82 



GARDENING. 



Dec. /. 



tion to make a driveway on each side of 

 the river along the top of the high banks. 

 When it is finished it will be one of the 

 most interesting drives for the distance in 

 New York State, and it will have few 

 rivals for beautv in the world. 



C. C. Laney, 

 Superintendent of Parks. Nov. 14, '95. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



About a month ago we unfastened the 

 surface of the rhododendron beds hardly 

 an inch deep with a fork, to more readily 

 catch water and admit it and air; and 

 during the last fortnight we have 

 mulched them a foot deep with oak leaves, 

 scattering a little sedge over the leaves 

 to keep them from blowing away. In 

 open lawns in rigorous localities a shelter 

 of evergreen branches should also be 

 given them. In such beds in.sert a stout 

 stake about two feet above ground to 

 mark the place of all lily clumps, so that 

 in spring the leaves over these clumps 

 may be pushed aside to allow the stems 

 to come up without being bleached. L. 

 superbum seems to push its way up 

 through any ordinary thickness of mulch- 

 ing. 



HARDY AZALEAS. 



We treat them in much the same way 

 as rhododendrons. The small bindweed 

 (Convolvulus arvensis) has got into our 

 large azalea bed, and is proving a most 

 pernicious pest. To get rid of it is almost 

 impossible, but we keep it in check by 

 having it persistently pulled out. Mulch- 

 ing the ground encourages and preserves 

 it, but even at this price we have got to 

 mulch for the benefit of the azaleas. We 

 are going to make 



A NEW AZALEA BED. 



We used to have a large mass of white 

 day lilies (Funkia) and irises in a nicely 

 sheltered, faintly shaded spot, which we 

 have long looked upon as an ideal spot 

 (or azaleas. We are going to remove its 

 present occupants, the day hlies. to a bed 

 in a moist spot in the edge of an oak 

 grove, and the irises to the open borders. 

 We shall then unfasten the earth in the 

 bed two spades deep and add about six 

 inches deep of cleanings of an old wood- 

 side pond, and which have been stacked 

 for a couple of years, and two inches at 

 the surface of old leaf soil from our com- 

 post heap. The bed will then be filled 

 with new Japanese azaleas, belted behind 

 with kalmia, and interspersed with lilies. 



TREES AND SWRUBS. 



the posts, like a two-barred fence. We 

 use old wire for tying, the wire we cut off 

 baled hay and baled German peat moss. 

 Against this fence we place the evergreen 

 branches, tying them in place with an- 

 other strip of railing outsideof them. We 

 also lay evergreen branches over beds of 

 pansies, and over dwarf evergreens to 

 shelter them from wind and sunshine in 

 wint(?r and hold the snow about thern; fir 

 or spruce branches are also good things 

 to hold leaves in place when they are used 

 as a mulching. 



Rough Pruning.— Among the ever- 

 greens in the shelter belts a good many 

 of the inner branches are sure to die out, 

 also, where two trees have crowded each 

 other, and one is removed, the branches 

 of the other that had grown up against 

 the removed tree are apt to be disfigured 

 or dead. Now, any inexperienced laborer, 

 handy with a saw, can prune out the 

 dead wood in these trees as well as an 

 expert, and it is good work for them in 

 bright, dry frosty weather. 



Dead Trees.— In groves of old trees 

 some are sure to die out, or be so near 

 dead as to give an ill look to the place. 

 Now is the time— before the frost pene- 

 trates too deep— to get them out. If the 

 tree stands out alone, dig it out at the 

 root before you touch the top of it, for 

 the weight oi the top in falling will pry 

 out the big butt end clean out of the hole 

 and in this way save you much labor. 

 But if the dead trees are situaied in a 

 plantation or grove where the falling 

 tree would be likely to hurt any others, 

 get a ladder, rope and sharp saw, and 

 climb up into the tree and saw off all 

 branches that should be removed before 

 the tree is felled; but first throw the rope 

 over the next higher branch, then fasten 

 it, pretty well out on to the branch you 

 are going to saw off, fastening the loose 

 end to the stem of the tree or throwing 

 it to another man standing on the ground. 

 By this means the branch, when cut, can 

 be let down gently and without hurting 

 anything; whereas, when cut, if it should 

 be allowed to fall down with a crash, it 

 would smash everything underneath it. 



Cut Up the Wood on the Spot.— Oak, 

 hickory, chestnut, cherry , and such woods, 

 if not required for any other purpose than 

 firewood, had better be sawed up into 

 suitable lengths, say 18 to 30 inches, be- 

 fore it is carted away; it lightens work. 

 This sort of firewood is much used for 

 open fireplaces in spring and late summer 

 or fall. 



Fill up the holes as soon as you dig 

 out the trees, keeping the yellow, or sub- 

 soil in the bottom as before, and treading 

 the ground firmly as it is filled in, all the 

 way from the bottom up. 



This is what we are doing now: Plant- 

 ing operations have stopped for a season. 

 In the shelter belts where the Austrian, 

 Scotch, white, and red pines, and Norway 

 and white spruces weregettingrathertoo 

 thick we cut out those that could best 

 be spared, digging them out at the root 

 every time, and lopped off the branches 

 so that we might the more conveniently 

 get them carted away, and use them for 



Shelter Windbreaks.— We use these 

 to protect somewhat tender trees like 

 English yew, deodar, and cunninghamia, 

 and groups of the finer ^nd rarer ever- 

 greens, placing it on the north and west 

 sides of them. Before the ground freezes 

 up, say in the middle of November, we 

 drive in some posts as for a fence, then 

 take light rails or trimmed saplings from 

 the wood and tic two rows of these to 



THE ENGLISH HOLLY. 



The English holly [Ilex Aqui folium), of 

 which I send you the photograph, is a 

 beautiful specimen growing near the 

 Mausoleum in the Drexel lot. Woodlands 

 cemetery, Philadelphia. It is almost 

 spineless and closely approaches one 

 which the French nurseries sell as lauri- 

 folia. Mr. J. D. Lankenau, president of 

 the German Hospital, who )jave me the 

 photograph and the history of the tree 

 for you, tells me that he obtained the 

 plant thirty vears ago from the late 

 Robert Buist. 'it was taken fi-om the pot 

 it occupied and planted at once where it 

 now stands, and in all those years it has 

 not been injured by cold at all. It is in 

 an angle at the southeast corner of the 

 Mausoleum, and is fourteen feet in height 

 and ten feet through. I know of no 



other large plants of this variety, nor do 

 I know of a better English holly of any 

 sort hereabouts. The Drexel lot stands 

 on an elevation in the cemetery, and the 

 soil is very well drained. Within a stone's 

 throw almost is the Schuylkill river, 

 which tempers the air in winter. Though 

 the English holly may be considered 

 hardy in Philadelphia, there is no doubt 

 ihat many favorable circumstances com- 

 bined to permit of the beautiful growth 

 of this specimen. In the cemetery not far 

 from this holly stands a Magnolia 

 grandiflora, which I think is fully twenty- 

 five feet high. 



I have great faith in the ability ofwhat 

 are deemed partly tender trees and 

 shrubs, such as the holly and magnolia 

 mentioned, to stand cold better when 

 they have made growth enough that 

 their roots are well below the frost line. 

 As a matter of fact, plants go unpro- 

 tected here after this occurs. Up till then 

 they are mulched with forest leaves and 

 evergreen boughs or cornstalks placed 

 over their branches to keep the light out 

 and break the wind. When the plants 

 get of a good size and become bushy they 

 do for themselves what we do for them 

 when young. Their branches are numer- 

 ous and leaves abundant, and one screens 

 and shelters the others, the outside fol- 

 iage only suffers. Jos. Meehan. 

 Philadelphia. 



The Flower Garden. 



THE YELLOW COSMOS. 



Knowing that with Gardening the 

 good and bad of plants are equally made 

 known, I wish to write as to the " New 

 yellow cosmos." 



From experience with it I unhesitat- 

 ingly pronounce it the most worthless 

 flower to which the attention of growers 

 was ever called. It has not one point of 

 attraction, beauty or commendation, but 

 in shape and color of bloom is inferior to 

 any other garden flower I know of; in 

 fact, it is as unattractive as any yellow- 

 blooming weed we have. The plant and 

 foliage are equally uninteresting and 

 without one attractive feature. 



I got the seeds from Haage & Schmidt. 

 The plant grew only 1' 2 to 2 feet high, 

 and its foliage didn't in the least resemble 

 that of the cosmos we have been growing. 

 The seeds were peculiar too, in that when 

 ripe, when 3'ou undertook to gather them 

 they stuck in the fingers like fine spines of 

 prickly pear, only the points were coarser 

 and hurt worse. A. W. Smith, 



Americus, Ga. 



The plant Mr. Smith has grown and 

 which has been so ill-favored, is not the 

 yellow cosmos at all, but a yellow weed 

 technically called Bidens ferrulicfolia, and 

 nearly related to beggar-ticks, an uncouth 

 and common weed in field, wayside and 

 swamp. The following two letters will 

 throw some light upon the subject. We 

 may also say that Mr. Oliver has sent us 

 flowers and leaves of both plants from 

 the U. S. Botanical Gardens, at Washing- 

 ton, to show us how decidedly different 

 they are. 



There has been some confusion as to 

 Cosmos sulphureus, which, however, is 

 easily explained. N. Correvon, of Geneva, 

 sent out in 1804 a collection of New Zea- 

 land seed, among which were some sup- 

 posed to be those of C. sulphureus, Cav. 

 Thcv were grown in niv garden th.-it year 



