• • • GARDENING. 



April I, 



Trees and Shrubs. 



fl FEW TREES FOR DIFFERENT SOILS. 



The following questions are by the edi- 

 tor, and the answers by Mr. Robert Doug- 

 las, Waukegan, 111. 



For limestone soils.— A few trees that 

 like limestone soil? Ans. Deciduous — 

 white oak, burr oak, in fact all the white 

 oak family, also hickories and walnuts. 

 Evergreen— spruces, firs, arbor vitaes. 



Trees that dislike limestone? Ans. 

 Deciduous— beeches, chestnuts. Evergreen 

 — rhododendrons and several other broad 

 leaved evergreens. As far as I have had 

 experience I find no limestone soils in 

 which hardy trees, except the few just 

 mentioned, do not grow successfully. 



Trees that prefer clay soil? Ans. 

 Deciduous— all the white oak family, 

 hickory and walnut. E vergreeen— fi rs, 

 spruces and arbor vitjes. 



Trees that dislike clav soil? Ans. 

 Deciduous — birches, Buropean larch, 

 black cherry. Evergreens— pines, juni- 

 pers. 



Trees that thrive in sandy or grav- 

 elly SOIL? Ans. Deciduous— all the red 

 and black oak family, wild black cherry, 

 birches, maples, European larch. Ever- 

 greens—the pine family and junipers. 

 Nearly all trees thrive on sandy or grav- 

 elly soils unless we call sand dunes and 

 sea beaches sandy soils, in that case the 

 kinds that thrive are quite limited except 

 as regards the pine family and junipers. 



Trees that dislike sandy or grav- 

 elly SOIL? Ans. The white oak family, 

 hickorj', walnuts. 



Trees that do fairly well in un- 

 drained land? Ans. Deciduous— all the 

 swamp white oaks, Quercus bicolor, etc., 

 alders, white elm, black ash. Evergreens 

 — some ot the magnolias and silver firs. 



Trees that won't thrive in wet 

 SOIL? Ans. Deciduous— Canoe birch, 

 European white birch, black cherry, 

 European larch. Evergreen — spruces, 

 especially the Douglas spruce of Colorado. 



Trees that will thrive in black, 

 WAXY SOIL? Ans. Deciduous — nearly all 

 tap-rooted trees, also hndens and white, 

 green, red, black and blue ash. Ever- 

 greens — arbor vitae, and nearly all pines 

 except white and red pines, together with 

 nearly all other hardy evergreens both 

 broad and narrow leaved. 



TflE COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE. 



This is one of the hardiest, most beau- 

 tiful and useful of evergreen trees for the 

 garden. We are indebted to Messrs. 

 Ellwanger & Barry of Rochester, N. Y., 

 for the illustration herewith presented. 

 It was engraved from a photograph of a 

 specimen on theirlawn near their nur.sery 

 office, and it shows well the style of the 

 tree when allowed unrestricted freedom. 



The Colorado blue spruce, the Colorado 

 Douglas fir and the Colorado white fir 

 (Abies concolor) are three very fine trees 

 of great hardiness. The "Colorado" pre- 

 fix signifies that they are indigenous in 

 the mountains of Colorado, hence exceed- 

 ingly hardy, and to distinguish them from 

 others of the same species which come 

 from California and are barely hardy 

 with us. At Dosoris both the Colorado 

 and Califomian forms of all three are 

 grown, and while the gi'cater hardiness 

 of the Colorado plants is quite marked 

 there is no gainsaying the fact that the 

 Californians are the prettier ones. At 

 the same time we do not recommend 



them because they are only precariously 

 hardy. 



In the mountain forests many of the 

 trees are blue, others grading from that 

 to plain green. The fine blue plants in 

 nurseries and gardens are selected seed- 

 lings or grafted plants, and cost a little 

 more than ordinary green colored ones, 

 but their greater beauty and attractive- 

 ness render them well worth the extra 

 price. The blue one grows just as easily 

 as the green one, and makes as fine a tree, 

 then isn't it better to pay an extra dollar 

 and get the finest, and forever after Ijave 

 something to be proud of? 



And this is a good time to get these 

 evergreen trees and plant them. To the 

 three already named we may add Nord- 

 man's silver "fir, the blue form of the white 

 spruce (called coerulea), the blue form of 

 Engleman's spruce, the Japanese hemlock, 

 the blue Mount Atlas cedar, the Swiss 

 stone pine — a small tree, and the Japanese 

 umbrella pine. These are first-class ever- 

 green trees and hardy too. 



SHRUBS FOR fl NORTflEflST CORNER. 



A. N., New York, asks: "Which small 

 shrubs will do well alongside of my house 

 in a corner facing northeasterly?" 



If protected from the sweep of the 

 wind in winter a good many will thrive 

 there, but if not it isn't a congenial place. 

 And the selection will depend largely on 

 local circumstances, as light, shade, room, 

 what one likes, etc. If sheltered, a mass 

 of hardy rhododendrons or azaleas inter- 

 planted with lilies and carpeted with lily 

 of the valley should do well. Also a clump 

 of Japan quince Simoni, cut in when it 

 gets too large, and bordered out a little 

 with hardy yucca; Euonymus alatus 

 bordered with Thunberg's barberry and 

 carpeted with periwinkle or English ivy, 

 but the euonymus must be kept down; 

 or a mass of the Japanese rose rugosa. 

 If exposed, the Japanese quince cut in; 

 purple barberry cut in, with Chinese bar- 

 berry in front; bayberry (Myn'ca) with 

 large flowered clematis among it; or a 

 mass of Thunberg's hydrangea in a car- 

 pet of lily of the valley. But all this is 

 only suggestive; we cannot tell what will 

 fit vour case. 



PLANTING A FLOWER AND SHRUB BORDER. 



In answer to E. H. S., Pa.: 1. By all 

 means plant Hall's honeysuckle on the 

 fence, and a few plants of Clematis panic- 

 ulata and the single prairie rose at one 

 end. 2. If gladioli and geraniums did 

 well m the border last summer roses 

 should thrive in it this year. Dig it deep 

 to unfasten the soil and cut out all en- 

 croaching tree and shrub roots. 3. 

 Roses should not be shaded overhead as 

 under the branches of a tree, and they 

 should get the sun several hours a day. 



4. We don't like interplanting H. P. 

 roses with phloxes; rather than do that 

 crowd your roses into half the space, giv- 

 ing the other half to the phloxes, you'll 

 get better satisfaction in both cases. And 

 we wouldn't mix up tea roses with pyre- 

 thrum or pinks; crowd them up a little 

 and let them fill the bed alone. Using the 

 pyrethrum or pink as a border would do. 



5. Yes, you can widen the border, plant 

 shrubs next the fence and perennials in 

 front. But don't use rough shrubs or 

 those that make but little show of bloom. 

 Have the prettiest only. 6. Ifnotshaded 

 overhead lilies should do very well in the 

 north-facing shrubbery and jicrcnnial 

 border. 



Austrian Pines for WiNnnRKAh 

 P., Conn., asks how far apart t( 



them on a hill top for shelter. The general 

 way is to set out 15-inch high plants, 15 

 inches apart; next year chop out every 

 second plant leaving those remaining 2'!' 

 feet apart; the following year cut out 

 every alternate one, so that those that 

 remain are .5 feet apart; one or two years 

 later chop out every second one of these, 

 so that those to stay permanently are 10 

 feet apart. Let them grow together. Of 

 course this arrangement may be modified 

 considerably. If 2 foot plants are used to 

 begin with, plant 2V2 feet apart. Don't 

 thin out the duplicates till they begin to 

 meet in the row, but don't wait any 

 longer than that. Read what Robert 

 Douglas — that Nestor of arboriculturists, 

 says in Gardening, March 15, page 195. 



Elm LEAF Beetles— In answer to A. 

 A. W.: Putting bands painted with tar 

 around the trunks of the trees to catch 

 and destroy the descending larvae is need- 

 less. The mature insects, both male and 

 female, fly. All of the larv^don't descend 

 to the ground to pupate, they nestle in 

 every crevice in the bark of the trunk and 

 large branches, pupating there perfectly. 

 Those that come to the ground usually 

 lie in a deep collar around the n ck of the 

 tree, where they can very readily be 

 trampled to death or destroyed by being 

 spiinkled over with kerosene. 



The Lawn. 



THE LAWN. 



The largest lawn here contains about 

 three acres, but there is a great deal of 

 grass in other sections of ground and in 

 individual lots, from 300 square yards 

 upward in extent. Light and freedom 

 from drip from trees being essential for a 

 good lawn, we like the places that have 

 the sun all day best. 



Making a Lawn.— Properly preparing 

 the ground is very important. All our 

 lawn ground has been trenched over at 

 least fifteen inches deep, the old sod and 

 good soil being turned under, and roots 

 and poor earth removed, and good loam 

 insufficient quantitj'tomakeupthe grade 

 is substituted. We then add a good 

 dressing of fertilizer, say manure compost 

 two inches deep over all, or 600 or 700 

 pounds of commercial fertilizer to the 

 acre, turning it in and mixing it well in 

 the ground with digging forks and keep- 

 ing it two or three inches under the sur- 

 face. I have no objection to the use of 

 barnyard manure in this way, but on ac- 

 count of the great cost of hauling and 

 composting it we have used commercial 

 fertilizers largely in place of it and with 

 good results. The manure is sure to con- 

 tain a greatdealof seeds of noxious weeds 

 that are certain to grow, and it is a costly 

 job to weed them out each year. On a 

 new piece of ground prepared with a com- 

 mercial fertilizer and seeded in September, 

 1893, only a very few weeds showed 

 themselves, and it did not require any 

 weeding during the season of 1894. The 

 result was very satisfactory, and not- 

 withstanding the extreme dry weather 

 the new grass showed the effects of the 

 drouth less than where barnyard com- 

 post was used. While I am a strong ad- 

 vocate for commercial fertilizer for our 

 grounds, especially for topdressing, for 

 a stiff'er soil, of a clayey nature barnyard 

 manure well worked into a mixture with 

 it mav be better, it would loosen it up, 

 make it more friable, and allow tht roots 

 (il the young grass to take hold (piickcr. 



Lawn gk.\ss seed.- I usel bushel ofred 



