i8 97 . 



GARDENING. 



I( 35 



View through a budge arch. 

 PROSPECT PARK. BROOKLYN. N. Y. 



this soil, but it lacks other qualities. One 

 lack is its being a short lived tree, while 

 the yellow birch in the northern woods 

 excels all its neighbors but the white pine 

 and elm in noble growth, and endures for 

 centuries. 



I would like to add a note to the advice 

 given by J. Wilkinson Elliott on fall 

 planting of beeches. If they must be 

 planted in spring, and it will generally be 

 more convenient to do so than in fall, 

 order them early and pot them and of 

 course try to retard their growth in rea- 

 son until they can be planted with the 

 soil they are potted in. This will be 

 found thoroughly successful. 



Milwaukee. C. L. Manx. 



The cut-leaved birch is one of the hand- 

 somest trees in cultivation when it reaches 

 a height of twenty feet ormoreunharmed. 

 I did not want the tree condemned Im- 

 planting in this section upon the results 

 of my observations alone. As it is the 

 aim and purpose of Gardening to make 

 thorough inquiries into all matters where 

 a doubt exists, and then publish the 

 results, I concluded to write to three gen- 

 tlemen whose experience in tree planting 

 along the north shore of Lake Michigan 

 are well known, and attach their letters 

 to this. Mr. Douglas' letter will be found 

 quite interesting, inasmuch as it relates 

 also to the dying out of so many of our 

 forest trees. 



I am informed that these birches die 

 back in Toronto. W. C. Egan. 



Your favor of yesterday received referring to 

 the European cut-leaved birch. When the cut- 

 leaved birch was introduced bj Ellwanger A: 

 Ham (It originated in Germany and they bought 

 the whole stock. ;is I understood it at that time). 



1 ordered six trees [or planting in my ornamental 

 grounds. When I received them [was so much 



pleased with them that I planted two of them on 

 my own grounds and took two men with me and 

 planted the other four, one in each of four of my 

 friends' grounds, where they would show to ad- 

 vantage. 



As I was not dealing in anything except ever- 

 greens aud trees for forest planting. I never used 

 but one tree after that, it was a birch seedling 

 that came up accidentally in the shrubbery bor- 

 der. I took a bud from the cut-leaved and budded 

 it myself, and that is the tree you refer to in your 

 letter. (This tree is the best I've seen out west 

 but is getting weak at the top. W. C. E.) I 

 planted it where you saw it growing. I went out 

 this morning after reading your letter and meas- 

 ured the stump. At about 3 feet high it measured 

 lti 1 :; inches in diameter; it was a few years 

 younger than the original six trees. I intended to 

 measure the remains of the original six trees, but 

 did not: their remains are now used to trail vines 

 over. I think every cut-leaved birch over 20 years 

 old in this vicinity has failed. 



Now I think it but fair to take the Milwaukee 

 man's side of the question on the next two pages, 

 and let Gardening see that you may both lie 

 right. The summer of 1893 was very dry in this 

 locality. I remember when I went down to the 

 World's Fair to meet Mr. Nicholson, of the Kew 

 Gardens, at the close of our spring planting I felt 

 discouraged al the dryness of the season but 

 within a week we had a good rain in Chicago, bul 

 Learned that itdid not reach Waukegan. I wrote 

 them that I would not return until they had 

 rain. In about two weeks we had a powerful rain 

 in the World s Fair grounds thai left a perfecl 

 pond in front of the hotel on 60th street where I 

 was boarding. I started for home, found it ver_\ 

 wet until we reached Evanston, but it did not 

 reach Lake Forest. 



We did not get fall rains to the usual amount, 

 and the winter came with the ground actually dry 

 when we dug two feet below the surface. I tried 

 to encourage our people by saying that we never 

 had two dry seasons in succession as I had 

 learned in about 50 years experience, but the sum- 

 mer of 1894 proved dryer than any previous one 

 and we had a hundred and eight consecul ive days 

 commencing early in June and reaching into Sep- 

 tember without a shower, went into the winter dry, 

 and thousands of oaks and other forest, trees died 

 with their lower roots in dust dry soil. The sum- 

 mer of 1895 was equally dry 103 consecutive days. 

 commencing in June and ending in September. 

 The result was thai forest trees 40 to 50 years old 

 died by thousands on thousands, but the rains 



were plenty during the fall, and wet the ground 

 below, where it had not even been dampened for 

 three years. 



Our city was noted by strangers for having more 

 red maple trees than any other city; with a very 

 few exceptions they are all dead. One remarkable 

 thins in the forests was that the hickories and 

 deep rooting trees suffered more than elms and 

 more shallow rooting trees. The oaks generally 

 stood on knolls, while the elms being in the hol- 

 lows received more moisture. 



Now as to birches in particular, the canoe birch 

 grows in considerable quantity in this vicinity 

 and have died during the past three years, as 

 never before. As this tree grows all through Wis- 

 consin and north to Manitoba and west to Mon- 

 tana, if they have not died in and around Mil- 

 waukee it would seem as though they died here 

 from extreme drouth. I understand that they did 

 not have it so dry across the line in Wisconsin as 

 to kill the forest trees. Robert Douglas. 



I do not consider that the cut-leaved birch does 

 well in the vicinity of Chicago, yet would not say 

 cast it out altogether from our planting lists. 



The best lot I can remember were those on 

 Drexel boulevard, and long ago they commenced 

 to die at top. I suppose they are gone now. I 

 cannot now remember any others more than 15 or 

 20 feet high. 



They do somewhat better in the lacustrine de- 

 posit in Milwaukee. You may find trees there 40 

 or 45 ft. high in good health, although you will 

 also find those that are afflicted with the same 

 trouble, dying at top. For one 1 would like to 

 know something more about this disease. The 

 trouble, whatever it may be, is sufficiently serious 

 to preclude the use of the tree where absolute 

 dependence on it is necessary for the effect 

 intended. J. A. Pettigrew. 



We planted quite a large number of cut-leaved 

 birches about 1880 and they have nearly all died. 

 At first I thought our very dry seasons caused the 

 death of the tree, as the one planted on the edge 

 of the pond remained healthy after the others had 

 lost their tops, but finally thai one went too. The 

 direct cause of death in most cases was borers, of 

 which we dug out a great many, but I think they 

 would not have attacked the trees if the constitu- 

 tions of the hitter had not been weakened. The 

 birches planted at Elmhurst have nearly all died. 

 The failure of the cut-leaved birch has been so 

 general in the vicinity of Chicago that for some 

 years 1 have not recommended it for any impor- 

 tant position, The best specimens that I have 



