^ 





THE 



GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXV. 



NOVEMBER, 1883. 



Number 299. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



From now until spring, in various parts of the 

 country, planting will be in order, and the "best 

 time to plant " will hardly be a question any more 

 this season. In southern latitudes spring has 

 nearly come, and in the far north the ground is so 

 frozen, or snow-covered, that planting is out of the 

 question. But gardening has progressed wonder- 

 fully since the first number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly was issued, and the intelligent planter 

 does not care anything about the season, except 

 in so far as it may interfere with known laws of 

 success. In no other respect has the season any- 

 thing to do with planting. Now, the conditions of 

 success are these : Firstly, we must remember that, 

 like all things of life, a sickly tree will not bear the 

 "battering about" which a healthy one will. The 

 very same practice which will be enough for a vig- 

 orous tree, will not save one the vitality of which 

 is impaired. Therefore, the first condition of suc- 

 cess is, that the tree be healthy. As a general rule, 

 a vigorous thrifty growth coincides with health. 

 But this is not always so. A shoot of asparagus 

 an inch thick, is certainly no healthier than the 

 wiry one found growing wild by the sea shore. In 

 trees, good color is of as much consequence as 

 good growth, as indicative of health. However, 



all we can say here is that good health is important 

 to the best success. 



Then, in the second place, we have to consider 

 why healthy trees die. This is wholly a question 

 of the moisture supply. A tree cannot live with- 

 out an abundance of moisture continually coursing 

 through its structure. A tree has moisture escap- 

 ing through its smooth bark all winter, and 

 through both bark and leaves all summer; and 

 the danger from a transplanted tree, is that moist- 

 ure will dry out faster than the damaged roots can 

 supply it — in other words, that the tree will dry up. 

 The younger the twig, the more chance of its dry- 

 ing ; the smaller the twig, the more chance of its 

 drying — the less vital power in the twig, the greater 

 the chance of its drying — the less root, in propor- 

 tion to what there ought to be, the more chance of 

 any part of the tree crying — the more of the small 

 roots which in transplanting have the soil not 

 firmly pressed around them, the more chance 

 of the top drying — the more cold wind after 

 autumn planting, or hot dry wind in summer, 

 the more chance of drying ; so we might go on in- 

 definitely. It all comes to this, that any one with 

 experience can look at a tree and, with the chance 

 of drying before his eyes, tell exactly what to do 

 to make it grow. To one who does not know this, 

 the whole thing is and ever will be a mystery. It 



