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HORTICULTURE 



May 17, 1919 



RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS OF 

 A ROVING GARDENER 



I wonder what the results are going 

 to be in Minnesota where the plant- 

 ing of fruit trees along the roadways 

 is being undertaken. It seems that 

 many of the people in the small towns 

 consider that fruit trees are just as 

 handsome as the trees which are usu- 

 ally planted for ornamental purposes 

 and that they will pay dividends in 

 crops as well as in beauty. In one or 

 two towns there are streets even njw 

 which are lined with apple trees and 

 where the spring display is one not 

 easily duplicated, suggesting the flow- 

 ering of the cherries along the road- 

 side in Japan. The question is: "Will 

 the small boys of the towns allow the 

 fruit to ripen?" Apparently there have 

 been no drawbacks to the plan up to 

 date, as it is being extended. Whether 

 it can be practiced in the east is an 

 open question. Certainly the smaller 

 towns could be made exceedingly 

 picturesque by the use of fruit trees 

 along the roadside. 



• • • • 



After all, though, it is quite possible 

 that some of the mischief which is 

 commonly ascribed to young America 

 might more properly be placed on the 

 shoulders of automobile parties. It is 

 a regretable fact that many motorists 

 from the cities seem to lay off the re- 

 straints of civilization and become 

 wholly lawless when they get into the 

 open country. They repeatedly make 

 raids, even on fenced orchards, and 

 have no compunctions about stripping 

 lilacs of their flowers, or even more 

 delicate plants. On one estate in a 

 suburb of Boston this very spring the 

 early flowering magnolia blooms were 

 ruthlessly pulled off the plants by a 

 party, or more properly a gang of auto- 

 mobile roisterers. 



• • • • 



It is interesting to learn that there 

 is an increasing demand for bees to be 

 given a place on large estates. Per- 

 haps it should be said, in all truth, 

 that the superintendent or gardener is 

 often less interested in the subject of 

 bee keeping than the owner, for it in- 

 troduces a line of work with which he 

 is not familiar, and which does not 

 seem very inviting. After all, though, 

 the handling of bees is not such a 

 serious matter as many people suppose 

 it to be, and bees should be found on 

 every country place. 



Traveling about from one garden to 

 another one sees fewer good Veronicas 

 than might be expected. The Veronica 



is one of the finest of the blue plants, 

 if an improved kind is used. Veronica 

 subsessilis is almost indispensable for 

 a blue flower in the fall. A variety 

 called Blue Ridge, which is being dis- 

 tributed from Vermont, seems to be 

 even better than the forms usually 

 seen. 



Another good new plant which is be- 

 ing distributed by the same nursery- 

 man, although it originated in Maine, 

 is Campanula punctata var. Marian 

 Gehring, which was grown in the writ- 

 er's garden last year, and gave much 

 pleasure. This new perennial Canter- 

 bury bell originated in the garden of 

 Dr. J. C. Gehring, of Bethel, Maine, 

 where it was found growing near a 

 colony of Campanula punctata and 

 probably is a cross with Campanula 

 medium. At any rate it is a fine, 

 strong growing plant, soon forming 

 clumps two feet in diameter. The 

 color is a peculiar pale lavender, and 

 the flowering season lasts for a month 

 or more. It is a plant which must be 

 used with certain discretion in order 

 to have proper color combinations, but 

 it certainly is a decided acquisition to 

 American gardens. 



• • » • 



Speaking of color harmonies, it may 

 be observed that this is one of the 

 least understood features of garden 

 making, except in the hands of profes- 

 sionals with more than usual skill. 

 Much that has been written about col- 

 or combination in the garden is too 

 idealistic to be of any practical value. 

 It is impossible to lay out ,a garden 

 with flowers in the same definite way 

 that one can lay on colors when paint- 

 ing. Still there are plenty of oppor- 

 tunities for good effects, and there are 

 certain mistakes which can be readily 

 avoided. As has been pointed out by 

 another writer, a crimson rose in front 

 of a young copper beech tree creates 

 discord, while the same kind of a rose 

 near a silver maple results in perfect 

 harmony. One might think in reading 

 some of the books that the only place 

 to use madonna lilies was in a bed of 

 larkspurs, but as a matter of fact they 

 are just as handsome when grown un- 

 der or near an arch of climbing crim- 

 son roses. Red is a color which has to 

 be used with greatest care because of 

 the peculiar shades produced by differ- 

 ent flowers. Scarlet Oriental poppies 

 have been seen blooming close to crim- 

 son roses, and the effect has been any- 

 thing but pleasing. 



I have been surprised that so little 

 use of Montbretias has been made on 

 large estates, or for that matter in 

 small gardens. Although a single 

 spike is insignificant enough, a large 

 group produces splendid effects, and 

 they come in the fall when they are 

 especially appreciated. A landscape 

 gardener in Newton has used them 

 very freely in a hardy border and says 

 that they have been the most satis- 

 factory of all his late summer flowers. 

 Oftentimes they can be used very suc- 

 cessully in connection with fall asters. 

 In any event, they are well worth more 

 attention than has been given them. 



NEW CHINESE PEAR TREE 



Among the pear trees raised from 

 seeds collected by Wilson in western 

 China Pyrus Calleryana has created 

 the most interest among American po- 

 mologists who now believe that they 

 have it in a stock on which to graft 

 the garden pears more resistant to 

 blight than any that has yet been 

 tried; and the seeds now produced in 

 large quantities by the trees in the 

 Arboretum are sought by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of the United 

 States and by nurserymen who are 

 anxious to provide the country with a 

 possible remedy for the disease which 

 has destroyed many American pear or- 

 chards. 



The new Chinese pears have grown 

 even more rapidly than the Chinese 

 cherries, and among them are beauti- 

 ful clean-stemmed specimens from 17 

 to 20 feet high, only 12 years old from 

 the seed, and now giving every promise 

 of reaching the height of 50 feet which 

 these trees often attain on their na- 

 tive mountain sides. P. Calleryana is 

 a shapely pyramidal tree more com- 

 pact in habit than the other Chinese 

 species. The flowers are smaller, and 

 the globose brown fruit is hardly more 

 than a third of an inch in diameter. 

 To students of cultivated fruits Pyrus 

 serotina, another of Wilson's introduc- 

 tions, is of particular interest, for this 

 tree of the mountain forests of west- 

 ern China is now believed to be the 

 origina of the brown or yellowish, 

 round, hard and gritty Sand Pears 

 which iu many varieties the Japanese 

 have cultivated from time immemorial 

 and which must have been introduced 

 into Japan probably by the way of 

 Korea. 



In the early days of western inter- 

 course with Japan many varieties of 

 the Sand Pear were brought to the 

 United States and Europe, but except 

 for the beauty of their flowers and 

 fruits they have proved to be of little 

 value, for the fruit is so hard and so 



