S12 



GARDEyERS- C.HROMCLE 



the beautiful Blue Atlas variety, and Silver Firs, may be planted 

 where space allows, but the Cedars, especially, should have space 

 to grow into specimen trees. 



In richer soils the Lawson Cypress is more at home and tnay 

 freely be used for backgrounds, especially where these are not 

 desired to be too tall or quick growing, which would be the case 

 with such trees as Douglas Firs. 



If the landscape lacks distinction, the sombre majesty of a plan- 

 tation of Austrian Pines will do much to provide the needful con- 

 trast. The species is valuable, too, for garden backgrounds wher- 

 ever the Scotch Fir does not hulk largely in the landscape. Its 

 solidity makes it an admirable foil for more gracious trees and 

 shrubs', especially for flowering shrubs. It has also distinct and 

 noteworthy value as an avenue tree, associating very well for this 

 purpose w'ith the Lime, the rich yet sombre ruggedness and rather 

 spreading habit of the Pine, and the slender, twigg}- pyramids of its 

 deciduous companion in Winter or its pale green leafage in Sum- 

 mer, forming varying but always pleasing contrasts. 



The Douglas Fir is now often used for spinneys and plantations 

 and also for backing to shrubberies. Its coloring is very charac- 

 teristic, and for massed planting is a drawback; also the tree lacks 

 something in density, but the Colorado variety, though distinctly 

 slower in growth, is admirable, if distinct, in coloring, and its 

 density quite satisfactory. Just as a few Poplars will often make 

 distinguished and beautiful a group of planting otherwise hum- 

 drum, so a small clump of the typical Douglas Fir will oft-times 

 enliven and add variety in color and outline to an evergreen 

 planting. 



For deep, cool soils especially where rain is abundant, the Hem- 

 lock Spruces (Tsuga) are of great value. Tlieir distinct, finely 

 cut foliage and their general carriage remind one of the Deodar — 

 remind one, but that is all. They are quite distinct. 



T. Albcrtlana forms, as a rule, a shapelier tree than the more 

 commonly seen T. canadensis. Equally beautiful and more accom- 

 modating' as to soil and atmosphereric conditions, T. Pattoniana, 

 not infrequently met with in gardens under the name T. Hookcri- 

 ana, with bluish grey foliage, is not used as much as it should be. 

 More common, an'd so more readily available for massing, is the 

 common Spruce— the "Christmas-tree" of our childhood — and its 

 allied species, Picca oricntalis and nigra. For plantations both the 

 common and black varieties are very beautiful where they succeed, 

 which, contrary to the common impression, is not everywhere. 

 For nearer inspection the Oriental Spruce should be used. It is 

 doubtful if there is any more beautiful conifer than a well grown 

 tree of this species. 



Of the Thuyas, gigantea has already been mentioned. Its prin- 

 cipal attractions lie in its rapid growth and columnar habit. It is a 

 lax-growing tree and should Ix- kept in the background. _ There 

 are a legion of varieties of both oricntalis and occidcntalis. many 

 of them quite beautiful, especially in Winter when they put on 

 russet mantles of many shades. The varietal names are not too 

 well established and there are such a numerous family, but they 

 may easily be selected in the nursery. Bearing in mind the warn- 

 ing' already given anent the too free use of colored conifers, Thuya 

 Vcrva-ncana is, on soils on which it retains its color, a beautiful 

 shrub and it has a fine pyramidal habit. 



The Pines are, with rare exceptions, too large for use as any- 

 thing but backgrounds, except in grounds of considerable extent. 

 Noteworthy among the few smaller-growing sorts are Mughns 

 (montana) and Ceinbra (Swiss Stone Pine). This last makes 

 beautiful pyramidal specimens of quite slow growth. 



Almost all Pines are worth growing where space allows. P. in- 

 signis (Monterey Pine) is truly remarkable for the quickness of 

 its growth. It must, of course, be established while small as it 

 quickly becomes untransplantable, if so ugly a word may be for- 

 given. Its lustrous, brilliant green foliage is quite distinct. P. Coiil- 

 tcri is relatively slow growing. Its distinguishing feature is its 

 extraordinarily "long, rather dull needles — a beautiful species none 

 the less. Piniis Strohus (Weymouth Pine) succeeds best near the 

 coast, but F^inus c.vcclsa, which is very similar in general appear- 

 ance, "does" anywhere and has a healthier looking appearance. 

 Both species are too light in color and too thin in growth to form 

 effective backgrounds. The ubiquitous Austrian Pine and the 

 so-called Scotch Fir have already been mentioned. 



The Redwoods, Sequoia scntpcrvirens and gigantea {U'eUing- 

 tonia) are almost too well known to need mention. The former 

 is of little interest except to the collector, and the latter, like the 

 Araucaria. is too Victorian for present day taste and is seldom 

 now planted. It is none the less a fine avenue tree. .'\ cousin to 

 these, the so-called Deciduous Cypress, Ta.rodtiiin disticJium, 

 makes a handsome tree, and like that other deciduous conifer, the 

 Larch, is particularly beautiful when first it bursts into leaf in 

 Spring. Informal grouping of Larch in backgrounds of Fir or 

 Spruce should always be arranged where possible. They add a 

 pleasing variety and the pea-green foliage is, for a week or two, 

 extremely gracious. 



We have, as already mentioned, touched on the great coniferous 

 families, but in our wanderings we have missed quite a nunilier of 

 species and varieties which now call for mention. Picca pungens 



glauca used, despite its unpleasant smell, to be a^ great favorite, 

 but owing to its indiscriminate use as dot plants in suburbia and 

 to its unfortunate liability to attacks of aphis which, if not prompt- 

 ly attended to, destroy the tree, it has fallen in estimation of late. 

 None the less a really good specimen happily placed is a beautiful 

 picture. Abies concolor and the somewhat similar A. Lowiana. of- 

 ten called lasiocarpa in gardens, have already been mentioned, but 

 a well colored form of either is as beautiful an object as one could 

 w-ell wish to see. The distinctness of each deep green whorl of 

 branches and its wonderful symmetry mark a well grown specimen 

 of .-i. Nordmanniaua, while the equally rigid but longer needled 

 and more glaucous whorls of A. nobilis have a dignity all their 

 own. Very remarkable are the large loosely strung cones of this 

 species which at a little distance look like wise young owls sitting 

 in the topmost branches. 



No definite rules can be laid down for the arrangement of the 

 many species and varieties thus roughly outlined, but if care is 

 taken to prevent "spottiness" by using conifers as a continuous 

 background, which is allowed here and there to, as it were, break 

 through the lighter deciduous planting in front and to arrange 

 them with a sufficiency of contrasts, remembering that there is a 

 contrast of habit as well as of color, the arrangement should be a 

 success. Care will naturally be taken to see that each tree serves 

 some definite purpose in the garden picture — that it is not being 

 put there merely because it is a rare specimen — and that each 

 valued tree has room to grow- and is in a suitable soil and situation. 

 It is easy to fill in shrubs for temporary planting which can subse- 

 quently be removed or cut away. 



If Larch be used for this purpose, their timber, when ultimately 

 their room becomes preferable to their company, will, at the least, 

 be useful for stakes or rails. For the fronts of shrubberies short- 

 lived plants such as Brooms can, when their time comes, be re- 

 moved without regret. — The Garden. 



BOOK DEPARTMENT 



The Drama of the Forests, by Arthur Heming. Doubleday, 

 Page and Co., New York. 



This book should be found very fascinating by any one 

 appreciative of Nature altogether untamed. For the tramper 

 or the camper, the hunter or the student of animal life, the 

 artist or the keeper of a zoological park it offers the results 

 of careful and first-hand observations and experiences in 

 company with the craftiest, shrewdest and wisest trappers, 

 most of them Indians, "the children of the forest." The 

 human characters all are indeed most entertaining and profit- 

 able for study; they prove Emerson's words, quoted by the 

 author: "In the woods we return to reason and faith." 



It was daring to attempt to weave into one continuous 

 narrative, as though all had happened in a single year, the 

 most interesting facts and information gathered from thirty- 

 three years; but the attempt has been unqualifiedly success- 

 ful. Delicious piquancy has been imparted by a little dash of 

 romance that is never obtrusive and by the incorporation of 

 several wild animal stories. Evident truthfulness and the 

 entire absence of imaginative fiction in connection with 

 themes that give tempting and abundant scope for them 

 are gratifying in these days when story-tellers present quite 

 misleading conceptions of the pure and usually simple and 

 safe life of the wilderness. 



Because of the scenes, the Canadian woods in the hunting 

 season, the volume has little interest for the lover of flowers 

 or the gardener as only a gardener; but the author is an artist 

 and it w-as his profession that led him into the regions he 

 portrajs. The descriptions of color, both verbal and pic- 

 torial, for the book contains thirteen two-color plates, are 

 suggestive and instructive. 



THE WINDOW GARDEN IN WINTER 



{Continued from page 810) 

 for the evaporation caused by the v^-arm sun, and they soon 

 begin to turn brown and fall off. Those on the sunless side 

 of the house will not be affected in the same way and will gen- 

 erally come through all right. In the case of the tubs, they may 

 he easily taken into the coolest part of the cellar now and then 

 during the Winter to allow the soil to thaw out, after which 

 they may be well watered and put back, by this means they can 

 he kept in good condition and used for several years. 



DO you find the columns of the Gardeners' Chronicle 1 



interesting? Certainly you do, or you would not \ 



I be perusing them. Your gardening neighbor, | 



1 ivere he familiar irith them, would become equally in- | 



I terested. Why not recommend the Gardeners' Chronicle | 



I to him as a guide to his garden work? He would | 



I appreciate it — and so would we. | 



