i8 97 . 



' GARDENING. 



263 



PELARGONIUM. 



and shifting; on as needed, giving them 

 the same treatment as the cuttings iu the 

 way of pinching. 



Among other things in flower in the 

 greenhouse a lot of hydrangeas are very 

 showy. The cuttings were put in about 

 the 15th of September from some old 

 plants that were planted out in the gar-, 

 den. They were put in small pots and in 

 February were potted into 4-inch pots. 

 Now these little plants, about five inches 

 high, are carrying heads ten inches across, 

 and we find them ver3' useful for green- 

 house decoration to mix among the glox- 

 inias and begonias. 



The early potted up gloxinias are now 

 showing flower. So are the tuberous 

 begonias. Some pans of the old-fashioned 

 musk are quite nice; how little we see of 

 it in greenhouses! We regard it as indis- 

 pensable, the fragrant leaves and bright 

 yellow flowers scenting up the whole 

 house. A batch of lilies will soon be in 

 flower; these were wintered over in a 

 frame and will be used for garden decora- 

 tion, plunging them out where needed 

 Among the varieties are Humboldtii, 

 longiflorum in variety, Batewannias, au- 

 ratum, speciosum in variety, Washing- 

 tonianum, Wallacei and others. These 

 were brought into the greenhouse in 

 March and will prolong the season of the 

 lilies greath-. This is also a good way to 

 grow some of the more tender ones that 

 will not stand our cold winters. 



Mahwah, N. J. David Fraser. 



The display of plants and flowers at 

 the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, 

 which opened May 1, is promised to be 

 unusually elaborate. 



Miscellaneous. 



HORTICULTURE. 



[Extracts from a paper read by Mr. J. N. May, 

 Summit, N.J., be/ore a recent meeting of the Lenox 

 {Mass.) Horticultural Society.] 



Horticulture embraces every depart- 

 ment that constitutes a gardener's profes- 

 sion, and lrom what I have seen and 

 known of this magnificent section, with 

 its palatial residences, its vast estates, 

 and the men under whose care the embel- 

 lishing and great improvements are con- 

 stantly going on, I feel certain there is 

 not one present here who is not called 

 upon constantly to exercise all the skill 

 possible in conducting and carrying out 

 the details of the same. 



There is no section in this glorious 

 country where nature has been more 

 lavish in laying the foundation for grand 

 effects in landscape. Mountains and 

 glens, valleys and streams are so beauti- 

 fully blended with the magnificent speci- 

 mens of trees and shrubs, that the land- 

 scape artist can with reasonable care and 

 knowledge in improving this, produce the 

 grandest effects. In many sections the 

 most beautiful features of the landscape 

 have been utterly destroyed for the want 

 of careful judgment in cutting away the 

 beautiful trees, etc., which nature had 

 already planted there. This has often 

 been done from mere carelessness; in 

 other cases from want of knowledge of 

 what constitutes the true features of a 

 beautiful landscape. With many the idea 

 seems to have been that all natural 



undulations must be levelled down and 

 then have a broad lawn extending as far 

 as practicable, with a few poor little 

 infant trees dotted around at regular dis- 

 tances, with some planted in straight 

 rows, and the whole clipped or trimmed 

 into formal shape, looking more like a lot 

 of toys than anything which nature 

 intended to grow into ornaments; or else 

 the whole was left to grow wild, and 

 presenting about as uncanny an appear- 

 ance as a college foot ball team when pre- 

 paring for a match; add to this a few 

 formal flower beds placed in the most 

 conspicuous places where they can be si en 

 from the public roads. I have been shown 

 several such places with evidently a good 

 deal of pride by those who thought thev 

 had done a grand piece of picturesque 

 landscaping, and as often have I sighed 

 with considerable relief when I have got- 

 ten away from it and beheld possibly iu 

 close proximity a grand piece of natural 

 scenery. With reasonable knowledge these 

 same places could have been made perfect 

 pictures of beauty. Such instances I am 

 pleased to think are vastly in the minor- 

 ity, and will be still less frequent in the 

 future, for as we become better educated 

 in nature's school, we shall certainly 

 understand the art of imitating her much 

 more closely. 



In planting trees the future must have 

 a large share of consideration, as it is 

 then the grand effect will be best seen. 

 No better illustration of thiscan be found 

 than in some of the older places in 

 Europe. One in particular I will mention 

 as it was the scene of many pleasant davs 

 of my earliest -experience in gardening, 

 namely Dropmore, so long and so ablv 

 presided over by that grand instructor 

 and friend to every student (Philip Frost ) 

 under whose fostering care were gathered 

 together probably the grandest private 

 collection of evergreen trees in Europe. 

 These were all planted with due consider- 

 ation for their future development; not 

 massed together, but judiciously blended 

 with the natural trees and shrubbery, 

 where you could walk for hours, and at 

 every turn find some rare gem to admire, 

 or a grand vista opening up some speci- 

 ally tine distant view, or a grand piece of 

 natures' planting, or again find a magni- 

 ficent specimen of Araucaria imbricata 

 with its symmetrical head towering 

 heavenwards; at another a magnificent 

 specimen of Cedrus Deodora with its arms 

 spreading out in the most irregular of 

 forms. These and many other things too 

 numerous to mention, were what I found 

 on revisiting the same in the summer of 

 1895, but not the artist who laid the 

 foundation of this glorious picture; his 

 remains rest beneath the green he so 

 dearly loved, but in memory he will ever 

 live with those who knew his true worth. 



From there to the world-famed Burnham 

 Beeches is but a very short distance, and 

 the transition from "the art of man to that 

 of the Creator is so blended that one 

 scarcely realizes it till he begins to esti- 

 mate the number of wonderful beech trees 

 surrounding him on all sides, many 0/ 

 - them with histories of six or seven hun- 

 dred years, and beneath them a genuine 

 carpet of green where thousands yearly 

 enjoy their beautiful shade and breathe 

 the pure refreshing air of their compan- 

 ionship. But I am disgressing from my 

 subject. 



What then constitutes the best features 

 of a beautiful landscape is too broad a 

 subject to attempt in detail here, but 

 there are a few points which it might be 

 appropriate to mention. 



First, where natural trees are already 

 growing on the ground, great eareshould 



