290 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



and one-half is devoid to park, lakes and lawns. 

 The moment one enters the gate of this splendid 

 place he is filled with delight ; here we enter a love- 

 ly carriage drive, beautiful lawns, well mown and 

 well kept; also fine groups oflirsand pines meet our 

 eyes as we come along, and in the distance upon 

 our right the matchless Soldiers' Monument, a shaft 

 of pure white marble, and on our left, away in the 

 distance, the gem city of Dayton. We wind 

 around and at last come to the flower gardens and 

 lawns, with the splendid sheets of water stretching 

 away in the distance. There are over twenty-five 

 acres devoted to flowers and sub-tropical garden- 

 ing, beautiful in design and execution, only to be 

 matched but not surpassed by any the writer has 

 seen in Europe, Philadelphia and New York ; all 

 under the careful management of Mr. Chas. Beck, 

 the indefatigable chief Gardener, who has the 

 satisfaction of bringing it up to its present pinnacle 

 of fame. At the present time, however, the chief 

 attraction is a monster Agave Americana (which 

 weighed over two tons when placed on the lawn) 

 in full bloom. It was moved out of the greenhouse 

 early in May and placed in the center of the lawn 

 facing the lake, where it commenced to throw up 

 its flower-stalk and at the present time it has grown 

 to the height of thirty-five feet and measures seven 

 inches in diameter at the base of stalk; the stalk 

 runs twenty feet before the flower-stalks branch 

 out, the whole forming a beautiful tree, the flowers 

 forming in thick masses at the ends of each branch ; 

 in color a pale yellow and long narrow trumpet- 

 shaped flowers, and fragrant. One of the garden- 

 ers said, " all the bees of creation are there." 

 I wish the readers of the Monthly could stand as 

 I do, and feast their eyes upon the sight — without 

 which they will hardly be able to form an idea of 

 its majestic splendor. 



tribute to make up the loss and enter a protest 

 against being any longer humbugged by such trash. 

 Why, it is no comparison to an old Barberry bush, 

 or even an old-fashioned Snowball ; for it will per- 

 sist in flowering in August, when we don't want it, 

 having plenty of Altheas. 



Well, it is no use quarreling about matters of 

 taste. If a Virginian don't like the Hydrangea, 

 somebody else does. If we could be humbugged 

 every day with a new plant as good as this one, it 

 would enhance the old saying, that "it is as much 

 pleasure to be cheated as it is to cheat." 



Certainly there are unworthy novelties enough 

 without classing the grandest of all new shrubs 

 among them, or showing ones utter ignorance of 

 what is truly beautiful. 



UNWORTHY NOVELTIES. 



BY C. M. HOVEY. 



It is very fortunate that our tastes differ, other- 

 wise in horticulture our gardens would all be alike. 

 We should all plant Kieffer Pears, and not have 

 such poor sorts as Bartlett occupying valuable 

 room. So too with shrubs ; we should all plant 

 — something — well, snowballs, if you please. 



Your correspondent, Virginian, seems to have 

 been a most unfortunate man. He invested half- 

 a-dollar in that "wonderful Hydrangea panicuLata 

 grandiflora," which he thinks sure is a disgrace to 

 the lawn. Well, perhaps it is. I guess he is right 

 and all the readers of the Monthly should con- 



PLANTING IN SUITABLE POSITIONS. 



BY WM. ROBERTSON, SUPT. OF GOVERNMENT 

 GROUNDS, OTTAVl^A, CANADA. 



The formation of the root determines the nature 

 of the material in which it will best grow. Nature 

 has constructed roots in such a variety of ways, 

 adapting one to firm substances, another to soft, 

 some to moist and others to dry material. If we 

 look at our native forests, where nature controls 

 the whole, we see trees always finding the position 

 and soil most suitable for them ; so that the nature 

 of the soil can be known by the variety of tree pro- 

 duced. 



Let us take, for example, the planting of soft 

 and hard Maples. No one appears to think that 

 there is any necessity for different positions for 

 them, although the one is always found on flat 

 table land, and the other on high dry land; the 

 one perishes for want of sufficiency of moisture 

 for the roots, whilst the other cankers and becomes 

 diseased from an over abundance of it. They 

 both may live and grow, but, if you notice, you 

 will see that those in suitable positions will take 

 the lead. In flat land the soft Maple is far ahead 

 of any hard that may have been planted, and the 

 reverse on the high land. The soft Maple will 

 sometimes struggle along for years on high ground 

 whilst the hard is growing most luxuriantly in just 

 the same situation. 



I make it a point in tree planting to set each 

 variety where it will succeed best, and to see that 

 the roots are plentiful, with a good clean healthy 

 stem. I care nothing about the top, because, if I 

 get things as they ought to be, not as a huge cut- 

 ting, I will soon give you a good top and a finer 

 tree than is generally had when the top is left on. 



