THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



181 



SEASONABLE NOTES ON THE GARDEN. 



Springtime brings with it more important duties in 

 the garden than any other season of the year ; further- 

 more, it is the season at wliich many of the things essen- 

 tial to the future success of the garden should be done — 

 things which either cannot be done at all or are accom- 

 plished at a disadvantage later in the season. Too fre- 

 quentl\' the early spring days pass Ijefore it is realized 

 that plants are growing, that seeds are sprouting, and 

 that the proper time for starting a garden has already 

 passed; a garden should be made before, nut after, the 

 leaves are on the trees. 



Lawns. — The lawn undoubtedly should receive the 

 first attention in the sjjring. After the frost is out of the 

 i;Tound and as soon as the lawn is in such condition that 

 it can be comfortably walked upon, it should be thor- 

 oughly raked with an iron rake in order to remove all 

 dead grass and other material, such as stones, sticks and 

 leaves. Thorough raking further tends to loosen the 

 soil, thereby rendering the latter a good growing place 

 for grass seed, which should be ajjplied after the raking. 

 ( )n established lawns, resetding is not always necessary, 

 though it is not a bad practice to reseed all lawns lightly 

 w hether they seem to need it or not. After the seed has 

 been sown, the lawn should be very lightly covered with 

 either good rich soil, |)repared humus, or thoroughlv de- 

 composed Cow or horse manure. The purpose of this 

 application is obviously to cover the seed and to give it a 

 good rich medium in which to grow. Where soil or 

 ])repared humus is used, it is desirable to add some fer- 

 tilizer, such as sheep manure ; but where, on the other 

 hand, the application is one of cow or horse manure and 

 soil, the addition of sheep manure is unnecessary. It is 

 difficult, however, to get cow or horse manure in a suffi- 

 ciently decomposed state to use as a dressing for lawns 

 in the spring. 



After the lawn has been treated as above, it should be 

 rolled with a heavy roller, or if this is not possible it 

 should be well tamped. The winter frosts have tended 

 to loosen the sod and have made the surface very une\en. 

 Raking, dressing and rolling usually suffice to again put 

 it into good condition. 



Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of 

 com])leting this spring treatment of the lawn as early as 

 possible — surely before the grass becomes green. The 

 seed must germinate and the _\oung grass plantlets must 

 become well established early in the season in order that 

 the heavy spring rains may not be able to dislodge them, 

 and. furthermore, that they may be sufficientlv advanced 

 in their development to endure the hot dr}- weather of 

 the early summer. Depending upon conditions, the fol- 

 lowing amounts indicate in a general way what may be 

 necessary to bring a lawn into ])roper condition : Grass 

 <eed, 2.5-50 pounds per acre; hunnis, manure, or soil, 3-10 

 tons per acre ; sheep manure, 200 pounds per acre. 



Trees and Shrubbery. — .All pruning of trees and shrub- 

 l)ery should certainly be done before the starting of the 

 buds in the spring. Trees should be pruned of all dead 

 limbs and water sprouts, or suckers. Dead limbs are 

 readily distinguished from living ones by the al)sence in 

 the former of a green layer directly underneath the outer- 

 most layer of l;ark, a condition which, at least in young 

 shoot •i, can readily be ascertained by the use of the thumb 

 n.iil. Water sprouts, or suckers, are the small shoots al- 

 most invariably produced on the larger limbs of trees 

 and frequently also on the trunk near the point at which 

 the latter emerges from the soil. .\11 of these should be 

 removed. Aside from these general suggestions, it is 



almost impossible to give directions which will enable 

 one unfamiliar with the general subject of pruning to 

 properly prune a tree. \\'here trees have been properly 

 cared for in the past, however, it is very seldom neces- 

 sary to remove limbs over 2i/i to 3 inches in diameter. 

 If there is any doubt in regard to the pruning of large 

 trees, it is desirable to call in a known e.xpert for advice. 

 Shrubs, while just as amenable to good and projser 

 care, suffer less from neglect than do trees. A general 

 rule applicable to the jiruning of shrubs is that early- 

 flo\vering shrubs are ])referably pruned after blooming, 

 and late-tlowering ones in winter or early spring. Early- 

 blooming shrubs usually produce their flowers on wood 

 dexeloped the previous season, while the later-flo^vering 

 ones produce them on new wood. The golden bell, or 

 Forsythia, for instance, blooms in the very early spring on 

 the woody growth made the previous summer. If this 

 were pruned away in the spring all the "flower wood" 

 would be destroyed. On the other hand, hydrangeas 

 bloom late in the season on the ends of shoots produced 

 that year from buds on the old wood. It is usually cus- 

 tomary to prune h)-drangeas (in the s])ring) back to two 

 or three buds, as the flower crop is thereby not endan- 

 gered. If good results are to be obtained from the prun- 

 ing of shrubs, therefore, the time and habit of their 

 blooming must be carefull)' taken into account. — Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden Bulletin. 



COELOGYNE CRISTATA. 



The accompanying illustration of the beautiful speci- 

 men Cuelogyne Cristata is one of a group of fifty similar 

 specimens grown by George Jacques, head gardener on 

 the \\'. Gi. Mather estate, one of the most attractive es- 

 tates in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio, and widely known 

 for the wonderful displays of flowers and fruits grown 

 out of doors and under glass throughout the year under 

 the direction of JMr. Jacques. 



The plant was grown in a nine-inch pan, had forty- 

 three trusses and carries two hundred and fifteen fldwers 

 when |)liotngraphed. 



sPEcnrr.x pr..\xT coelogvxe cri.st.\t.\. 



