iSgs. 



GARDENING-. 



23 



winter and a few evergreen branches 

 about its tops. It acts as if it were ten- 

 iler. On the other hand we have had it 

 as fine at Boston as we have on Long 

 Island. Althongh a most elegant shrub 

 when in bloom it is one that will always 

 be a little uncertain. 



5. A DOUBLE FLOWERING THORN, IS IT 



WORTH GROWING?— "I set out last fall a 

 double flowering thorn. It is stationary 

 —has only shoots from the main stem, 

 some 8 inches long— and there arc i|uan 

 tities of plant lice upon it, grey ones in a 

 white dust, but they are not mealy bugs, 

 more active. The lied was specially dug, 

 tilled with sods and is shaded slightly by 

 trees Is the thorn worth bothering 

 with? Will it bloom here? and when? 

 and what treatment must it have? The 

 scarlet thorn at the other end of the bed 

 is doing well." 



Ans. If tbe scarlet thomdoes well with 

 you there is no reason why the double 

 flowered one shouldn't do well also. 

 Wash off the lice, then spray the plant 

 with kerosene emulsion: repeat this in a 

 week. During the summer give the tree 

 a thorough soaking of water, enough to 

 soak the ground two .feet deep, once a 

 month, for a few years, till you get it into 

 vigorous health. We have some young 

 trees three years from the nursery- that 

 bloomed nicely last spring. 



6. The Chi.nese Tam.\rix.— "Our best 

 Tamarix Cbinensis happens to be grow- 

 ing just where one cannot enter the house 

 without seeing it — certainly a happy sit- 

 uation for the daintiest of shrubs. Not 

 having found it reliably hardy we 

 cut off the wood 'last fall to about six 

 inches from the ground and covered the 

 crown with leaves and a box, and the re- 

 sult of this heroic treatment is a plant of 

 perfect shape, some six or seven feet high 

 and with plentiful spikes of the enticingly 

 graceful pink blossoms." 



Ans. Precisely what you ought to 

 have done, and so far as the cutting down 

 goes, what we do every yea?. The two 

 species most common in cultivation are 

 T. Africana, which blooms in spring on 

 the previous year's wood. As soon as it 

 is done blooming in June we cut back the 

 shoots as close as we would in pollarding 

 a willow; young sprouts soon shoot < ut 

 and these are left for next spring's blos- 

 soms. The f ther species, T. Cbinensis, 

 blooms in August and September on the 

 young wood. This we cut back in winter 

 "as hard as we dote African one in June. 

 The result is a vigorous growth of long 

 plume-like wands and dense neat shrubs 

 all the time. 



BAD YEAR FOR TREES IN NEW JERSEY. 



This has been aseasonof di.sasters here, 

 opening with late frosts, and these con- 

 tinuing until Iune,then ca-re the tornado 

 and hail on July 13, demolishing trees of 

 all sizes, some at least two centuries old, 

 and from this age down to babyhood. 

 The hail cut and battered everything soft 

 or at all succulent, and the scars on the 

 bark of the trees left standing remind one 

 of what might be seen after a battle in 

 the wilderness. Many of my 3-oung 

 grafted nut trees were broken down, and 

 in one square of 100 specimen chestnut 

 trees there is not one nut to be found this 

 fall, although nearly all were loaded last 

 year. But as this is but once in thirty 

 years I trust that it will not be repeated 



soon. A. S. l-'lLLER. 



Ridgewood,N. J. 



"Mv Camperdown Elms," says N. M. 

 F., Oak Grove, 111., "have a drawn and 

 burned appearance m summer. The sub- 

 soil is clay. The t ees appear to be 



healthy and the leaves grow thrifty, but 

 soon "present the above appearance. 

 There is no sign of borers. Special atten 

 tion is paid to watering. Can these trees 

 be made to assume the perfect shape and 

 glossy leaves ot eastern trees?" TheCam- 

 perdown elm should grow well with you. 

 Why it doesn't is because of some local 

 reason we do not know. In your clay 

 soil is the drainage good? We should ad- 

 vise you to get Mr Egan, Mr. Jansen, 

 Mr. Kanst, or Mr. Pettigrew to go out 

 with you to your place someday; anyone 

 ol them could probably tell 5 ou in a 

 moment what the trouble is; besides, 

 they might give you a good many other 

 useful points about yourtreesand garden 

 that would be of service to you. 



Weeping Purple Beech.— A reader 

 writes: "My nurserymen write me that 

 they have imported a few of these trees 

 for two orthree years, but have lost them 

 all. They have never seen a specimen of 

 it." There is a nice young specimen ot it 

 at Dosoris. It is as true a weeper as is 

 the pendulous English beech, and the 

 color of the foliage is the same deep pur- 

 ple of River's purple beech. It is a very 

 striking plant and catches the eye of 

 everyone interested in trees. But your 

 nurserymen are right; it is a hard tree to 

 import and make live. 



A Low Hedge Plant or border about 

 the garden? B. S. P., Va. Box, Berberis 

 Thunhergii. Japan quince var. Simoni. If 

 Abelia rapestris is hardy with you (this 

 you must find out from your neighbors) 

 it would make a neat ever-blooming 

 hedge; and if the variegated elfeagnuses 

 are hardy with you they would also have 

 a neat uncommon appearance. They'd 

 need a pruning in, though, after they be- 

 come fiirly established. A Rosa rugosa 

 hedge would be pretty, but it spreads a 

 good deal. Altogether the berberis may 

 be the best. 



E., Chicago, asks:— "Which Euonjmus 

 do you consider produces the most showy 

 and handsomest berriesin the fall?" The 

 European (E. Europwus). The Ameri- 

 can, however, has also very showy fruit 

 and surpasses the European in its finelv 

 tinted autumn foliage. 



The Russian Olive.— A reader asks, 

 "what is it?" Elieagmis angustifolius. 

 Being very hardy it is particularly useful 

 in cold and exposed parts, as in our 

 northwestern states. 



Roses. 



ROSES IN WISCONSIN. 



There are very few roses that are relia- 

 bly hardy here without more or less win- 

 ter protection, and all are the better for 

 it. A parti-colored rose which I learned 

 to know, thirty years ago, as "Russell's 

 Cottage" is as hardy as any; and Mme. 

 Plantier is not far behind. Rosa rugosa, 

 however, is absolutely hardy— needs no 

 protection whatever. 



The most vigorous growing rose in my 

 garden is Mme. Chas. Wood. It blooms 

 profusely in spring, and then goes entirely 

 out of business. The most satisfactory 

 of all the roses I have ever grown is Mrs. 

 Degraw. It blooms profusely early and 

 late; and there has not been a fortnight 

 this summer in which it did not show 

 bloom. This week (first week in Septem- 

 ber) I cut a stem with five blown roses 

 and two buds on it. Three days after 

 cutting, those blooms are still in good 



form, though standing in living roomsall 

 the time. It is a beautiful rqse, and needs 

 very little protection, even in severe win- 

 ters like the last. 



By the side of Mrs. Degraw, stands 

 Mme. Georges Bruant. It holds clusters 

 of buds and white blossoms six feet 

 aloft. One branch, last month, carried 

 fifteen buds. The flowers often measure 

 four inches in diameter, but are some- 

 what too loose and irregular. It is quite 

 hardy, but killed back a little last winter 

 for want of protection. It will bloom 

 through October; and so will Mrs. 

 Degraw. 



With careful protection in winter, Her- 

 mosa gives me great satisfaction. It 

 stands near to Mrs. Degraw in ray 

 esteem. La France, well protected, does 

 finely in some seasons, but not always. 

 To my mind, no rose is more beautiful 

 than Mrs. John Laing; but I have not 

 found it sutficiently vigorous and reliable 

 for the sort of treatment which I am able 

 to give. 



Rosa multiffora is reasonably hardy, 

 and gives much pleasure with its multi- 

 tudinous clusters of single white flowers; 

 though its season is lamentably short. I 

 would not be without it. I have a plant 

 of the Dawson rose which is a puzzler. It 

 is at least four years old and of vigorous 

 growth; but it has never shown a blos- 

 som. It went through two winters here 

 without any protection. Last winter, I 

 gave it protection for the first time, and 

 it killed back within a foot of the ground. 

 It has made vigorous growth again this 

 summer, but still no bloom. 



One of the finest roses I have is, to me, 

 nameless as yet. It come to me from a 

 reputable nursery as Mme. Georges Bru- 

 ant; but nothing could be more unlike. It 

 is a large deep pink rose, a vigorous 

 grower with erect canes six feet high or 

 more, and a profuse bloomer through 

 June and July. But the lack of a name 

 diminishes its value. A. S. 



Whitewater, Wis., September 7, 1895 



SPOT ON ROSE LEAVES. 



W. L. P., New York, writes: "I enclose 

 a few samples of leaves from my new rose 

 bushes planted out in greenhouse benches 

 for winter blooming about three weeks 

 ago and all growing nicely. This same 

 blight appeared on my last year's bushes 

 during the winter months and my gardener 

 cannot account for it; he says it is not 

 mildew. It attacks new and medium old 

 leaves and seems to be contagious." 



As far I can judge from the appearance 

 of the leaves, should say that the damage 

 is not caused by any fungoid disease or 

 insect, but is simply burned by the sun. I 

 think if your correspondent will examine 

 his plants he will find that lines of these 

 damaged leaves will be found running 

 north and south for a few feet and then 

 disappearing. If I am right in mv as- 

 sumption he will find the cause in blisters 

 in the glass, which act as lenses, focusing 

 the sun's rays like a burning glass. The 

 remedy is to either take out the panes 

 containing these blister spots or to daub 

 them with thick paint. 



Paul M. Pierson. 



Scarborough, N. Y. 



ROSE CRIIHSON RAMBLER. 



This is the best advertised rose of mod- 

 ern times, but it has come to stay. Last 

 year with me, and in Lincoln Park, Chi- 

 cago, it mildewed so badly that it seemed 

 worthless, I removed mine to a more 

 open situation, but those in Lincoln Park 

 were not changed. This year my old 



