January 29, 1916 



HORTICULTURE 



139 



HORTICULTURAL SPORTS 



The bizari'p, garish, umonveiitional 

 individuals tliat are referred to among 

 humans as "sports" have their coun- 

 terparts in the plant world. One may 

 be introduced to you by a friend, the 

 other by a nursery catalogue. You 

 will find that some have a thin veneer 

 of color or an eccentricity of form or 

 action that may be very amusing, but 

 that have no real merit or permanent 

 value; while on the other hand there 

 are some sports that have such sub- 

 stantial and worthy qualities that they 

 find a permanent place of honor among 

 your friends, or in your gardens and 

 landscapes. 



It is to certain of these plant sports 

 that we shall hereafter refer, such as 

 the purple, golden, cut-leaved, pyra- 

 midal, table-form, table-topped, and 

 weeping forms that have developed 

 among species of Beech, Birch, Maple, 

 Elm, Catalpa, Elder, Hazel, Dogwood, 

 Pine, Hemlock, Spruce, and other 

 groups. These have become pretty 

 well established in nurseries, gardens, 

 and lawns, by reason of their vigor, 

 health, distinctive foliage, or habit of 

 growth. They have been mostly used. 

 however, as specimens, or to give bril- 

 liant spots of summer color in the con- 

 ventional patchwork quilt shrub plan- 

 tations, not as elements of broad land- 

 scapes. 



Before considering their use in land- 

 scapes we should recognize that such 

 sports are not always fugitive acciden- 

 tal freaks that can be reproduced only 

 hy grafting or by cuttings. It has been 

 found, for example, that the seedlings 

 of a conspicuous specimen plant of 

 Wier's Cut-leaf Maple, Purple Beech, 

 or Golden Spirea will produce so large 

 a percentage of cut-leaved, and purple 

 or golden offspring, that the progeny 

 of an old seeding plant would be like- 

 ly to establish in time a wlde-spread- 

 in,g distinctive group, in which there 

 will be much foliage like the parent, 

 and color transitions due to variations 

 in seedlings, and these would gradual- 

 ly merge the group into the surround- 

 ing trees. The Purple Barberry has 

 already escaped from cultivation, and 

 made these distinctive groups in open 

 pastures. 



Much of our broad landscape beauty 

 comes from the deep shadows and the 

 high lights of hill and valley, and of 

 foliage as seen under various atmos- 

 pheric moods. Individual trees count 

 but little in distant landscape. It Is 

 the mass that counts effectively in fo- 

 liage color and in outline, as shown In 

 the contrasts between the spired cone- 

 bearing evergreens and the rounded 

 outline of deciduous foliage, or the 

 towering Lombardy Poplars; or again 

 between the dark and solid masses of 

 the Burr Oak foliage, the flickering 

 and glinting sparkle of the .\spen 

 Poplar or the Silver Poplar, cir the 

 soft, fleecy, grayish foliage of the Wil- 

 lows. 



The really worthy sports of the 

 vegetable world may well have a place 

 that has never been given them in 

 broad landscapes that are seen from a 

 distance. The dee|) shadows in the 

 valley, or at the ends of a Ion,!; vista 

 might be given greater emphasi.-i by 



the use of such long-lived vigorous 

 forms as the Purple Beech or Purple 

 Maple, that are used in principal 

 masses and outline groups with a suit- 

 able backin.g, flanking, and interlacing 

 of dark green foliage that would merge 

 the purple into the surrounding land- 

 scape, to give the deeper shadows and 

 not be unpleasantly olitrusive. 



At other points the high lights of 

 the landscape in glades through vistas 

 or under arching trees may be given 

 greater emphasis and brilliancy by the 

 use of such plants as the Golden Elder 

 and Spirea, or the Golden Poplar and 

 Hop-tree. 



The cut-leaved form of the Birch. 

 Beech, or Maple would give a distinct 

 variation in the texture of the foliage, 

 as seen from a distance, if a sufficient 

 quantity were used to count effectively, 

 and they could be very properly asso- 

 ciated with the type. 



There are many places where it 

 would be very desirable to establish 

 a ground cover that will not grow high 

 enough to interfere with the view, that 

 will have good healthy foliage, and 

 that can be more readily kept in re- 

 straint than can be most vines. Why 

 should we not use the Weeping forms 

 of the Mulberry, Mountain Ash, Elm, 

 Beech. Dogwood, Pine and Spruce for 

 such a purpose? Some of these forms, 

 such as the AVeeping Mulberry and 

 Camperdown Elm, are trailing sports 

 of upright trees, with little tendency to 

 form a leader. They are usually graft- 

 ed on high stems to make them sug- 

 gest the umbrella-like form. 



Other varieties, like the Weeping 

 Beech and the Norway Spruce, have a 

 distinct tendency to make a leader. 

 Such forms, grown on their own roots, 

 or grafted so low that the graft can 

 be buried in the ground, to form roots 

 above the union, would have a tend- 

 ency to scramble over the surface. As 

 such plants as the Mountain Ash and 

 the Mulberry have fruit that the birds 

 like, they would help to form the ideal 

 bird cover. One can conceive of an 

 exceedingly interesting and attractive 

 phase of landscape so treated, for there 

 is enough variation to give high and 

 low foliage masses. 



There are other places where the 

 cushion-shaped trees, such as the Dwarf 

 Catalpa, the several dense forms of the 

 Norway Spruce and American Arbor- 

 vita", could be massed together to 

 form a distinctive landscape treatment 

 of this type. 



Is there any more reason why the 

 brilliant crimson coloring of the 

 Schwedler's Maple should not be used 

 to give color effects in a large way 

 in the spring, as we now secure color 

 effects from the Maples. Tupelos, Su- 

 macs, and Birches in the fall? These 

 are all interesting propositions for 

 those who have the courage to break 

 away from the conventional use of ma- 

 terial; but they must recognize the 

 danger of such suggestions, because it 

 will be very easy to produce a garish 

 and disordered effect in landscape, just 

 as is now produced in so many gar- 

 dens and lawns where spots of such 

 material are used. 



Wariikn H. Manxing. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 



Retrospective. 



In reviewing the trend of horticul- 

 tural matters in Britain in 1915 it is 

 not necessary to adopt the pessimistic 

 attitude taken by many writers in the 

 British yellow press in discussing the 

 present outlook. Although everything 

 has not been normal there is consola- 

 tion in the fact that the position of 

 affairs might have been worse. The 

 Royal Horticultural Society has cer- 

 tainly done its best to keep things 

 moving. Except for a short period 

 when the society's hall was in the pos- 

 session of the military authorities the 

 fortnightly shows, always a popular 

 feature amongst the world of fashion, 

 have been continued, and have at- 

 tracted the usual amount of attention. 

 Despite the fact that the nurserymen 

 have had their staffs seriously depleted 

 by the call to arms, they have done 

 their utmost to maintain the high 

 standard of the exhibitions. The so- 

 ciety rendered a timely service in ap- 

 pealing to the public not to neglect 

 their gardens during the present crisis, 

 with a view to obviating a grave de- 

 cline in the trade of the nurserymen 

 and seedsmen. The importance of 

 paying increased attention to the rais- 

 ing of vegetable crops, in order to add 

 to the home food supplies, has also 

 been emphasized. The Council has 

 likewise sought to give opportune and 

 much needed succor to the imfortunate 

 Belgian nurserymen and seedsmen who 

 are amongst the victims of ruthless in- 

 vasion. Practical sympathy has in ad- 

 dition been afforded to the agricultur- 

 ists of Serbia. In fact the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society has rendered a mem- 

 orable service, maintaining its proud 

 name as the valued helper of horticul- 

 ture, and in doing this has taken a 

 broad view of its duties. Useful work 

 is still being done by the National Rose 

 Society, which was able to hold suc- 

 cessful exhibitions, the National Chrys- 

 anthemum Society — temporarily de- 

 prived of its usual show place -the Na- 

 tional Dahlia Society, the National 

 Sweet Pea Society, whose trials are 

 still a very useful adjunct, the Perpet- 

 ual Flowering Carnation Society, and 

 the other special societies. In some 

 instances there was. as might be ex- 

 pected, a falling off in the number of 

 exhibits, but in every case the com- 

 mittees have shown a firm determina- 

 tion to adhere to the prevalent motto, 

 "Business as usual." 



Jottings 



At the annual meeting of the Per- 

 petual Flowering Carnation Society, 

 officers were elected as follows: Presi- 

 dent, Lord Howard De Walden: chair- 

 man of committee. J. S. Brunton: vice- 

 chairman. Mr. Wallace; treasurer. L. 

 .1. Cook: secretary. T. A. Weston. Orp- 

 ington. Kent: show superintendent, E. 

 F. Hawes. 



The British Government has prohib- 

 ited the import of lilies of the valley 

 from Holland, it being suspected that 

 nuuiy of the so-called Dutch pips were 

 really of enemy origin. Before the war 

 many tons of crowns were Imported 

 from Germany. 



The Royal Horticultural Society has 

 arranged to conduct trials at its Surrey 

 gardens with late potatoes, godetias, 

 annual carnations. Indian pinks, mig- 

 nonette, larkspur, sunflowers, mid- 

 season peas, tomatoes, celery, celerlac, 

 and savoys. W. H. Adsett. 



