i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



99 



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VASE OP HARDY TREE AND SHRUB BLOOM 



in cultivation, especially the kalmia and 

 azaleas. In the spring of '95 I got a 

 quantity of roots of both A. nudiffora 

 and .4. riscosa from the woods. I 

 trimmed each one back to a single stub 

 about one foot long, set in a bed com- 

 posed largely of leaf-mold, and mulched 

 heavily. Every one threw out numerous 

 shoots, many of them growing 8 or 10 

 inches the first summer. 



Thev nearly all bloomed last spring 

 and grew considerably faster than they 



did the first season. Now they are full 

 of buds for bloom another season. 

 Instead of being scraggy or ungainly 

 they are quite symmetrical, as the new 

 growth is straight and erect. I set 

 several of th^ roots in the garden, and 

 although the soil is quite dry and they 

 have never been mulched yet they have 

 grown faster than those in the specially 

 prepared bed. Kalmia I have never tried 

 to grow. 

 There are two more shrubs I have yet 



to see in any garden except my own. The 

 first, Ilex verticillata, is now exhibiting 

 its wealth ot scarlet berries and it seems 

 to me I never saw them in such profusion 

 before. The other, Benzoin odoriierum, is 

 clothed in j'ellow just as its leaves are 

 starting in the spring, and in its native 

 state at least, is a beautiful thing. I have 

 it growing finely on a dry bank although 

 it loves to have its feet in or near the 

 water. It has not yet bloomed for me, 

 being set only last spring. 



