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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



I Vol. XXVH 



DECEMBER, 1923 No. 12 | 



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I THE FOOTPATH TO PEACE | 



I To be glad of life, because it gives you the ehaiiee to love auil to ;cm/7c and to play and to look up at the stars; to be t 



I satisfied imth your possessions, hu-t not eontented icitli yourself until you. ha-u'e made tlie best of llieiu: to despise nothing in 1 



I the zi'orld except falsehood and meanness, and to fear noticing except co'u-ardice : to be governed by your admirations rattier | 



j tl]a)> by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except liis kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to I 



I liiink seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as you can, xmth | 



j body and spirit, in God's out-of-doors. These are little gU'idc posts on- tlie footpath- of peace. | 



I " , HENKY I 'AX DYKE. § 

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Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



WILLIAM N. CRAIG 



THE yreat deticienc}" in precipitation, while it has by 

 no means been wiped out in the Eastern states, has 

 been relieved in some measure so that there is now 

 less probability of evergreens, particularly broad leavetl 

 ones, suffering from dryness at the root. There are still, 

 however, far too many amateurs and not a few practical 

 gardeners who make a habit of mulching their rhododen- 

 drons heavily with leaves as soon as they fall from the 

 trees. The intention is excellent but the leaves prevent 

 the moisture from reaching the roots of the plants. By 

 all means mulch, but rememlier that too early covering is 

 very likely to prove injurious. It is a too common prac- 

 tice to cover beds of these handsome broad leaved ever- 

 greens with burlap as a winter protection which does far 

 more harm than good, for even when plants look fresh 

 and green when uncovered, a day or two's exposure with 

 a hot sun focussing on them will speedily give them a 

 sickly appearance. Windbreaks for rhododendrons are 

 excellent, and if the plants are moist at the roots and well 

 mulched with leaves they will winter vastly better than 



when covered overhead. 



* * * 



A superintendent on one of the large estates near E)0S- 

 ton ha.s very great faith in cocoa shells, which he obtains 

 at one of the large nearby chocolate mills, as a mulch 

 for rhododendrons and kalmias. He also makes use of 

 them for bedding his herd of Guernsey cattle on, and 

 claims that they are cleanly, absorb the liquids better than 

 any other material, and that the manure with the addition 

 of cocoa shells gives better results in the tlower and veg- 

 etable garden than when other forms of bedding 

 CO are used. That it is a neat form of bedding there 

 5^ can be no question and it would seem as though grow- 

 ''~~ ers in other sections convenient to chocolate fac- 

 o tories might do well to obtain a moderate supply and ex- 

 ^^ periment with it. The price is low and should prove no 



^ 29-^ 



deterrent to anyone desirous of doing a little experi- 



It is rather unusual to see ploughing in active progress 

 in New England in December, although on one occasion 

 I had some done in Christmas week. It is a wonderful 

 asset to have the month of December mild. Not infre- 

 quently frost seals the ground right after Thanksgiving, 

 in fact the most furious and destructive snowstoim'l have 

 experienced in Amerii^a occurred on November 26, 1898. 

 Our cousins across the ocean have a great advantage over 

 us in being able to continue outdoor operations practically 

 the whole Winter, which enaliles them to get all of their 

 digging, ploughing, trenching, pruning and other opera- 

 tions completed ere Spring arrives. There is time to do 

 the work more thoroughly than we, as a rule, are accus- 

 tomed to do it here. There are still far too many even 

 among our gardeners, to say nothing of amateurs, who 

 fail to take advantage of these open earlv December days 

 to complete work which is usually left until the over 

 strenuous springtime. 



* * * 



A letter from a friend who is a good gardner and an 

 excellent botanist, now located at Coco Grove near Miami, 

 Florida, makes one wish to make a trip there to enjoy 

 the glorious tropical vegetation. Ordinarily we think 

 of Crotons, Pandanus, Acalyphas and other warm house 

 plants, as mere pot plants and occasionally use them for 

 sub-tropical bedding. Near Miami they are seen on all 

 hands, immense bushes 15-25 feet across. In that balmy, 

 frostless region Cocoanut, Royal, and other palms in 

 great numbers are 75-100 feet high, Ficus of almost un- 

 believable size, and Casuarina equisetifolia, the "beef- 

 wood tree" of Australia 100-110 feet high and not over 

 15 years old! The most remarkable growth, however, is 

 that made bv Alangoes, Avocados, and Paw-Paws in the 



