THE 



GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Volume XXV. 



DECEMBER, 1883. 



Number 300. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



It is now twenty-six years ago since the Editor 

 took pen in hand to prepare the first number of the 

 Gardeners' Monthly. It has been a long term 

 of very hard but very pleasant work. Large 

 numbers of those who subscribed and read what 

 he then wrote have since gone to their long homes, 

 but the homes of those who have taken their places 

 are still to be made beautiful. The elements with 

 which we make beauty are ever new, so that we 

 not only have new readers, but have constantly 

 new things to say to them. But sometimes the old 

 will bear repetition. An old sermon is often as 

 profitable as a new one, and from what we see 

 around us it is worth repeating that thinning out at 

 this season should be the rule in every well- 

 ordered place. Trees and shrubs must be planted 

 thickly at first, or we have to wait half a life-time 

 for shelter or fine effect. A few should be taken 

 out every year. Sidewalk trees especially are 

 almost always too thick after some years. Where 

 the trees are not entirely taken away, judicious 

 pruning is an advantage. Branches should be cut 

 close to their source, so that the wound may heal 

 over. If the scar is large, paint it. The rotting 

 of wood after a branch is cut off often starts decay 

 in the whole tree. Weakly and weatherbeaten 



' evergreens are improved by pruning. But in their 



case the leader must be cut at the same time, even 



though we have to train up a side branch to make 



another leader. Sometimes rare evergreens raised 



I from grafts or cuttings, show little disposition to 



i make leaders, but they will do it if severely 



i pruned. Poor evergreens are improved also by a 



top dressing of very rich manure. The spruce 



family are great lovers of shelter. Where winds 



are keen and cutting, pines should be employed. 



, The White Austrian and Scotch are still the most 



approved. For dwarf evergreen to stand wind, 



nothing equals the dwarf mountain pine. What is 



known in nurseries as Mugho pine, Mountain, and 



Dwarf pine, are all forms of one thing. Pinus 



Cembra is a beautiful plant for cutting by windy 



situations, and intermediate in growth between the 



dwarf and the larger pines. 



Manure is good for lawns and flowers in beds 

 for the summer, and this should be remembered at 

 this season. 



If not yet done, gather in the "bag-worms," 

 especially from evergreen trees ; and where the 

 soft cottony cocoons of the Orgyia or "cotton cat- 

 erpillar " are sheltering on the rough bark of trees, 

 destroy the eggs with a hard brush. Birds are all 

 right to help keep down insects, but a little hard 

 labor is also excellent. 



