196 



GARDENING. 



Mar. /J, 



box elder, hardy catalpa (C. speciosa), 

 silver maple and the like, and inside of 

 these a few evergreens in groups to break 

 the straight lines, which otherwise would 

 be monotonous. This would make a com- 

 plete shelter in the shortest time, and as 

 the trees begin to crowd each other the 

 nurse trees can be cut out and used for 

 fuel. If the catalpa trees are mixed with 

 the nurse trees so that they stand at the 

 furthest distance from permanent trees 

 no doubt they would be big enough for 

 posts before they would need removal. I 

 never saw a double belt of evergreens 

 that proved satisfactorj' after the first 

 few years; a single row gives each side an 

 equal chance and keeps each side symmet- 

 rical, and standing closeh', the3' fill in the 

 whole space. I speak from experience, 

 having a Norway spruce single belt 

 planted in the spring of 1845, and a 

 Scotch pine belt planted before the war. 

 In a double belt the outside of each row 

 outgrows the inside invariably. 



Trees on open prairie ground.— What 

 kinds of trees would you set out on an 

 open prairie home ground, and how 

 would you plant them for shelter? 



Ans. Plant a row of of green ash three 

 feet apart in the row on the north and 

 west lines, then line off the ground into 

 twenty feet apart rows, four, six, or as 

 many rows as you wish, and in them 

 plant permanent trees twenty feet asunder 

 in the row. Set the trees in the second 

 row opposite the center of the spaces in 

 the first row. Then between the 20 foot 

 rows and running parallel with them, line 

 off four equi-distant rows and plant rapid 

 growjng cheap trees in them, four feet 

 asunder in the row. This will make a 

 permanent shelter in a ver\' short time. 

 The permanent trees should consist of 

 oak, green ash, linden, white elm, sugar 

 maple and canoe birch; all of these and 

 many others are hardy on the prairie 

 even up to the Manitoba line. The green 

 ash is a western tree, a rapid grower 

 when young, and hardv north of the 



Manitoba line. It wou 



mg 



posts on a line for a wire fence. If silver 

 maple, Carolina poplar, box elder and 

 hardy catalpa are used for nurse or fast 

 growing trees in the narrow rows they 

 can be cut out forfuel and kindlingwood. 

 The hardy catalpa if planted near the 

 middle and as far aw^aj' from the perma- 

 nent trees as practicable may stand till 

 its trunks are big enough for posts before 

 they interfere with the permanent trees 

 and have to be cut out. And here, too, 

 to break the monotony of the straight 

 lines plant a few groups of evergreens 

 here and there on the inside of the belt. 



POLLARDING TREES. 



In suburban places where there are 

 natural woods and the ground is bought 

 for residence purposes the people would 

 like to preserve many of the trees, but the 

 trees having been grown close together in 

 forest fashion, are long and naked 

 stemmed, and as garden plants far from 

 beautiful. What can wt do about them 

 —head them down, and if so when? 



[Answered bv Robert Douglas, Wauke- 

 gan, 111] 



Ans. Head them back severely when 

 the foliage is off, and shorten in the side 

 branches, leaving the loweroncs the long- 

 est, and shortening those towards the 

 top more closeli', bearing in niind that 

 the growth is strongest on the uppermost 

 l>ranches. When the tree is without 

 l)ranches to a height of 8 or 10 feet leave 

 the tree a bare pole fo the height of 10 

 li;et. Make the cuts sloping downward. 

 In e.'irly summer when tlie tree hnstlirown 

 out new branches a lew inches in Icnj^'th 

 leave the strongest one for a leader and 



others to form side branches, rubbing off 

 the remainder with thumb and finger. 



When to prune deciduous trees when 

 there are large limbs to dismember? 



Ans. Prune in any mild weather after 

 the fall of the leaf in autumn and before 

 sap starts in spring. Cut the limbs slop- 

 ing with the slope on the under side of 

 the limbs. 



What to paint the wounds with.— 

 In pruning off large or fair sized limbs the 

 wounds should be cut smooth and painted. 

 But amateurs who have only a few trees 

 to prune and paint the wounds on will 

 never bother to make up special prepara- 

 tions for painting with, they want some- 

 thing already made up or that can be 

 readily obtained. What should they use? 



Ans. Cover the wounds with a rather 

 heavy coat of linseed oil paint well rubbed 

 on. Let the paint conform to the color 

 of the bark of the tree; a little lamp black 

 or even soot from the chimney may be 

 mixed with it for color. 



FRIVET flEDGB. 



0. D., Fall River, Mass., asks: 1. 

 Would a privet hedge do well on the 

 north side ofa dwelling, four feet from 

 the wall, and where it would get only two 

 hours' sun in summer mornings? 



2. I wish to fill in two feet where I 

 have a privet hedgeat present. Would it 

 kill or harm the hedge very much to do 

 so, or would the hedge make new roots 

 in the new soil? 



1. It is a question o( hardiness mostly. 

 If the privet is hardy enough with vou 

 the absence of sunshine won't kill it if the 

 plants are not shaded by overhanging 

 trees or buildings. But the common 

 privet (vulgaris) will thrive there better 

 than the California one. 



2. If it is a California privet, this 

 winter may kill it down a little. Were it 

 ours we would head it down a good deal, 

 then root it out, fill in the soil to the 

 proper level and replant the hedge. Or, 

 rather, we would discard the old hedge 

 and plant a young one in its place. It 

 takes considerable attention to get a 

 good bottom on an old plant. 



MflGNOLIflS. 



G. W. M., Philadelphia, writes:— "I wish 

 to plant on a bank facing west and shel- 

 tered from the northwest winds, a mass 

 of magnolias, say fifty, beginning at the 

 base of the slight mound with low grow- 

 ing shrubby sorts, then with larger 

 growing, finally with the trees, consider- 

 ing only those that are thoroughly hardy 

 and sweet scented. Can you, or rather 

 will you, give me thesize of the stock you 

 would use at time of planting, and the 

 same group five years later? They would 

 be well cared for." 



Magnolia stellata, 2 feet, reaching to 

 10 or more feet; M. parvifJora. 2 to 3 feet 

 reaching to 10 or more; M. Watsoni, 2 to 

 4- feet, reaching to 10 or 12 feet, or be- 

 coming a small tree under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, but it takes the Japanese 

 die-back; M. glauca, 2 to 4 feet, and be- 

 coming a small tree; A/, conspicua (only 

 faintly fragrant), 3 to 4 feet, and attain- 

 ing the dimensions of a small tree; M. 

 tn'petala, 3 to 4 feet, becoming a small 

 tree; M. macrophylla. 3 to 4 feet, grows ' 

 to be larger tree than the last; M. Fraseri, 

 3 to 4 feet, becoming a middle-sized tree, 

 and M. hypoleuca, 3 to 4 feet high, and 

 getting to be, weexpect, quite a fair-sized 

 tree. It makes atimbertree in the moun- 

 tains of northei-n Japan, anil while there 

 are no large trees of it in this eoini(r\ , its 



rapidity of growth, hardiness and health 

 as shown at Dosoris give good promise 

 that it will make quite a tree. We can 

 not include the obovata and hybrid 

 Chinese magnolias, or cordata. because 

 of their lack of pronounced fragrance. 

 And we cannot give even approximate 

 heights for the plants five years after 

 planting, because while they'mav grow 

 pretty well the first five years, thev are 

 then only entering on their life of rapid 

 progress. They need good, deep worked, 

 friable, loamy soil, that is moderately 

 moist, and all love good drainage and 

 shelter from cold winds. 



NORWAY SPRUCE. 



J. P., Rochester, N. Y., writes: "Last 

 spring I planted 200 Norwa}' spruce, 3 to 

 4 feet high and perfect beauties. They 

 were well cared for during the summer 

 and went into the winter looking green 

 and thrifty. But now (March 6) they are 

 a great disappomtment. They "were 

 planted on a blufl' bordering tlie Lake 

 (Ontario), a bleak exposure enough. 

 Heretofore Norway spruce have always 

 proved satisfactory, but were planted in 

 a more favorable locality. Would Scotch 

 or Austrian pines have done b.tter and 

 not gone so much oft' color?" 



The pines would have kept their color 

 better than the spruce, but plants of them 

 3 to 4 feet high would have been bigger 

 than we should ca-e to plant in an ex- 

 posed place. Pines keep their color in 

 winter pretty well, notably the Swiss 

 stone pine; silver firs keep it better than 

 most evergreens, for example the Nord- 

 man. and spruces the poorest of the three, 

 the Norway and its forms being the most 

 changeable. The white spruce would 

 have kept its color better than the Nor- 

 way, so too would the one color green 

 varieties of the Colorado blue spruce, but 

 they are slow growing. 



SHRUBS FOR MILWAUKEE. 



In Gardening for February 15, you 

 gave a list of "Flowering shrubs for Mil- 

 waukee." You need to strike out of that 

 list Clethra alnifolia and I fear also 

 Euonyous Europwus. But you might 

 add to the list considerably, Wiegelia 

 rosea, for instance, and Amelanchier. 

 May I add that I havenothing finer than 

 lilac Frau Bertha Damman? It is mag- 

 nificent. [The list we gave was kindlj' 

 suggested by a gentleman in Minnesota 

 and who has had considerable experience. 

 —Ed] Albert Salisbury. 



Wisconsin. 



Roses. 



ROSES IN CflLlFORNIfl. 



Undoubtedly Mr. Stewart of Memphis 

 (page 88) is correct in his conclusion that 

 roses have their preferences. While here 

 in California roses in every class and va- 

 riety, in general, succeed as nowhere else 

 on the continent, yet in nearly all classes 

 there are individual exceptions and Clo- 

 thilde Soupert does not stand alone. For 

 instance, of hybrid perpetuals Gen. Wash- 

 ington, Madame Chas. Wood and Dins 

 more come misshapen. Her Majesty 

 mildews, and .American Beauty out of 

 doors behaves so perversely as to fairly 

 deserve the appiellation of American ugly 

 which a rosarinn friend bestows on it. 

 In the tea class Marie Guillot is perhaps 

 the most consijicuous failure. It grows 



