years, it has given rise to a beautiful and 

 showy race of offspring that have now 

 become very popular. 



Everybody loves these begonias. As 

 window or greenhouse plants they are 

 very apt and beautiful, and easy to grow 

 and long lived, and in a faintly shady 

 place in summer they are at home in the 

 flower garden. As basket and bracket 

 plants too they are fine. I find they are 

 especially fitted for house culture and ex- 

 cellent plants for amateurs to grow. 

 They do remarkably well with us in warm 

 shaded greenhouses, in the cool ferneries, 

 and in the ordinary greenhouse without 

 any shading with a temperature of 60°. 

 The compost we grow them in consists of 

 '/2 loam, Vi well rotted manure, '4 leaf 

 soil, and a litfle sand mixed with it. 



We have used these begonias in large 

 quantity all through the conservatories 

 in Schenley Park, and in beds foroutdoor 

 show, and must say they have been very 

 pleasing. The accompanying illustra- 

 tions (from the Botanical Guide to the 

 Phipps Conservatories in this park) were 

 engraved from photographs taken here 

 of the leaves of some of the finest new 

 varieties of Rex begonias which took the 



first premium at the World's Fair at 

 Chicago last year. Among them there 

 are some, for instance albo picta, Caro- 

 Unixrolia,compta and smaragdina, which 

 are distinct from Rex. 



Fig. 1. 1, Begonia Rex; 2, Alice White; 

 3, Anna Domer; 4, Pauline Rothschild; 

 5, .\rgentea Guttata; 6, Mrs. Shepherd; 

 7, Mme Lionette; 8,Mirabunda; 9,Mme. 

 Leboucq; 10, Carolinijefolia, a species 

 from Mexico, and Albo-picta. 



Fig. 2. 1, Flora Hill; 2, M. Paraert; 3, 

 Louis Closson; 4, Souvenir de Joseph 

 Main; 5, Nickel Plate; 6, Smaragdma; 7. 

 Lady Slade; 8, Clementina; 9, Diadema; 

 10, Conchfefolia; ll,Feastii; 12,Compta, 

 from Brazil. A. W. Bennett. 



Sup't of Scheulev Park, Pittsburg, Pa., 

 October 15, '94. 



A PIT TO WINTER PLANTS IN. 



1 am anxious to store carnations, holly- 

 hocks, geraniums, etc., in a pit tbis win- 

 ter. Will you please give me instructions 

 how to make, drain, pack and manage a 

 l)it? Subscriber. 



Annapolis, Nova Scotia. 



A Pit is a sunk.unheated greenhouse or 

 frame. It may be large or small, and 

 with a path inside or not. The deeper 

 the pit is the warmer it is in cold weather, 

 on the other hand, the damper it is. The 

 situation for the pit should be warm, 

 sheltered from the north and northwest, 

 and if possible facing the south or south- 

 east, and it should be on level or ri ing 

 ground, and neverin a hollow. If it is to 

 be large enough to walk in have it 6V2 to 

 7 feet deep between the bottom and the 

 rafter, and 8 or more feet wide; it should 

 be sunk 5 feet under ground, and 1% to 2 

 feet at front to be above sun line, and 3' 1; 

 to 4 feet at back above ground. The 

 sides should be of plank, with posts 3 feet 

 2 inches apart, and the rafters 3x4inches, 

 notched ac the ends so as to form braces 

 between the posts, for the pressure of the 

 banks of earth against the plank sides is 

 great. Nail a 1^2x2 inch strip along the 

 middle of the rafters to keep the sashes in 

 place. Cover the pit with 3x6 feet sash 

 along the front; this will leave about 3 

 feet at the back uncovered, cover this 

 with boards rendering them watertight 

 by overlapping, matching, or covering 

 them with "roofing," and arrange them 

 so that the sashes will slip up under them 

 two or three inches, making all water- 

 tight and comparatively airtight. The 

 steps to go down into the pit should be 

 at the east end, and covered as one would 

 an outside cellar door. The door should 

 be of boards and only wide enough to let 

 a ])ersonentercomfortably. Asthesashes 

 are meant to slide down or lift off at will 

 the plants are put in and taken out from 

 above, rendering a large door unneces- 

 sary. The path maj- consist of a plank 

 laid along the middle of the house, or 

 rather a little nearer the back than the 

 middle. The staging should consist of a 

 shelf at front and back, at or a little 

 under ground level for growing plants, 

 and underneath those may be other 

 shelves on which to stand lemon verbenas, 

 fuchsias, and other shrubby and bulbous 

 plants at rest; and on the floor eannas, 

 tuberous begonias, and many roots could 

 be stored. Above the ground outside pile 

 a bank of coal ashes or earth against the 

 pit or set a well trodden bank of tree 

 leaves there, covering it with earth or 

 strawy litter, with a board above all to 

 keep it dry. 



-■Vs a protection against frost in winter 

 the pit should be covered over with mats 

 .nnd shutters, sedge or straw; and in the 



