258 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



believed to be confined to the neighborhood of Stone Mountain 

 in central Georgia, and to be always a shrub in habit, but is 

 now known to range northward in the Piedmont region to Xorth 

 Carolina, and often to grow into a small tree. The oldest plants 

 in the Arboretum are beginning to assume a treelike habit, and 

 in the parks at Rochester, New York, Aesculus gforgiaiia is a 

 shapely small tree with a straight well developed trunk. Many 

 other Horsechestnuts and Buckeyes are now in flower ; and the_ 

 large group of these trees and shrubs on the right hand side of 

 the Meadow Road is just now one of the most interesting and 

 attractive in the Arboretum. 



Aesculus discolor zar. mollis. This shrub or small tree has 

 not before flowered so freely in the Arboretum. The type of 

 the species has red and yellow flowers, but in the var. mollis. 

 which is the only form in the .\rboretum, the whole flower is 

 bright scarlet. It is a common plant from northern Georgia 

 to central Alaliama and westward to the valley of the Guadalupe 

 River in Texas, ranging west of the Mississippi River north- 

 ward to southeastern Missouri, and appearing in southwestern 

 Tennessee. In early Spring no other plant in the southern states 

 is more brilliantly conspicuous, and its unexpected hardiness in 

 New England is one of the important discoveries made by the 

 Arboretum in recent years. There is a form of Aesculus discolor 

 (var. iJiivesceiis) with yellow flowers which is confined to the 

 Edwards Plateau in western Texas. It is possible that this 

 plant may also prove hardy here. Aesculus Harbisonii. which 

 is believed to be a hybrid of .-i. discolor var. m.o!lis and A. georg- 

 iana, is the last of the Buckeyes, with the exception of A. fa'-i'l- 

 kora, to bloom in the Arboretum. It is a shrub with broad clusters 

 of large flowers with a rose-colored calyx and canary yellow 

 petals tinged with rose toward the margin. Still extremely rare, 

 this hybrid which is perfectly hardy deserves to be better 

 known. 



Berbcris reriice. Gardeners often complain that there are 

 now too many Barberries, and it is certainly true that only an 

 expert who has devoted years of special study to the genus can 

 readily distinguish all the species, varieties and hybrids in the 

 groups of which Berbcris ziilgaris, the common Barberry of 

 western Europe, and now naturalized in the northeastern United 

 States, is a typical plant. There are now probably at least one 

 hundred different Barberries in the Arboretum Collection and 

 the number is likely to increase rather than to decrease, for Bar- 

 berries hybridize easily in collections like the one in the Arbor- 

 etum, and it is more than probable that China, the headquarters 

 of the genus, may still contain undescribed species. There may 

 be too many Barberries but no one who has once seen Berbens 

 p'crnce as it is now growing in the Arboretum will regret thai 

 Wilson, who discovered this plant in China, sent seeds to the 

 Arboretum in 1910 from the neighborhood of Sungtan in the 

 upper Min Valley where he found it at an altitude of aliout nine 

 thousand feet above sea-level, growing with the other Chinese 

 Barberries. B. Venice is here now about six feet tall and nearly 

 as much in diameter. The long, slender, bright red branchts 

 covered with small, nearly entire leaves arch and droop grace- 

 fully, and from them hang on long stems innumerable slender 

 clusters of small, pale yellow, slightly fragrant flowers which in 

 the -Autumn are followed by small red fruits. .A. green fountain 

 best describes this shrub, there are Barberries \vith larger and 

 handsomer leaves, larger flowers and more brilliant fruit, but 

 there is not one in this collection, at least, of such graceful 

 hab't ; and Berbcris I'cnice as it grows here is not only one of 

 the most beautiful of the deciduous-leaved species of the genus 

 but one of the handsomest of the shrubs discovered in China 

 ■during the present century which can be successfully grow-n in 

 this climate. Plants of Berbcris Venice raised from seed col- 

 lected by William Purdom in Min-chou in western Kansu. re- 

 ceived at the .Arboretum in 1912, are also well established here. 



LESSONS ON WEEDS AND THEIR 

 CONTROL 



(Continued from page 253 ) 

 The adverse eft'ects of drought can be materially decreased 

 by cultivation. .\s cultivation prevents to a considerable extent 

 the loss of soil moisture, cultivation may be made the means 

 of eliminating to a great extent the necessity for artificial 

 watering. When surface cultivation is practiced, the capillary 

 spaces near the surface are destroyed and the direct connection 

 of the subsoil water with the upper layer of the soil is broken: 

 the ground is covered with finely pulverized earth and the soil 

 particles have been so disturbed that there is not that close 

 contact which enables water to pass from particle to particle. 

 When evaporation lakes place there is a movement of the sub- 

 soil water to the surface, but if the surface is covered with a 

 layer of fine earth the subsoil water cannot readily pass through 

 -such a medium, and evaporation is checked. Therefore surface 



cultivation conserves soil moisture. Hence, after a rain, soils 

 should be cultivated as soon as the implements will work well, 

 which, by preventing the formation of a hard crust, will check 

 evaporation. An appreciable amount of moisture is returned to 

 the soil at night when the moisture-laden air can penetrate it, 

 as dew is formed in the soil by the cooling of the latter in the 

 same way as it is formed upon the surface of leaves. 



It is apparent that to obtain the best results there must be no 

 let up in our efforts Ijotb with soil cultivation for its own sake 

 and for the control of weeds. 



Many people start the season with great enthusiasm ; as the 

 year advances, especially if the weather is more favorable to 

 weeds than crops, they sometimes get discouraged. Ultimate 

 success and the permanent welfare of a garden depend upon 

 which has the greater persistence, the gardener or the weeds. 



BOOK DEPARTMENT 



(Continued from page 256) 

 interest in the subject and to inculcate appreciation of its impor- 

 tance so this is instructional and very practical, concise, clear 

 and sufficient in every way. Used as the working manual for 

 the Course of Study in School and Home Gardening, a course 

 outlined by the author himself and printed in small pamphlet 

 form for the eight grades of the public schools, it is a most 

 serviceable volume. It wisely begins with the window garden 

 and plants growing from bulbs, which are most attractive to 

 the child and most easily managed. To several precepts, how,- 

 ever, exceptions may be taken. There is a too general advocacy 

 of manure which, unless applied with caution, is of course 

 injurious to bulbs and to the roots of most plants. Trees ought 

 not be planted two inches deeper than they stood in the nursery 

 and allowance should be made for settling of the soil ; nor should 

 bearded irises be set four inches deep. A potato "about the 

 size of an egg" usually has too many eyes to permit of its 

 being planted whole. By dividing roses into the four classes Rosa 

 rugosa. Perpetual roses, the Crimson Rambler ( !) and Wild 

 roses the author misleads, particularly as he states that those 

 of the second class endure the Winter without any extra pro- 

 tection, although he names two Hybrid Teas in this class and 

 confuses them and others with Hybrid Perpetuals. His advice 

 about cutting back all the "Perpetuals" liberally so as to have 

 but one-third or only one-fifth of last year's wood rernaining in 

 the Spring is not so bad. although the general practice, as is 

 well known, is not to prune the Hybrid Perpetuals so severely. 

 Some of the pictures are of questionable utility, notably the 

 one showing peas planted in a double row; taken in conjunction 

 with the text that directs the placing of the seed a half inch apart 

 it might cause extravagance and a density of vines that would 

 be stifling. But. notwithstanding, it is a good book and supplies 

 a great need. 



A MOONLIGHT GARDEN 



H.W'E you ever noticed how beautiful all white and pale- 

 colored flowers look in the moonlight? It is a very inter- 

 esting to plan a corner of the garden with a view to its effect 

 whcif the queen of the night is sending down her silvery rays. 

 In a moonlight garden which recently came under notice the 

 list of flowers included the following: 



In the early spring there were white hyacinths, narcissus, and 

 tulips. Two small shrubs that at this season gave a wonderful 

 wealth of white bloom were deutzia and spirea. In the borders 

 of the beds there w-ere sweet alyssum and candy-tuft. In one 

 corner a patch of lilies of the valley showed up against the dark 

 foliage. Most of these flowers give out the most delightful fra- 

 grance and, in the warm spring evenings, it was a joy to linger 

 and breathe in the sweet scents. 



A little later on the flrwers in the moonlight garden increased 

 greatly in number. Of course there were white stocks and 

 Tobacc'cs. Both of these glisten in the moonlight and, as well, 

 give out the most delightful odors. Then there was a border 

 of the old-fashioned snow pinks and also some white pansies. 

 A clump of the exquisite Madonna lilies made a fine show in the 

 moonlight. Close at hand there was a mass of white sweet 

 peas. No- one has any idea until he has seen them, how beauti- 

 ful the dainty flowers look against the dark green of the foliage. 

 In fact ihey closely resemble a number of graceful butterflies, dis- 

 porting themselves in the soft night air. Groups of white fox- 

 glove.s" and columbines i)roved to be most cfifective, and both 

 these plants staved in liloom for a long while. 



When there is" no moon at all the white garden is still interest- 

 ing. It is w^onderful how well many of the flow^ers show up 

 even in the darkness. Many of them seem to shine with a curious 

 phosphorescence. Xo doubt this is to advertise their presence 

 to moths and other night-Hying insects on which they depend for 

 pollination. Crow^ds of interesthig moths of many kinds will 

 visit the moonlight garden.— S. Leon.\rd B.\stin.— CoM«/n' Life. 



