for December, 1920 



405 



of position, in regard to height, form, and color often impedes 

 rotation; this may be overcome by Hfting the plants, thoroughly 

 trenching the site, and adding new soil before replanting. Soils 

 containing plenty of humus should be well limed, provided sub- 

 jects which dislike lime are not to be planted. Basic slag is a 

 desirable fertilizer to incorporate with the soil, but, like lime, 

 should not be placed in direct contact with farmyard manure. 

 Tree-roots are often a source of trouble in flower borders ; if 

 large trees are in the vicinity, the present is a suitable time to 

 inspect the borders and remove intruding roots. — Tlic Ctirdcih'rs' 

 Chroiiicli' (British). 



Ophelia, .Madame Edouard Herriot and General McArthur as 

 plants past praying for ; or once again, because I rather regard 

 my own two acres of ground as a casket for jewels, am 1 to say 

 th.at others should not have their color schemes or their rock 

 garden?? The gardening world is large enough lor us all; take 

 such necessities as Potatoes, even among them we can pick and 

 chcose. — The Garden. 



T 



TOPIARY OR VERDANT SCULPTURE. 



HF. coming of Williain and Mary gave the system of cutting 

 and clippin.g shrubs and trees a new and hitherto unknown 

 value in the eyes of the "curious," which can only be compared to 

 its vogue in ancient Rome where all the swell gardens were full 

 of it, so much so that a gardener became popularly known as a 

 tflfiarins, which, by the way, I always think ought to have been 

 written toriarius, as otherwise I don't seem to see much point in 

 the name, and wonder why Daubeny in his seventh lecture on 

 "Roman Husbandry" says, "So common did it (cutting trees into 

 regular shapes ) become, that gardeners went by the name of 

 tupiarii, to indicate that this was their especial function." But I 

 am not a philologist and don't understand the quaint vagaries of 

 language. Will some Engleheart tell us why it was that Cicero 

 and Pliny both wrote topiarius? 



Topiary is a genetic word. The genus includes various species. 

 There is the priin and trim '\'ew hedge ; there are the Box cannon 

 balls and diminutive obelisks; there are — 



the portal- warding lion-whelp, 

 .And peacock-yewtree of the lonely Hall, 

 Whose Friday fare was Enoch's ministering." 

 {Tennyson's "Enoch Arden.") 

 Yes, and the clipped trees in many a cottage garden — the pride of 

 their owners — the ewe-lambs of their very own bringing up — the 

 joy-perpetual of their tiny plots. 



Who can say that the finished work of the modern topiarius 

 should never find a place in a modern garden, when a Gertrude 

 Jekyll, the apostle of flower arrangement and beautiful borders, 

 has on her own lawn a verdant sculptured pedestal with a verdant 

 sculptured cat quietly reposing thereon? This summer I saw the 

 broad lawns at Westwick, and certainly they did not lose in 

 either dignity or charm from the introduction of various pieces of 

 the topiarian's art. I may sum up the purport of what has already 

 been written and say, topiary work appeals to sentiment. It is 

 old gardening if you like. Notwithstanding all that its detractors 

 may say, it has a niche in our garden economy. Lastly, let not 

 those who live in glass houses throw stones, often they have a 

 nasty, boomerang sort of habit. 



But why all this ~' The splendid large gold-medal group of 

 wonderfully fashioned figures of Yew and Box in Messrs. John 

 Waterer, Son and Crisp's mammoth exhibit, which filled the whole 

 of one end of No. 3 tent at Cardiff, is the immediate cause. The 

 workmanship of the individual pieces was good and I was some- 

 what surprised when Mr. Waterer told me that they were all 

 home made by a father and son in the firm's employment, who 

 give the whole of their working hours to this art. Usually Box 

 and Yew are the "humble and tensile" plants used, but as in the 

 days of William and Mary, when the pleachers took toll of cer- 

 tain other trees and shrubs, so it was at Cardiff. The famous 

 firm above mentioned had good specimens of work made from 

 both green and golden Yews, from both gold and silver Box, and 

 what is a particular speciality of the firm, from Ilex crenata. 

 The numerous standards gave an undoubted lightness to the large 

 group. They were made with green and silver edged Weeping 

 Hollies, Retinospora pisifcra nana. Rctino.'tpora Ulifera aurea and 

 one or two other shrubs, .^mid the wealth of old conventional 

 forms and quite up-to-date ligures, the stately gothic chair of 

 golden Yew, with its triple pointed back, several corkscrew spirals, 

 the shapely golden bell and the ingenious monoplane and biplane 

 may be singled out as evidences of the wide choice of subjects 

 that a buyer may have for his own in exchange for a greater or 

 lesser number of "Fishers," for I fear, like the real Simon Pures. 

 they are necessarily expensive owing to the time required in their 

 fashioning. Why such figures may not be introduced with cir- 

 cumspection into the modern jumble which we call a garden, I 

 for one fail to sec ; at any rate, they are not more unnatural than 

 to have Chinese shrubs. North .\merican flowers and South Afri- 

 can bulbs in English flower borders ; nor than all the unnatural 

 plants called hybrids which are now the commonplaces of modern 

 gardening. It is all a question of degree; and approval or dis- 

 approval, a question of taste. It cannot be anything else once the 

 original wildness has been destroyed and man begins to make his 

 own surroundings. But then, have not I recently written urging 

 the retention of the quaint, to some out-of-placc-lookin.g, over- 

 lianging petal in Gladiolus frimuHnus hybrids, and because I think 

 Rn.^a Mnyesii the perfection of a species Ro.se, am I to look on 



DEPARTMENT OF BOOK REVIEWS 



Roses : Their History, Development and Cultivation, by 

 the Reverend Joseph H. Pemberton ; large 8vo ; xxiv -j- 334 

 pages, cloth, with ten plates and 22 other illustrations. Long- 

 mans, Green & Co., London and New Y'ork. ($5.) 



The book sustains its title well. It is a complete work and a 

 very satisfactorj- one. L'nlike other books on the Rose it is not 

 confined to a treatment of the garden varieties. With systematic 

 thoroughness, after setting forth the botany of the flower it ex- 

 haustively describes the many wild Roses with their appeal of 

 graceful beauty that in the wild begets sentiments in the heart of 

 even the most unappreciative observer and which in landscape 

 plantings is, for certain sites, most appropriate. This would well 

 lie taken account of by American readers. Why is it that in all 

 the wealth of garden literature produced in this country during 

 the past few years there has appeared only one article, so far 

 as the writer has been able to learn, that of Leonard Barron in 

 Country Life for March, 1915, to call attention to this use of 

 the most universally loved of all flowers? The species possess 

 other advantages also, that of requiring practically no pruning and 

 that of involving no constant warring with insect pests and 

 diseases. 



Two other classes are given special attention as new and ex- 

 cellent and will be of particular interest to those who have prized 

 the book in its former edition. These are the Perpetual Flowering 

 Musk and the Hybrid Lutea. 



The second edition is a great improvement over the first in its 

 treatment of Black Spot, Soils and Manure also. In dealing with 

 these subjects recourse has been had to all the best of modern 

 knowledge available. The various methods of propagation are 

 described in detail and so explicitly that an amateur can find here 

 all that he needs to grow his own plants. The chapter Growing 

 for Exhibition and Exhibiting must make every American rosarian 

 feel that England has much to teach him concerning the fine points 

 of her national flower, much that is here set forth very nicely in- 

 deed and with an enthusiasm to be emulated by all members of 

 the other floral societies now so numerous and so popular. The 

 li:ts of Roses, though they omit many of the best for America, 

 are especially valuable in stating the various purposes for which 

 each variety is best adapted. 



The Journal of the Royal Hortkultural Society, vol. xlv, 

 parts 2 and 3 July, 1920, edited by F. J. Chittenden, F. L. S., 

 V. M. H. ; 267 + cxxiv pages large 8vo., paper ; W. Wesley and 

 Son, 28 Essex St., Strand, London, W. C. (lOs. 6d.). 



.\ny publication to which the Royal Horticultural Society gives 

 the stamp of its approval is sure to prove of value. The present 

 volume contains a number of matters that are of general interest 

 to gardeners and horticulturahsts of all classes. From the 

 Reverend W. Wilks. but recently released from the office of 

 secretary held from the year 1888, is a plea for support in com- 

 pleting and publishing "The New Pritzel." This, it must be ex- 

 plained, is "an index to all the illustrations of the botanically- 

 identified flowering plants and ferns of the whole world." It aims 

 to contain the correct name and an illustration and description 

 of every plant concerning which the garden-lover or horticultural 

 or botanical student may wish to inquire. That the task of making 

 the work complete and up-to-date is no small task is suggested by 

 the fact that no revision has been made since the original was 

 puljlished fifty-four years ago. The revision involves the making 

 ( f 300,000 entries and the examination and tabulation of 300.000 

 plates. The society has already expended $6,500 for the purpose 

 and needs at least $20,()(X) more. Persons subscribing will be given 

 due recognition and receive special presentation copies of the 

 work. Responses to the appeal should be addressed to the 

 Reverend W. Wilkes, the Royal Horticultural Society, Ofiice 

 X'incent Square, London, W. C. 1. 



In the article Oaks at Aldenham the most notable item is the 

 description of Qucrcus pcdunculata fnsligiata, the picture of which 

 shows a compact head of the form of the Lombardy poplar. This 

 plant, of manifestly .great value in forming landscapes, comes true 

 from the acorns in forty per cent of the cases. 



.-\n account of exhaustive experiments in the Partial Stcrili- 

 zat on of the Soil records that, while such beneficial treatment of 

 soils is advisable, all chemical methods, though much more con- 

 venient and potentially cheaper, leave a persistency of poison dele- 

 terious to the crops. Heating, applied directly or in the form of 

 steam, up to 200° F., is the approvexl method for killing in the 



