iSgS- 



GARDENING, 



71 



with water either by rain or heavy dews, 

 at least once in the twenty-four hours. 



Look out for snails, slugs and cock- 

 roaches. Oatmeal in which a little Paris 

 green has been mixed is a great antidote 

 for these pests. Wood lice will succumb 

 to Haramond'sslugshot. This little pest 

 destroys many of the tender parts of the 

 roots of many orchids and should be kept 

 in check. 



Do not be afraid to divide large speci- 

 mens of cattleyas just before the season 

 of growth begins, but don't overpot any 

 plant. If you have a choice variety of 

 cattleya with three or four leads on it, 

 and it has been grown in the greenhouse 

 for ten or fifteen years, I think it is safer 

 to divide it than to repot it whole. Of 

 course care must be taken that this be 

 done at an opportune time, and each 

 piece is potted into as small a pot as 

 practicable, placing the base of the lead 

 in the middle of the pot with plenty of 

 drainage. Then placcthe plants in heavy 

 shade and keep them close and warm, 

 and be very careful about watering 

 directly in the pot until the roots are 

 well out and the plant has made sufficient 

 growth to stand the water directly, and 

 you will not lose 5%. I have seen many 

 valuable orchids lost by careless water- 

 ing and too dry an atmosphere. 



Wm. Mathews. 



Utiea, N. Y., Nov. 2, '95. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



flflRDY SHRUBS AND PERENNIALS FOR fl 

 NARROW BORDER. 



Please give niealist ot (Icciiluous shrubs 

 and hardy herbaceous perennials suitable 

 for a border 150 feet long. This border 

 is 3 fee- wide, and about 40 feet from the 

 house, and it parallels a driveway. The 

 soil in it is light and medium dry, but 

 rich, and I have water to apply from 

 water system. A strip of grass 3 feet 

 wide runs between the drive and the 

 border. J. E. P. 



Moosup, Conn. 



Candidly, we have got very few shrubs 

 suitable as permanent occupants for such 

 a bed, it is too narrow as a lasting home 

 for even dwarf shrubs. Take Deiitzia 

 gracilis and Berheris Tliunbergii, two of 

 our commonest dwarfshrubs; they would 

 do there firstrate for a few years, then 

 they'd spread out over the margins of the 

 bed. Again, there are some taller shrubs 

 which with timely attention might be 

 made to fit such a place, for instance the 

 little tree, Xanthoceras sorbifolia, re- 

 stricted to one stem about two feet high, 

 and the pure white althaea, treated in the 

 same way and headed back well every 

 winter could be contained in such a 

 border without their heads being allowed 

 to interfere with the grass. Shrubs that 

 won't be likely to spread out too far: 

 Crisp-leaved spir;ea (S. bullata), black 

 broom (Genista tinctoria), shrubby St. 

 John's wort ( Hypericum prolificum) , the 

 blue daphne (D genliwa) and the mezer- 

 eon, Cistus laurifolius (if hardy with 

 you), the dwarf pea tree (Caragana 

 Chamlagu) , yucca and the Rocky Moun- 

 tain jamesia. But these alone are a poor 

 selection; we must add some others and 

 be prepared to keep them within bounds: 

 Spira:aJapomca (callosa) alba, Pbiladel- 

 phus wicrophyllus and P. Leinoinei; 

 Deutzia gracilis and D. parviHora; 

 Ceanothus Awericanus and C. obovatus; 

 the pink and white double-flowered dwarf 

 prunuses; deciduous azaleas, and with 

 them the evergreen A. amuena; tree 



pjEonies, the golden St. John's wort 

 (Hypericum aureum), Itea Virginica, a 

 few dwarf Japan maples and Berbcris 

 Japonica for fine colored foliage, and 

 Photinia villosa and Periploca crata- 

 goides, for both flowers and ornamental 

 fruit. And for effect in winter and earliest 

 spring we should add the Japaneseyellow- 

 flowered witch hazel. But you can use 

 only a fewof these in the bed; they will 

 be better and look better when they have 

 lots of room, and the perennials among 

 them will give the border a well filled 

 appearance. 



While there is an abundance of goo 1 

 perennials for such a place it would be 

 well to give preference to those of neat 

 habit and lastinggoodappearaneelike the 

 evergreen candytufts, golden alyssum, 

 white arabis(yl.a/6/da), double white and 

 other pinks, Heuchera sanguinea, moss 

 pink, crimson thrift (^rmer/a), and the 

 like. Among others are dwarf irises, red 

 and white barren wort (Epimedium), 

 Hypericum Moserianum, spring adonis, 

 Siberian corydalis (C. nobilis), double 

 white pyrethrum, Chinese larkspur, 

 yellow and orange Iceland poppies, Mis- 

 souri evening primrose, the greater An- 

 thericum Liliastrum. the neater bell- 

 fiowers (Campamila) as turbinata, and 

 Mariesi platycodon, Siberian pa>ony 

 (P. tenuifolium) Siebold's sedum, and so 

 on. Here and there a few clumps of 

 bolder perennials as Rocky Mountain blue 

 columbine, Florentine iris, Japan anem- 

 one, globe flowers, Cluse's doronicum. 

 fraxinella, Japan Solomon's seal, and the 

 Japanese spiraeas (Astilbe). Add among 

 these narcissi of sorts, species of tulips, 

 bulbous irises, snowdrops, snowflakes, 

 crocuses, squills, Siberian (tenuifolium), 

 Thunberg's candiduni, and other lilies of 

 neat habit and perfect hardiness, and 

 some other bulbs, single fragrant violets, 

 pansies, and so forth and the border 

 should be gay enough. But it will need 

 thought to arrange them properly and 

 that some may be in bloom all the time, 

 and attention to give each one room 

 enough and prevent all from overcrowd- 

 ing their neighbors, or reaching beyond 

 their prescribed limits. 



KflLMlflS: flow I flflVE SUCCEEDED WITfl 

 TflEM. 



I was interested in reading what Mr. 

 A. F. Huston wrote in G.\rdening, page 

 27, in regard to transplanting wild kal- 

 mias. My experience with them may 

 prove interesting to those intending to 

 try them another season, from either 

 their native wilds or the nursery. A year 

 ago last summer my wife was to visit 

 some friends at quite a distance, and on 

 leaving there she brought me four or five 

 pieces of mountain laurel from the woods 

 but with only the smallest kind of root- 

 lets, as they were not dug up, but simply 

 pulled up by the stems. I planted them 

 carefully in what I thought to be a good 

 location, in ordinary soil, not expecting 

 them to live. I thought I would not take 

 time or trouble to replace with the soil in 

 which they should properly have been 

 transplanted. No special care was taken 

 of them during the summer except to 

 water them once in a while in the dryest 

 weather, and last winter to mulch them 

 lightly with leaves. This spring they 

 came out in fine shape; new shoots start- 

 ed from the roots and they had four or 

 five bloom buds (which I removed as soon 

 as started, thinking that allowing them 

 to blossom would draw too heavily on 

 on their vitality), and they have done 

 well this summer. They did not make 

 miich growth, but, as I hope, have been 

 establishing themselves, pnd making 



growth where they need it most, at the 

 roots. Now, if these have lived, grown 

 and budded with such slight care during 

 a year and a half, after having been torn 

 out by the roots and placed in the com- 

 monest soil, what would they have done 

 if properly dug and placed in rich, con- 

 genial earth? [Don't give them rich soil. 

 Be careful now, for your kalmias may not 

 be out of danger yet.— Ed.] I have al- 

 ways heard of these as being among the 

 hardest shrubs to move from their origi- 

 nal location, and, like many of our best 

 natives, only to be had of nurserymen. 

 [Although an exceedingly common "shrub 

 in our woods, only a few- nurseries in the 

 country keep it, and it is always high 

 priced.— Ed.] But I think this goes to 

 prove how easily we are frightened, or 

 trust too little to our own efforts, and 

 that with the exercise of due carefulness 

 as to soil and location, and common 

 sense as to after treatment, those that 

 are now thought to be the almost unat- 

 tainable floral luxuries of the few would 

 be found on almost any well kept country 

 place. I envy Mr. H. his specimens. If 

 he was a nearer neighbor I would like to 

 call and see them ; what a show he will 

 have during June after they get estab- 

 lished ! He should have them photo- 

 graphed for Gardening when in fall 

 bloom so that we may all (to this extent) 

 enjoy them with him. And how seldom 

 we meet with this magnificent native in 

 cultivation; to my mind in its delicate 

 and peculiar beauty in both color and 

 shape of blossom it is handsomer than 

 the petted and much vaunted rhododen- 

 dron, though not as striking or showy. 

 One in a great while we may see single 

 specimens, but I have not as yet seen 

 (except in my mind's eye), a large, well 

 established and flourishing bed of it. We 

 are falling over each other in our eager- 

 ness to get some new, show v or rare shrub 

 or tree from Japan or other distant parts, 

 and yet here almost at our very back 

 doors are as beautiful, choice andquiteas 

 little known varieties which can be had 

 for the reaching out of our hands and tak- 

 ing them. Generally speaking, they are 

 much like the prophet mentioned of "old— 

 without honor or fame in his own coun- 

 try. Let all who can trj' at least one of 

 these beautiful natives, but I think like all 

 simdar shrubs their greatest beauty will 

 be found in beds and masses. J. C. B. 



Hingham, Mass. 



[During their blooming season in June if 

 you visit the Arnold Arboretum, entering 

 at the Bussey Gate you'll see thousands 

 of fine plants in bloom. Or go out to 

 Wellesley, to Mr. Hunnewell's place, and 

 at the foot of the Italian garden terraces 

 you can see many grand old plants of it 

 in flower. — Ed.] 



OAK TREES OF BEAUTIFUL FOLIAGE. 



In late autumn, sometimes weeks after 

 many other beautiful leaved trees have 

 lost their foliage, the scarietoak (Quercus 

 coccinea) presents a superb appearance. 

 It can be identified bv its retaining its 

 foliage long after other oaks, hickories, 

 chestnuts, sour gum and tulip trees have 

 lost theirs, and singularly too, it at times 

 does not take on its sca'riet attire until 

 other trees are bereft of foliage. It is 

 the best of all for autumn color. The red 

 oak IS pretty, so is the pin, the white, the 

 laurel-leaved, the post and the Spanish 

 oaks. The red oak takes on a reddish 

 color, the pin oak mingles considerable 

 scariet with its green, so does the laurel- 

 leaved oak (imhricaria), the post oak 

 (ohtusiloba), and the Spanish (falcata) 

 oak. A pretty purplish shade spreads 

 over the green of the white oak. 



