232 



• GARDENING. 



April 15, 



up the straw wrapping at the bend, and 

 allowed the melted snow to get in and 

 rot the wood. I have had no such trouble 

 other seasons and can only attribute the 

 loss to melted snow. 



In the box covering theClitrfbing Woot- 

 ton mentioned March 1 was a small 

 knot-hole. Immediately under this knot- 

 hole was a side braneh of the rose. This 

 side branch was rotted and presented an 

 appearance similar to that shown by the 

 others. The wood of the Empress of 

 China and the C. Rambler was black all 

 the way through at the places mentioned. 



With the winter we have had both ot 

 these roseswould havedone better if they 

 had not been protected; but we cannot 

 tell ahead what kind of a winter we are 

 to have. This experience has taught me 

 one thing, that is to contrive some means 

 of keeping out the melting snows. Where 

 any box is placed over any plant, and a 

 top used I shall see that the top is water- 

 tight. W. C. Egan. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



THE WEEPING CUT LEAVED BIRCH. 



I was much interested in, and a little 

 surprised at, the remarks of Messrs. 

 Egan, Douglas, and others in your issue 

 of March 15th, on the Weeping Cut-leaved 

 Birch. I live 50 miles west of Milwaukee. 

 Here, this tree is as hardy as any of the 

 birches. 1 never heard of an instance ol 

 its winter-killing in a single branch. And 

 it has been planted very freely. 



But this seems to be true, that when it 

 reaches a height of perhaps 20 feet, the 

 leading shoot, perfectly erect hitherto, 

 begins to weaken and becomes pendulous. 

 The tree ceases to push its way upward 

 centrally, but begins to deliquesce. Is it 

 possible that this disposition, morenotic- 

 able of late years, is due in any degree to 

 the succession of dry seasons? A tree in 

 my own grounds began to scatter and 

 droop at the top, at a height of about 15 

 feet. I cut off the curved shoots and thus 

 forced it up five feet further. Now it be- 

 gins to show the recurring tendency 

 again, though a perfect specimen tree 

 otherwise. On the other hand, my next 

 neighbor had one which was straightly 

 pursuing its way upward at a height ot 

 25 feet or more, when he freakishly sawed 

 off the central shaft, saying that the tree 

 was "too growthy " Nevertheless, the 

 tree has climbed up 10 or 12 feet since. 



I have never seen a sign of winter-killing 

 or of dead branches from any cause. In 

 transplanting, it is a hard tree to bring 

 through the first season, and sometimes 

 dries out in the second summer; but, after 

 that, nothing is more reliable, and noth- 

 ing is more beautiful. 



Albert Salisbury. 



Whitewater, Wis. 



[Mr. Egan does not claim that the tree 

 winter-kills (see Gardening, April 1). It 

 is the natural habit of the weeping cut- 

 leaved birch to assume a drooping form 

 with age, but not generally, as is the case 

 with Young's weeping birch, curving its 

 leader downwards and forming an almost 

 perfect arch. — Ed.] 



and I have thought it would be of interest 

 to many a reader to have a list of a few 

 early blooming shrubs. It is but the 9th 

 of April as I write this, yet some eight or 

 nine kinds are in flower, and as many 

 more are showing the color of their buds. 



The following sorts are now fairly in 

 flower: Yellow jasmine, Jasminum nudi- 

 florum. Daphne Mezereum in both pink 

 and white colors; Cornelian cherry, 

 Cornus Mas; Prunus Davidiana, red 

 maple, Acer rubrum, Magnolia stellata, 

 goat willow, Salix caprea; golden bell, 

 Forsythea viridissima and Lonicera fra- 

 grantissima. 



All these flower before their leaves ap- 

 pear. The Cornelian cherry has clusters 

 of small yellow flowers which make a 

 fine display, chiefly because of their num- 

 bers. The buds appear towards the close 

 of winter, impatient, apparently for 

 spring to come. Prunus Davidiana has 

 large, peach-like pink flowers, and it is a 

 new and most desirable large shrub, mak- 

 ing a fine display. The red maple is not 

 planted for its beautiful flowers as much 

 as it should be. The trees of it, both of 

 small and large size, are full of dark red 

 flowers at the present time. Magnolia 

 stellata is now fairly well known as the 

 earliest of all its tribe to flower. The 

 flowers are light pink in the bud, becom- 

 ing white on expansion, and they are 

 delicately scented. 



The willow mentioned is well worthy 

 of a place among early blooming shrubs 

 of spring. It is bestgrowninshrub shape. 

 This is the "pussy willow" as commonly 

 known, and in England it is used as 

 "palm" in some churches on Palm Sunday. 

 The golden bell shrub is known to every- 

 one as one of the most indispensable of 

 shrubs. Lonicera fragrantissima has 

 light pink flowers, and at times it expands 

 its blossoms betore winter is over. 



1'hiladelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



THE EARLIEST SttRUBS TO FLOWER. 



With the retreat of winter and the com- 

 ing of the warm days of spring, everyone 

 enjoys outdoor life, and the garden 

 pleases at that time more than at any 

 other season of the year. The earlyflow- 

 ers are those that give the most pleasure 



REPLANTING SPACE OCCUPIED By DEAD 

 TREES. 



Around the public parkin this city there 

 are three rows of elm trees. These trees 

 are about 100 years old, and are rapidly 

 dying out. The}' vary in size from 2 feet 

 to 4 feet in diameter. The distance be- 

 tween trees is about 30 feet, perhaps 4-0 

 feet. 



I claim that if these trees are replaced 

 by more elms they will not do well, for 

 the reason that the elms now there have 

 consumed all or nearly all the food that 

 goes to make perfect elm trees, and when 

 it becomes necessary to plant trees for 

 our park it would be better to try a tree 

 of another kind. Please let me know 

 what you think about it through the 

 columns of Gardening. 



New Haven, Conn. F. A. Sherman. 



It is the practice of the best landscape 

 gardeners to furnish fresh soil when old 

 trees are taken out and new ones put into 

 their places and this shows their belief that 

 the old soil is exhausted. The probabilities 

 are that unless the soil was largely re 

 placed by new, elms would not do as well 

 as the first ones did. 



Nurserymen, who look altogether to 

 the profitable part of the business, do not 

 grow the same kind of a tree twice over 

 in the same ground, or if they do manure 

 is heavily applied before the second plant- 

 ing occurs. Indeed some of them who 

 have land enough to spare let some agri- 

 cultural crop occupy the ground for a 

 season between the two plantings of 

 trees. As it is probably not practicable 

 to throw out the old soil and replace 

 with new, nor to add to its fertility by 



manuring, the chances are in favor of 

 other trees doing better than elms. 



It will be opportune to say here that in 

 many public grounds large trees can be 

 seen languishing for the lack of manure. 

 The fallen leaves are raked up in the fall, 

 and year after year goes by with no 

 manure being given, and in time they die. 

 There should be manure spread around 

 the ground about such trees every fall, 

 just as it is about a lawn, to encourage 

 the grass, and this should extend out to 

 a considerable distance from the trunk, as 

 the principal feeding roots are at the 

 extremities of the main ones, just as the 

 principal growing points are at the 

 extremities of the branches of the tree 

 above ground. 



THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE. 



( Artocarpus incisa.) 



This tree grows in Otaheite, where it is 

 indigenous, to the size of a moderately 

 large oak tree, with alternate leaves 

 deeply gashed, glaucous and two feet 

 long. The whole tree and the fruit before 

 it is ripe abound in a very tenacious acrid 

 milky juice. The fruit is about the size 

 and shape of a child's head and reticu- 

 lated with hexagonal markings; in ap- 

 uearance it is much like the fruit of our 

 Osage Orange (Madura auriantica) a 

 closely allied genus. The "Breadfruit" is 

 covered with a thin skin and has a small 

 core; the eatable part lies between the 

 skin and the core; it is white and some- 

 what of the consistency of new bread. It 

 must be roasted before it is eaten, being 

 first divided into three or four parts. 

 The taste is insipid with a slight sweet- 

 ness, resembling the crumbs of wheaten 

 bread mixed with some starchy vegetable. 



This bread-fruit tree was introduced 

 into cultivation about a century ago; 

 having been first brought from the South 

 Sea Islands to Jamaica in 1793, whence 

 it spread to other parts of tropical Amer- 

 ica. It is a point worthy of note that 

 the expedition of the English ship 

 "Bounty," which ended in mutiny and 

 shipwreck on Pitcairn's Island, was un- 

 dertaken for the purpose of bringing the 

 bread fruit tree to the West Indies, which 

 a later expedition succeeded in doing. 



The bread-fruit is generally considered 

 difficult to grow. Large cuttings root 

 freely in sand under moist heat but the 

 leaves must be left entire; if shortened 

 they are likely to fail. There are several 

 varieties of bread-fruit as of most plants 

 long in cultivation, but botanists recog- 

 nize only three species: Artocarpus incisa, 

 figured in the illustration (a Costa Rica 

 specimen), with spherical fruit and deeply 

 lobed leaves. A. integrifolia (Jaca or 

 Jack-fruit) with large simple leaves and a 

 very large oblong fruit sometimes reach- 

 ing a weight of thirty or forty pounds; 

 there is a third species very little known. 



The principal cultivated varieties of 

 bread-fruit are seedless. In Otaheite 

 there are at least eight different kinds 

 vaiying in form of leaf and fruit. The 

 Jack-fruit is by many regarded as only a 

 variety of Artocarpus incisa as its leaves 

 are sometimes lobed and the position of 

 the fruit changes with the age of the tree, 

 being first borne on the branches, then on 

 the trunk and finally on the roots, as 

 occurs also in Ficus Roxburghii, a mem- 

 ber of the same natural order. 



The bread fruit is ripe in December, 

 though in some situations the trees pro- 

 duce two or three per year. The fruit 

 can be prepared for use by being boiled 

 or fried in palm oil. Besides the use of 

 the fruit there are numerous economical 

 purposes to which other parts of the tree 



