52 



GARDENING. 



Nov /, 



these straps should be maintained aslong 

 as the box remains, otherwise the tree 

 will be injured by rubbing against the 

 box in windy weather. This box should 

 remain as long as it is able to support the 

 tree during storms, afterwards it should 

 be removed, and the stem encireltd by 

 woven wire netting, fastened loosely 

 around the tree as a protection for injury 

 against horses biting the bark, or from 

 other causes which might harm the tree. 



INSECTS. 



The most troublesome insects on street 

 trees are caterpillars, such as the fall web- 

 worm, the bag-worm and others. The 

 elm leaf-beetle and scale infects or bark- 

 lice are also likely to be found on trees, 

 especially those in declining vigor; but it 

 is only a question of labor in appliances 

 to keep trees from material injury from 

 any of these defoliators. All kinds of 

 leaf-eating insects can be destroyed by 

 spraying with arsenical mixtures, and 

 bark-lice are destroyed by kerosene emul- 

 sions; the preparation and application of 

 these insecticides are generally understood 

 so it is not necessary to further allude to 

 them here. 



Sometimes trees that are sickly become 

 so heavily infested with scale insects that 

 the entire surface of the tree is covered 

 with them; these can be cleaned by cut- 

 ting them back severely just as the leaves 

 are falling in autumn, completely divest- 

 ing the trees of all spray and small 

 branches, leaving nothing but stumps of 

 the heavy branches which are then coated 

 with ordinary lime whitewash. This 

 will smother the insects and clean the 

 tree; it is heroic treatment, but it is effect- 

 ual, and the trees will in time recover a 

 new top, and again assume a healthy 

 condition. All kinds of scale on all kinds 

 of trees can be destro\ - ed by a covering of 

 lime-wash. William Saunders, 



Supt. of Gardens and Grounds U. S. Dep't 



of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, Oct. 



23, '96. 



AN AUTUMN RAMBLE. 



A lovely day is this 22nd of October. 

 Inspired by its beauty and the wealth of 

 foliage we took a walk to view the ap- 

 pearance of some of our variegated and 

 parti-colored plants that give such a 

 charm and variety to our autumn land- 

 scape. 



The variegated weigelia, privet, althea 

 and dogwood are desirable for effect to 

 break the monotomvof continuousgreen. 

 For purple shades we givi the preference 

 to the purple plum and purple barberry. 

 They are perfect even now and hold their 

 color through the season while most 

 other purple trees fadethelast of summer 

 The evergreen euonymuses were beautiful 

 with leaves bordered or splashed with 

 white and yellow, I ut we fear for their 

 hardiness The variegated honeysuckle 

 is a pei feet beauty and the celastru- artic- 

 ulate with such a profusion of seed pods 

 far exceeding our native species is a sur- 

 prise Euonymus radicans with silver 

 foliage is a low vine or bush. What 

 pretty leaves the Euonymvs alatus has. 

 It is a curious bush, leaves bright red and 

 showy. What a profusion of colored 

 leaves the Japan dogwood (Benthamia) 

 has and so too has the flowering dog- 

 wood. (Cornus Florida) and Cormis 

 Kousa is easily grafted on our common 

 dogwood. Thunborg's barberry is in its 

 brilliant color, and its red berries, in addi- 

 tion to the leaves render it a great acqui- 

 sition to our list. With regret we notice 

 our Caryopteris mastacanthus has been 

 slain by Jack frost; it is one of, if not the 

 most lovely late flowering shrubs we 

 have, and the Desmodium penduliBoram 





pel '&£$'& 



ALSTRCEMERIA AURANTIACA. 



{ Lespedeza sieboldii) has parted with its 

 beauty. 



Let us take a look at our yellow leaved 

 friends. Here is a tall yellow poplar, but 

 the country is lull of yellow leaves, dyed 

 by approaching death, and we, like W. C. 

 Bryant, dislike yellow-leaved trees, they 

 look sickly and unnatural throughout 

 the season; give us bright, cheerful colors, 

 fresh and healthy looking, and unless the 

 leaves are mottled or margined with red, 

 green or purple we esteem them not. 

 Itea virginica is a modest plant and the 

 foliage is bright, so too, is the bridal 

 wreath spirea and itsrelative Thunltergii. 

 But we could go on enumerating the 

 oaks, Liquidamber (Sweet Gum or Pep- 

 eridge) and other gay lv dressed trees, not 

 omitting the sumachs. The Lonicera 

 Hcckrottii blooms almost till December 

 and it is desirable, but little known, and 

 the snowberry white and red help to 

 make our homes attractive at this sea- 

 son. But none of these are superior to 

 the Japan maple atrosanguinea, so richin 

 color, charming in form, delicate and 

 ladylike; it is not strange that these little 

 trees are such favorites. We have omitted 

 the black alder {Ilex verticillata) with its 

 profusion of red berries, and our American 

 and European euonymuses. To see a fine 

 grown eypriss (Glyptostrobus pendula) 

 at this reason is a novelty but it is a 

 magnificent sight. Isaac Hicks. 



V\ estburv, L. I. 



and broken off in the lifting, so I mulched 

 the soil heavily where they had been 

 planted. The next spring I found quite a 

 little group of plants there which came 

 up and bloomed. 



The following winter, and ever since, I 

 allow all except two plants tu remain 

 and protect them as follows: A heavy 

 coating of dry leaves is put immediately 

 over them, and a box with a tight bot- 

 tom inverted over the leaves. Then a 

 coating of strawy manure or tops of 

 perennial asters or any rough litter is put 

 over the box and on the earth some dis- 

 tance around. They come up smilinglv 

 each spring and grow about three feet 

 tall, increasing quite rapidly. The soil in 

 which they are planted is well drained 

 and rather light. I noticed that plants 

 remaining in the ground bloomed earlier 

 than those disturbed, and in order to 

 prolong the season of bloom, I now take 

 up two plants and winter them in the 

 cold frame. 



Their flowers are very- satisfactory 

 when cut as their lasting qualities in the 

 house are excellent. On the plant the 

 bloom is quite profuse for some six or 

 more weeks if the seed pods are cut off. 



Highland Park, 111. W. C. Egan. 



The Flower Garden. 



TAB PERUVIAN LILY. 

 (Alstroemeria aurantiaca) 

 This plant with its beautiful light 

 orange-colored, orchid like flower is a 

 native of Peru and not supposed to be 

 quite hardy here. Acting upon this sup- 

 position when I first grew it, several years 

 ago I planted it in galvanized wire bas- 

 kets, something like an office desk waste 

 basket, but made of heavy galvanized 

 iron, and when winter came placed these 

 in the cold frame. The plants are root 

 spreaders and I noticed that when taken 

 up in the fall their long slender succulent 

 roots had wandered out of the basket, 



CLASSES AND VARIETIES OF ASTERS. 



The engravings show typical flowers of 

 thirty i lasses and varieties of China 

 asters just as they actually are, not as 

 some artists imagine they ought to be, 

 or as they are usually represented in en- 

 gravings. The distinctive characteristics 

 of some of them cannot be shown in pho- 

 tographs of the flowers alone as they vary 

 more in the habit of the plants in some 

 cases than in the flowers. The flowers 

 were all a little above the medium size 

 and I took particular care in arranging 

 and photographing them to show the 

 comparative size as accurately as possi- 

 ble. 



No. 1 is Lady White; 2, Ball or Jewell; 

 3, Victoria Needle; 4, Boltze's Dwarf Bou- 

 quet; 5, Ne Plus Ultra; 6. Imbrique Pom- 

 pon; 7, Dwarf Pyramidal Bouquet; 8 

 Triumph; 9, Needle or Hedgehog; 10, Pom- 

 pon Crown; 11, Quilled German; 12, 

 Pompon Ne. die; 13, Pyramidal-flowered 

 German; 14-, Harlequin; 15, Globe-flow- 

 ered German; 16, Princess or Snowball; 



