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THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[November, 



is these who worry over the best season to plant. 

 Give these a first-rate tree in every respect — good 

 health, good season, -or what not — still the tree 

 may die ; but you may give the last a tree with all 

 the roots grubbed off, or all the branches half dry 

 — a mere cutting in fact — and yet the thing grows 

 for him. Indeed, many men will do better with a 

 lot of mere unrooted cuttings, than others will with 

 the best of roots, and all because they have learned 

 that the art of planting merely consists in the 

 simple fact that wc protect from evaporation till 

 new roots are formed ! 



Now we go into details, as most chapters on 

 "work for the month " do. For instance, we might 

 say it is now so well understood that we may have 

 an immense addition to our listof hardy evergreens, 

 if we will only shelter them, that we expect all 

 those who love these varied winter favorites will 

 take measures this season to plant shelter belts in 

 exposed places, or else to set the common hardy 

 trees like Norway and Hemlock Spruce, and Scotch, 

 Austrian and White Pines thickly about, so that the 

 rarer ones can be put between them. Almost all 

 young trees are tenderer than they are when older. 

 It is therefore no test of the hardiness of some rare 

 thing, that a small plant is killed in the winter. 

 Silver Firs almost always get killed back for a few 

 years in this section, unless protected, but yet gain 

 a little in strength. After they are ten years old 

 they will endure our hardest weather. So Spanish 

 Chestnuts, English Walnuts, and many others will die 

 back considerably, until they get strength. There- 

 fore, protect any valued young plant, if possible, 

 no matter how hardy its reputation may be. We 

 have said this before, and yet it is fully covered by 

 the general practical advice given in the opening 

 sentences. 



Nice smooth lawns are great attractions. If not 

 level and smooth, earth may be filled in the hollow 

 places at this season, and raked smooth and level. 

 If not over two or three inches deep, the grass 

 beneath will come through and make a sod before 

 next summer; but if deeper, a little grass seed 

 may be sown. 



In treating hedges of Osage, Honey Locust, or 

 other deciduous plants, we like the plan of letting 

 them grow as they will for two or three years, and 

 then, when the stems are a couple of inches thick, 

 saw to the ground. A mass of strong sprouts then 

 pushes up, which can be pruned into shape the 

 next summer. Where hedges are to be thus made, 

 or older ones have been neglected, they can be 

 cut down to the ground any time in the fall or 

 winter season. It seems that in spite of all that 



has been said, Osage Orange and Honey Locust 

 are the best plants for farm fences, or where any 

 very strong fence is desired. Berberry, Silver 

 Thorn, and Pyrus japonica are the next best — in- 

 deed, except that it takes rather longer to make a 

 good fence, the last named would be as good as 

 the two first in all except cheapness. An extensive 

 travel, however, teaches us that even Osage and 

 Honey Locust are seldom successful as a protect- 

 ive fence, without great care, knowledge, and con- 

 siderable expense. But the combination of wire 

 and Osage, or Honey Locust, is all that can be 

 desired. It need not be expensive barbed-wire. 

 Any light posts, with two or three strands of wire — 

 the posts simply strong enough to hold the wire 

 two or three years, till the hedge grows up — is all 

 that is required. When the posts rot away the 

 growing hedge keeps the wires in place. Any 

 sort of hacking of the hedge onc'e a year, so as to 

 keep it in bounds, will then make a thoroughly 

 hog proof, or thief-proof fence. . 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



TROPiEOLUM CANARIENSIS. 



BY CHARLES E. I'ARNELL. 



I see by recent issues of the Monthly that con- 

 siderable has been said of late relative to the 

 merits of Trop^eolum canadensis as a climbing 

 plant, and as it is one that has been so often 

 cultivated, with such varying success, I am in- 

 duced to offer a few remarks relative to its suc- 

 cessful cultivation ; and would here say that, so 

 far as my experience with the plant has extended, 

 I find that it requires and must have a well en- 

 riched deep border, and a cool and moist situa- 

 tion, as well as one that is partially or fully shel- 

 tered from the mid-day sun. If these essential 

 requisites are complied with, it is a plant easily 

 cultivated, and one that will produce very satis- 

 factory results, if a little care be given as to train- 

 ing the young shoots, and to give an abundant 

 supply of water during seasons of drought. I 

 find that when grown in situations fully exposed 

 to the sun it does well enough up to July ist, or 

 until hot, dry weather sets in, and then the leaves 

 commence to turn yellow and dry up, and the 

 plant is then anything but attractive. The seed 

 can be sown in a hot bed about the first of April, 

 and the young plants transferred into three-inch pots 

 and gradually hardened off and planted out when 

 all danger of frost is over, which in this vicinity is 

 about the tenth of May. Or the seed can be sown 



