GARDENING. 



Feb. 75, 



Trees and Shrubs. 



symriocos cnflXflEooiDBS. 



C. W. E. asks us what this is. 



Ans. It is a desirable hardj-oniamental 

 shrub and was first sent to this country 

 over twenty vears ago by Mr. Thomas 

 Hogg from' Japan to the Parsons' nur- 

 series, L. I. It was grown at Dosoris for 

 a good many j'ears under the name of 

 Svtnplocos paniculata, but of recent years 

 we have changed this name to the more 

 proper one ol S. crataegoides. It forms a 

 bushv shrub 4 to 7 or more feet high, and 

 has small (2 inches or a Uttle over long), 

 .prominently veined, somewhat pubescent 

 leaves, a wealth of dense short panicles of 

 small white "fleecy" flowers in spring, 

 succeeded by a heavy crop of ultramarine 

 blue berries, about the size of small peas, 

 in September and later. When it berries 

 well it is a gem (see what J. T. Temple 

 savs about it in Gardening, page 276, 

 May 15, '93,) and we have seen it when 

 it vvas a mass of these brilliantly blue 

 fruits, and then again we have seen it 

 when it didn't bear as many as we wanted 

 it to carry. It hasn't the vigor, the body, 

 the fullness, the fohage, the dash desired 

 in an evervbody's shrub, so it is always 

 likelv to remain comparatively rare m 

 gardens, but don't omit it from yours, 

 it's too good a thing to miss. This is to 

 be regretted, for it is worth having. "The 

 Dictionary of Gardening" says it is a 

 "greenhouse shrub or tree." We know it 

 to be perfectly hardy at Boston. 



suitable for privet? What treatment 

 should be given the soil? What treatment 

 should be given the plants after setting 

 out, in the way of manure, mulching, 

 etc.? When is the best time for setting 

 out, and how near to each other shoiild 

 the plants be set. C. H. V. 



Chevy Chase, Md. 



Wait till the ground is mellow and dry 

 enough in spring to plow it without leav- 

 ing it hard and lumpy, then plow it deep 

 and fine. If you can get any old black or 

 peaty swamp muck, such as the_^clean- 

 ings from a wood pond, spread this sev- 

 eral inches deep and a yard or more wide 

 along the row for the hedge, and plow it 

 in; this is to keep the clay open for the 

 roots to penetrate into it, and have the 

 row raised a little above the ordinary 

 land level so as to keep the crowns of the 

 privet dry. Get two to three year old 

 healthy stock and cut it back to within a 

 foot of the root; open the furrow deep and 

 even with the plow and set the plants 

 about 16 or 18 inches apart. Some folks 

 plant even closer than this, but too close 

 isn't good for the plants and if the hedge 

 were to be used for stock as well as orna- 

 ment we'd run a string or two ot wire 

 along its center to add to its strength. A 

 good mulching of littery manure reach- 

 ing to two feet out from the plants on 

 each side will be of great service in keep- 

 ing the earth cool and mellow in summer 

 and preventing it from cracking. Plant 

 as soon as the ground is ready in spring, 

 but better be a little late than break up 

 the earth while it is wet and pasty. 



UNTIMELY TRIMMING OF S«RUBS. 

 Within the past week I saw a place 

 where a local, so-called gardener, was 

 hired to come in and trim up the shrubs. 

 He did so without fear or favor. Any- 

 thing and everything went through the 

 same process, and no fault can be found 

 with his eye for symmetry, but what a 

 sad disappointment is in store for the 

 owner, when next spring he misses his 

 blooms of the lilac, snow ball and various 

 other shrubs that bloom on the growth 

 of prior vears. Ever}- flower bud that 

 protruded beyond the limit his ej'e set as 

 the outline was cut away and thus the 

 beauty of one season was destroyed. 

 Ihose who do not know when to trim 

 can follow the safe rule of trimming im- 

 mediately after flowering. The majority 

 of our shrubs bloom in the spring or 

 early summer and from then until their 

 winter's rest, are energetically engaged 

 in producing the flower buds that will 

 unfold the following season. The althea 

 (Hibiscus Syriacus) and Hydrangea pan- 

 niculata grandiSora, are two shrubs that 

 bloom quite late in the season, and it is 

 well to wait until spring before cutting 

 them back. These two shrubs require 

 more severe cutting back to produce good 

 blooms, than any other in the limit of my 

 experience [The Chinese tamarix too.— 

 Ed.] As a rule the only trimming neces- 

 sary for shrubs in general is to cut out 

 the'dead wood, which can be done at any 

 time, and keeping the shrub in form or 

 within bounds. Some, however, like 

 Exochorda grandiffora require to be well 

 headed in, especially when young, in order 

 to keep it dense and shapely. 



FORSYTHIA FORTUNEI.— Do you kno V 

 what a valuable plant this is when 

 trained as a climber? Any little pains 

 will train it as such and it is perfectly 

 hardy and always blooms finely at the 

 proper time, wlien it is very attractive 

 and showy. I have a plant 12 or 15 feet 

 high and consider it my choice. F. viri- 

 dissima however, is no good, the plant is 

 hardy enough, but the bloom buds almost 

 invariably get winterkilled. After trying 

 it some 30 or 40 years I have dug it out 

 and thrown it away. Geo. J. Conover. 



Geneva, N. Y. 



Roses. 



PLANTING fl PRIVET tiEDOB. 



I want to plant a hedge of California 

 privet. The soil oi my lot is very heavv, 

 clayey and rather damp. Is such soil 



Transplanting old Rose Bushes.— W. 

 S. S., Boston, writes: "I have a bed con- 

 taining about fifty rose bushes, six to ten 

 years old, which I wish to transplant; 

 can this be done with safety? If so, would 

 earlv spring as soon as the frost is out of 

 the ground be the best time?" Ans. Yes, 

 they can be transplanted with tolerable 

 safety. About the end of March or first 

 of April, after severe frost is past, cut the 

 plants well back, even the old wood if need 

 be, so that the stems or stumps maybe 

 are no more than one to two feet high; 

 then when the frost has left the ground 

 and the soil is mellow dig up the bushes, 

 carefully preserving all the roots possible, 

 and transplant at once. Be sure the 

 young roots don't get dry between lift- 

 ing and planting. Don't look for many 

 if any flowers the first summer, be con- 

 tent with a growth of wood for next 

 year's work. 



MosELLA is a new Tea-Polyantha rose 

 raised by Lambert & Reiter of Germany, 

 the firni with whom Kaiserin Augusta 

 Victoria originated. It is a seedling of 

 Mignonette (a Polvantha rose) X with 

 Madame Falcot (a Tea rose). The 



Mosella will be our Clothilde Soupert in 

 yellow. I got one last spring and planted 

 it in the yard of my home in New York, 

 and it has bloomed pretty near all the 

 time, just like the Clothilde Soupert in 

 this respect. It is still standing outside 

 and when I saw it last Sunday it looked 

 all right and will undoubtedly stand our 

 winter. J. L. Schiller. 



January 24, 1896. 



The Greenhouse. 



flZflLEflS. 



Please tell us something about the 

 proper treatment of these, and how to 

 propagate them. Do you give them much 

 sun? Do you give them much water? 

 What is the best temperature for them? 

 How do you propagate them? How 

 often should kerosene emulsion be used 

 ior red spider? Should the plant be 

 washed with water, soon after the 

 emulsion has been used? What is the 

 treatment after they have done blooming? 



Rock Island, 111. W. H. M. 



We referred your inquiry to Mr. James 

 Dean of Bay" Ridge, N. "Y'., the largest 

 grower and importer of azaleas for mar- 

 ket in the country, and he kindly answers 

 as follows: 



Give sunshine at all times, it produces 

 a sturdier plant, which flowers much bet- 

 ter than one grown in the shade. Use 

 water freely when the plants are in flower 

 and when they are making their growth, 

 not forgetting to syringe. Hold the tem- 

 perature during the winter at from 40° 

 to 45°, moving those plants to a temper- 

 ature of 55° to 60° that are wanted for 

 flower, they will come into bloom in from 

 six to eight weeks after being introduced 

 to the extra warmth accordingto variety. 

 They can be easily propagated from cut- 

 tings, the wood to be about half ripe, in 

 a gentle bottom heat. They can also be 

 grown from layers. But I should advise 

 grafting for most of the varieties, as 

 many are very glow of growth on their 

 own roots. 



In place of the kerosene emulsion use 

 lemon oil according to the directions that 

 accompany it; one application will do 

 away with the spider. Dipthe plant in it 

 and let it stand without syringing for an 

 hour or two, then syringe it with clean 

 water. After bloomingthe plants should 

 be trimmed into shape, all the seed pods 

 removed, repotted if necessary in a com- 

 post of loam, leaf mould and sand in 

 about equal parts in one size larger pot, 

 placed into a temperature of at least 60° 

 and given plenty of water while they are 

 making their growth When done grow- 

 ing they can be gradually given a lower 

 temperature and less water, but under no 

 consideration must the azalea be allowed 

 to drv out. James Dean. 



flEflTINO fl OREENflOUSE. 



I am building two greenhouses. No. 1 

 is even span, 60 teet long by 20 feet wide, 

 and runs north and south; I wish to 

 maintain a minimum night temperature 

 of50°init. No 2 is a three-quarter span 

 40 feet long by 20 feet wide, running east 

 and west, long span to the south; in it 1 

 desire to maintain a minimum night tem- 

 perature of 60 \ Minimum outdoor tem- 

 perature here is about 10° below zero. 

 How many lines of 2-iiich pipe (heating 



