GARDENING. 



Sept. 15, 



Austrian. Our common white pine (P. 

 Strobus) is the queen of all pines, and our 

 red pine (P. resinosa) the finest of its 

 kind. The dwarf pine (P. Mughus), of 

 dense, broad squat form has a place for 

 itself none of the taller sorts can fill, 

 although we have pigmy varieties of 

 some of the others, notably of the white 

 pine and the Scotch pine. 



While the pitch pine (P. rigida) is good 

 enough for thickets I would not use it as 

 a garden tree, no more would I the Jersey 

 pine (P. inops) although I have seen many 

 fine specimen plants of the latter. The long 

 leaved Pacific pines as P. ponderosa and 

 P. Jeft'revi live in the eastern and middle 

 states, and 1 saw fine plan ts of both at Buf- 

 falo recently, but they areunhappy gener- 

 ally' and not to be recommended. The lace 

 bark pine of China (P. Bungeana), quite 

 uncommon in nurseries, if grown in good 

 soil makes an elegant evergreen in the 

 garden. The Bhotan pine (P. excelsa) 

 from the Himalayas is one of the most 

 elegant of all trees with its wealth of long 

 slender bluish-green needles, but it isn't 

 very hardy. On Long Island it behaved 

 very well. A Mexican species not unlike 

 the last, namely, P. Ayacahuite, is grow- 

 ing beautifully at Dosoris. still I cannot 

 recommend it as a hardy tree, besides it 

 isn't quite as pleasing as the Bhotan pine. 

 The sugar pine (P. Lambertiana) of the 

 Pacific slope is hardy enough on Long 

 Island, but it doesn't have that free, 

 happy growth we like to see among our 

 trees; we found out though that it loved 

 moisture in summer, good soil, and a 

 sheltered place. 



Of strictly Japanese pines we have three 

 species that bthave admirably in the 

 eastern states, namely P. densifiora and 

 P. Thunbergii. two large timber trees, 

 and P. parviffora a smaller tree from the 

 high mountains. Thunberg's pine is the 

 one called P. Massoniana in gardens. 

 This is the pine tree that is so much culti- 

 vated in Japanese gardens and whose 

 branches are trained out in long pendu- 

 lous limbs supported by props. This is 

 one of the cultural contortions of the 

 Orient, h wever, that I hope we shall 

 never introduce to American gardens. 



My selection of pines would be: For 

 shelter, the Austrian; for small gardens 

 the Swiss Stone and the Corean; and for 

 general ornamental effect the following in 

 the order named: White pine, red pine, 

 Thunberg's pine and Bhotan pine where 

 hardy. That Japanese gem of a tree the 

 umbrella pine is not a true pine, it is 

 Sciadopitrs rerticillata. 



William Falconer. 



count of its suckering habit, but no one 

 need fear it on this account. It does 

 occasionally put forth young shoots from 

 below the ground from the roots, but 

 these are usually quite close to the old 

 one. And when once well established theie 

 are seldom suckers of any kind appear. 

 On the other hand a tree that will form a 

 little group in time is often desirable. In 

 Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, is such a 

 group of this aralia, and when in flower 

 in September but few trees attract as 

 much attention. 



Many other aralias have been intro- 

 duced into collections here from time to 

 time under various names, such as canes- 

 cens, japonica, chinensis and the like, but 

 one and all prove in the end to be identi- 

 cal with our old friend, spinosa The only 

 one differing at all is one received under 

 the name of Dimorphanthus Mands- 

 churicus and which late botanies class as 

 Aralia chinensis. This resembles Aralia 

 spinosa in all respects, save that it flow- 

 ers two to three weeks earlier. As an 

 illustration I will mention that at this 

 writing, the first week in September, the 

 ripe berries a e displayed on it, while the 

 Aralia spinosa is just in full bloom 



Aralias are easily increased, either by 

 seeds o by cutting the roots into small 

 lengths, and planting them in the spring. 



Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



ARALIAS. 



Probably the favorable season we have 

 had for the development of plants has had 

 much to do with the beauty of many that 

 are flowering now. Both shrubs and 

 trees seem never to have looked so beau- 

 tiful. The tree aralias are in fine display 

 at this writing. The good old standyby, 

 A. spinosa, attracts universal attention. 

 At the top of its erect, spiny shoots are 

 immense heads of small white flowers. As 

 these flowers fade green berries take their 

 places, and these, as well as the stems, 

 quickly change to a rich red color. As the 

 period from the time of the appearance of 

 the first flowers till the disappearance of 

 the fruit extends over some two months, 

 the value of this tree can be understood. 



The appearance of the aralia is familiar 

 to many. An erect, prickly stem, with 

 large, much divided leaves, and with the 

 flowers and fruit as di scribed. In size 

 they are usually seen of about from ten to 

 twenty feet. This tree is sometimes 

 spoken of as being objectionable on ac- 



THB ITALIAN GARDEN ON TAB ESTATE OF 

 MR. rl. H. AUNNEWELL, WELLESLEY, MASS. 

 The famous Italian garden at Mr. Hun- 

 newell's is the most notable example in 

 this country of this peculiar style of gar- 

 dening and is pronounced equal to the 

 best in Europe, from which it differs only 

 in the absence of statuary, which is a 

 prominent feature of Italian gardens. It 

 was commenced thirty-five years ago, but 

 many of the trees had been in course of 

 special preparation for some time previ- 

 ous. It occupies a stretch of about 2% 

 acres on the steep hillside overlooking 

 Lake Waban. The trees used are white 

 pine, hemlock, several species of arbor- 

 vitses and retinosporas, golden yews, 

 purple beeches, junipers and the European 

 larch. The latter is very attractive, espe- 

 cially in early spring, with its soft light 

 foliage. Someof the trimmed whitepines 

 are forty feet high and banks of hemlock 

 are fifteen to twenty feet in height. The 

 care and trimming of these and clipping 

 of the steep sloping banks is slow, tire- 

 some work. Trimming the trees and 

 hedges begins in the first week in July. 

 The hemlocks are not trimmed till Sep- 

 tember, that being the most favorable for 

 them. A few clumps of rhododendrons 

 are planted at the brow of the hill, and 

 during their flowering season are very 

 effective in this location. 



The Greenhouse. 



BULBS FOR WINTER FLOWERING. 

 It is now time to get the bulbs for win- 

 ter flowering, and the sooner they are 

 potted up the better chance they will 

 nave to make good roots before the win- 

 ter sets in. One of the most important 

 points to observe in growing bulbs in 

 winter is to have good root action before 

 forcing commences. More failures are 

 due to trying to hurry them along too 

 fast than to any other cause. We often 

 see hyacinths and tulips with no flower 

 stem and merely a little ball of flowers on 

 the top of the bulb; this is caused by try- 

 ing to flower them too quickly. It is well 

 to examine each pot and take indoors 



only the ones most advanced. They 

 should not be put up to the light till the 

 leaves and flower stalks begin to draw; 

 set under the bench of a cool greenhouse 

 they come along nicely; we generally treat 

 them in this way. When the first batch 

 is ready to be put on the benches we 

 bring in some more and put under the 

 bench, and so on as long as they last. In 

 this way a regular succession of flowers 

 is obtained. 



The soil best suited for them is a rich 

 sandy one, but most any good garden 

 soil will do. Manure should not be used 

 unless it be very old and well pulverized; 

 otherwise it may cause the bulbs to de- 

 cay, or encourage too rank a growth of 

 foliage. In potting the bulbs do not press 

 them into the soil as this packs it so hard 

 under them that they are apt to heave 

 out of the pots when the} - begin to make 

 roots. After they are potted they should 

 get one good watering to settle the soil. 

 A bed of coal ashes in some sheltered spot 

 is a good place to set them, covering them 

 up with the same material, or sand, to 

 the depth of four inches, and as the cold 

 weather comes put on more covering of 

 some sort so no frost gets to them. 



There is a great variety of bulbs suit- 

 able for winter flowering, but perhaps the 

 hyacinth is the one most used. The ones 

 used for winter are the Dutch and Roman. 

 The first named are generally grown one 

 bulb to a 4 or 5 inch pot, although they 

 can be grown nicely in pans with from 

 six to twelve bulbs to a pan; but only 

 one variety should be used to each pan. 

 as in this way they will all come in flower 

 at once which is not often the case when 

 a mixed lot is used. The Roman hyacinths 

 if grown only for cut fl wers are best 

 placed in boxes which may be of any size, 

 but boxes four inches deep and a foot 

 square are a nice size to handle They 

 should be planted quite close together; 

 an inch apart will do just as well as six 

 and the flowers will be just as good. If 

 grown in pots for greenhouse or window 

 decoration five bulbs to a 6-inch pot 

 makes a nice show. 



Tulips make a fine show as pot plants. 

 The Due Van Thol varieties are the 

 earliest to flower, but tulips are a pecu- 

 liar plant to force. If it is gone at too 

 soon, even though root action is good, 

 failure is generally the result, in fact we 

 have never had very good flowers till 

 about the end of February, and March is 

 time enough. After bringing them into 

 the greenhouse we always set them under 

 the bench till the leaves and flower stalk 

 draw well up, as the}' so often flower 

 with a short stem, making them useless 

 for cutting purposes. 



Narcissi are largely grown for winter 

 flowers, the paper white being the one 

 mostly used, the large bunch of flowers 

 on long stems making them valuable for 

 cutting They can be treated the same 

 as the Roman hyacinths. If grown for 

 cut flowers only, boxes are best suited to 

 grow them in. These can be forced very 

 early and a supply can be had from De- 

 cember until March. The trumpet nar- 

 cissi also do well in winter and for late 

 flowering are very nice. Five bulbs to a 

 (i-inch pot, of one variety, look well. 

 The double Von Sion are also nice to 

 force, but are no good afterwards as we 

 notice the flowers always turn green 

 when planted out after being forced. 

 The Orange Phoenix and Sulphur Phoenix, 

 both double, force nicely too. The Poet's 

 narcissus is a sweet and lovely flower. 

 N. ornatus is the best for pots. Plant 

 the bulbs quite close together and don't 

 be in a hurry to bring them inside; March 

 is time enough. The jonquils make nice 



