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HORTICULTURE 



October 11. 1919 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



trees and shrubs. It leads people to 

 t'l'lw Hi'' sentiment with which Joyce 

 Kilmer begins his famous poem — 

 "I think that I shall never see 

 A poem lovely as a tree." 



I recently received a little magazine 

 called Woodlawn Bank Notes which 

 deserves mention because of the new 

 idea which it manifests. This little 

 publication is issued by the Woodlawn 

 Trust and Savings Rank of Chicago, 

 Illinois, and the particular number 

 which I have before me is given over 

 almost entirely to a description of the 

 I ires of the Woodlawn section. The 

 well worded introduction reads in part 

 as follows: 



"It is not the trees in the parks or 

 on the forest preserves but the ones 

 in front of our windows or in the back 

 yards where children play which be- 

 come our warmest friends. Perhaps 

 it is only a willow whose top is level 

 with our third floor apartment dining 

 room window, and which in summer 

 time shuts out with its waving 

 branches clothed with leaves like a 

 shimmering curtain all the unsightly 

 back stairs across the alley; perhaps 

 is is a cottonwood or Ailanthus just 

 outside our bedroom window whose 

 rustling in the night breezes soothes 

 us to sleep; but whatever it is. it is 

 the tree nearest to where we live 

 which becomes the silent and most 

 loved friend of our tree world." 



On almost every page of the maga- 

 zine there is a picture showing some 

 street or avenue with its long rows of 

 trees standing like soldiers on guard. 

 There are trees of many sorts, too, in- 

 cluding elms, locusts, cottonwoods. 

 oaks and willows. Some of the most 

 interesting trees are also described. 

 On the midway, it seems, there are 

 eight rows of elms, each a mile long, 

 and the writer of the article remarks, 

 "An elm is not really good looking 

 until it is fifty." As these trees are 

 only twenty to thirty years old, the 

 midway will surely be a handsome 

 spectacle thirty years from now. 



Apparently the cottonwood or Caro- 

 lina popular is the most common 

 shade tree in Woodlawn, and probably 

 in all Chicago. There seems to be a 

 special reason why it is of more than 

 usual value there, as its smooth glossy- 

 leaves have just enough natural var- 

 nish to be kept free from soot, which 

 always abounds in cities where soft 

 coal is burned. They are bright and 

 clean looking when the elms and 

 maples look soiled and weary. 



Years ago this section was covered 

 with a virgin forest and a few of the 

 aged oaks still survive. They do not 

 take kindly to civilization, though, and 



are gradually dying out. One old oak, 

 however, is a most persistent tree. It 

 was alive when the French explorers 

 and settlers were laying the founda- 

 tions of the Illinois country. It was 

 a hundred years old when the first 

 permanent settlers founded their town 

 at the mouth of the Chicago River. 

 Now it stands in the midway, a living 

 monument to Illinois' colonial past and 

 all her historic hundred years of state- 

 hood. 



In this little booklet there is cer- 

 tainly a suggestion for the banks of 

 other cities. A publication of this 

 kind is the best of advertising for a 

 town which seeks to attract home 

 makers. It helps win depositors for 

 the bank and incidentally aids the 

 nurserymen by creating a demand for 



.Not long ago at the Nathaniel Kidder 

 place in Kast Milton I found another 

 specimen of Pleroma macranthum 

 growing in the garden. It was not 

 trained like the one on the Crane 

 place in Ipswich, which I mentioned 

 some weeks ago. but it made a hand- 

 some appearance. .Mr. W. J. Martin, 

 the gardener, is very fond of it and 

 keeps it growing all winter in the 

 greenhouse as well as in the garden 

 in summer. Of course it is tender, yet 

 it makes a good garden subject. It 

 seems a pity that some of these old 

 favorites should be neglected to the 

 extent that they are. The time was 

 when this Pleroma was used quite 

 freely for bedding. It came from 

 Brazil originally and is a strong 

 grower, requiring ample quarters tor 



Pleroma Macranthum 



