iSgs- 



GARDENING. 



195 



.THE DWARF CATALPA. 



light soil; set the flats into a north 

 or east facing cold frame, or outside 

 against north-facing wall or close 

 fence, covering them with moss, haj, 

 or excelsior. If they are outside, take 

 them into a cold pit or frame over winter, 

 to save them from accident, not from 

 frost. The seeds will not germinate before 

 the following spring, maj-be not for a 

 vcar. The next spring after the seedlings 

 appear plant them out in good ground in 

 a warm place in the garden in rows 

 fifteen or eighteen inches apart. If all is 

 well they should begin to bloom when 

 three years old. The first j'ear's flowers 

 may be single, the next double, and the 

 color too may change. Chinese pseonias 

 ;ire very inconstant and uncertain in this 

 way, in fact, before they are four or five 

 years old it is hard to tell what is to be 

 their fixed character. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



TflE DWARF GflTflLFfl. 



These trees are growing in the. Union 

 I'acific R. K. Co.'s park in Lawrence, 

 Kansas. They were planted four years 

 ago last spring, the tree at the left in the 

 illustration is five feet six inches to the 

 branches, which have a spread of thirteen 

 feet, the stem is six inches in diameter; 

 the view of the tree is from the west, to 

 show how erect and evenlv it carries its 



massive top against the prevailing south 

 wind. The photographs of the treeswere 

 taken the last week in August, 1894-, dur- 

 ing a long prevailing drouth which had 

 dried the grass on the lawn to a crisp, 

 yet the leaves on the trees were erect and 

 of as bright refreshing green as in June. 

 The limbs are very numerous and close 

 jointed and the foliage very dense, which 

 makes a new style in tree top, and renders 

 them very conspicuous in any lawn or 

 group of trees. They remind one of the 

 tree oddities seen in foreign lands, on 

 which years of labor had been bestowed 

 to produce the result, while these trees 

 grow so naturally. They are hardy and 

 adapted to a wide range of climate and 

 soil; growing them as standaid or in 

 umbrella style, originated with myself 

 A. H. Griesa, Lawrence, Kans. 



This dwarf tree is a decidedly odd form 

 of Catalpa hignonioides. It is generally 

 grown flat to the ground like the lesser 

 plant in the illustration, but of recent 

 j'ears the standard form as shown by the 

 tall plant in the picture has been largely 

 adopted. The stock used for grafting on 

 is C. speciosn, or Teas' Hybrid, because 

 cither of these is hardier- than C. hig- 

 nonioides. Dwarf though this plant is it 

 grows freely and makes a heavy mass of 

 healthy foliage, resisting heat and drouth 

 and apparently free from fungus and 

 insect pests. We have never known it to 

 bloom. Although it is known in gardens 

 and nurseries the country over asC.italpa 

 Iliingei it has no right to this name. 



The true Catalpa Bungei is a tree in- 

 digenous in northern China, and it is a 

 <luestion if there is a living plant of it 

 out.side of its native country. Two or 

 three years ago we saw a few j-oung 

 plants at the Arnold Arboretum "which 

 were supposed to be the genuine Catalpa 

 Bungei, the seeds from which the plants 

 had been raised having been sent there 

 /IS such. I'ndcr da' e of February 3, 1895, 

 Mr. Jackson Dawson of the Arboretum 

 writes us: 



"What we received from China as 

 Catalpa Bungei has stood out of doors 

 for tl c past two winters without protec- 

 tion, and seems as hardy as the other 

 calalpas. If not as fast a grower as hig- 

 nonioides it is nearly so, and although it 

 is yet too soon to say much about it it 

 bids fair to make a tree in this vicinity. 

 Kut Prof. Sargent is not quite positive 

 that we have yet got the true C Bungei. 

 although this was sent here on good 

 authority as such." The catalpas in 

 common cultivation are C hignonioides, 

 and its golden leaved form, also the above 

 dwarf variety; C. speciosa, known as the 

 hardy catalpa; C. Koempferi, a Japanese 

 tree less beautiful than the other species, 

 and Teas' Hybrid, a cross between 

 Koempferi and one of the American kinds 

 already mentioned, and a hardier and 

 more vigorous tree than either of its 

 parents. 



WINDBRBflKS FOR BLEAK EXPOSURES. 



people of no horticultural experience, but 

 wlu) have homes in open bleak places, a 

 must perplexing one. With the view of 

 111 ling our readers in this direction we 

 submitted the following questions to Mr. 

 Robert Douglas of Waukegan, northern 

 Illinois, who has kindly answered them. 

 His answers apply to placts where the 

 minimum temperature in winter runs 

 about 10^ to 20° belov.- zero. 



.\ G.\RDEN Hedge.— On a suburban lot 

 where land is limited and there is room 

 for only a garden fence or hedge what 

 would you plant or advise to be planted 

 as a shelter hedge or fence? 



Ans. For a garden hedge where land is 

 limited use Norway spruces 15 or 20 

 inches high and plant them 15 inches 

 apart in the hedge rows and only in one 

 row. If the residence faces the south or 

 east the hedge can be grown 10 to 12 

 feet high on the north and west sides for 

 shelter. Trim the hedge every spring im- 

 mediately after new growth has started; 

 trim it wedge shaped, broad at bottom 

 and to a point at top. Should the part 

 of the country be too far north for Nor- 

 way spruce use white spruce (P/'cea alba). 

 These two trees hold their foliage on the 

 lower limbs better than any other hardy 

 conifers. 



Shelter for .\ stncRn.w home 

 cRoiNns AND ORCHARD. — On a suburban 

 place where land is more plentiful, say a 

 few acres, and a mixed belt of trees could 

 be used if necessary, what would you do? 

 And in the caseof a largeorchard or farm 

 where land is abundant and there is room 

 for all the belt of shelter necessary, what 

 would you advise? 



Ans. Plant a row of Scotch pines on 

 the north and west sides, 8 feet in from 

 the outside line, and 15 inches apart in 

 the row. Then mark out rows 20 feet 

 apart on the rest of the land intended to 

 be planted and on these rows plant per- 

 manent trees such as burr oak, white 

 elm, sugar maple. Norway maple, black 

 cherry, etc. Next mark off + foot rows 

 between the 20 foot ones, and in these 

 plant cheap, rapid growing trees fourfeet 

 apart in the rows; use Carolina poplar. 



