i8g8. 



GARDENING. 



211 



Park, in the south of England. What a 

 beautiful tree it is, and what an age it 

 must be for "the slow growth of an oak" 

 is correct when an oak in England is re- 

 ferred to, but not when our native ones 

 are inmind. The illustration undoubtedly 

 represents a tree many hundred years old; 

 and one can imagine the imposing ap- 

 pearance such a tree presents when in full 

 display of foliage. , 



So much has been said of the slow 

 growth of the oak, founded on the tradi- 

 tions of Europe, that it universally excites 

 surprise in a person to be told that our 

 oaks grow as fast as the average of 

 native tree. Yet they certainly do grow 

 as rapidly. Repeated plantings of oaks 

 with other trees, sometimes on purpose 

 to test the matter, have demonstrated 

 that they are by no means slow growing. 



One of the best times to plant oak trees 

 is in early spring, just as early as can be 

 after the season permits. When planted 

 at this time, with the usual care all trees 

 demand, and a severe pruning, they rarely 

 fail. Young trees of a size not over sis 

 to eight feet are very good ones for trans- 

 planting, but even a less size is better. A 

 tree of this size, six feet, should have its 

 side branches cut away almost entirely, 

 leaving but little more than a stick, but 

 do cot cut off the leader. One need not 

 hesitate to trim it in this way. When 

 young, as such trees are, they push out 

 afresh from the main stem better I think 

 than before, and in a short time make 

 nice trees. 



Two species are exceptions to the 

 necessity to prune so severely, the pin 

 oak, Q. palustris, and the swamp white 

 oak, O. bicolor. These two are naturally 

 fairly supplied with small roots, and 

 always sustain transplanting with more 

 ease than any other sort. Even when of 

 large size and when having been but 

 seldom transplanted they succeed very 

 well with but moderate pruning. 



Before closing I would like to make 

 mention of some little bush oaks which 

 give much pleasure to many because of 

 seeing mere bushes bearing acorns. There 

 are three, 0. prinoides, Q. iliciiolia and 0. 

 nigra. The first and second are generally 

 known, but the dwarf 0. nigra is not in 

 cultivation that I know of. Yet it cer- 

 tainly exists, as I have seen them in the 



wilds of southern New Jersey , little fellows 

 some of them no more than two feet high 

 bearing acorns well displayed among 

 their large shining leaves. 

 Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



T«E WITCfl HAZELS. 



One of our good native shrubs and yet 

 one of the more curious in regard to its 

 flowering is the witch hazel, Hamamelis 

 Virginica. Instead of throwing out its 

 colors in spring or summer as most plants 

 do, it waits until late intheautumn when 

 the cold season begins. Then it covers 

 its branches with its strap-shaped yellow 

 petals. Untroubled by the storms of 

 winter it waits until summer before it 

 develops its fruit, a capsule, which is 

 familiar to us after it has forcibly spread 

 its tip into two parts to eject its seed. 



The shrub itself is very common in our 

 woods. Not conspicuous, it is one of the 

 more attractive shrubs and trees which 

 make up the underbrush. It has not the 

 compactness of habit which adapts it to 

 wide use in ornamental planting, but in 

 places where a shade-enduring shrub is 

 wanted or only a thin cover is desired it 

 has its use. It is valuable, too, for the 

 size and cleanliness of its leaves, though 

 from its coarseness it is not adapted to 

 planting in close proximity to the house. 

 As a single specimen it is often agreeable 

 but more attractive in masses, and then 

 particularly for the brilliancy of its 

 autumnal color, which is of a fine shade 

 of yellow. There a"re two other species 

 of hamamelis, both of them Japanese. 

 A. P. Wyman. 



The Japan witch hazel {Hamamelis 

 faponica) has been in bloom since the lat- 

 ter part of February, but is still in perfect 

 condition; its flowers are decidedly orna- 

 mental and not to be compared with 

 those of the native H. Virginica, which 

 come out in late autumn when the foli- 

 age is about ready to fall; they are much 

 larger, the narrow twisted petals being 

 three-fourths of an inch in length, bright 

 yellow, while the base or rather the calyx 

 is of a glossy bronze color; they are borne 

 in axillary, short-stemmed clusters on the 

 youngest wood and appear from a little 

 distance to be much larger than they 



really are, because three to five of them 

 are generally in the cluster and the petals 

 are so spreading. We have had several 

 sharp frosts since it first came in bloom, 

 but none of the flowers seem to be dam- 

 aged in the least. J. B. K. 

 Rochester, N. Y. 



THE ENGLISH OAK. 



BEGflTELS DOUBLE FLOWERING CRAB. 



Now and then some new shrub or tree 

 is discovered and introduced to our gar- 

 dens that marks an epoch in the general 

 advancement of floriculture. The Hy- 

 drangea paniculatagrandiBora and Rosa 

 rugosa, among shrubs, the Crimson Ram- 

 bler, Rosa Wichuriana and the hybrid 

 sweetbriars, among climbing and creep- 

 ing roses and the Clematis paniculata 

 among vines are notable instances. These 

 have become standard and are essential 

 occupants of all gardens of any preten- 

 tions. They possess the necessary quali- 

 fications of hardiness and adaptability to 

 the ordinary methods of culture. Lately 

 there has been introduced an admirable 

 addition to the list of flowering trees that 

 is an acquisition of unusual and decided 

 merit. This is Bechtel's double flowering 

 crab a form of Pyrus angustiiolia of 

 which Prof. Asa Gray says, "Perhaps a 

 variety of P. coronaria." The latter is 

 commonly known as the American crab- 

 apple, whose delightful fragrance when 

 in bloom is familiar to all. The doubling 

 of its flowers has produced a bloom so 

 closely resembling a miniature rose that 

 I had one gentleman who is quite well 

 informed ask me "How did you graft that 

 rose on a thorn?" It not only retains the 

 fragrance of the type, but seems to bloom 

 when much younger. It accommodates 

 itself, evidently, to all situations. I have 

 it growing on the level lawn in full sun, 

 and on dry banks in partial shade. It 

 withstood a temperature of 25° below 

 zero, and bloomed freely the following 

 spring, whereas all the flower buds of the 

 Japanese plums and apples were killed. 



Before many years this tree will be as 

 it should, widely distributed, and think- 

 ing that a history of its introduction 

 might be of interest, I wrote to Theo. 

 Bechtel, of Staunton, HI., for particulars, 

 who kindly replied: "Sometime in the sev- 

 enties when my father, the late E. A. 

 Bechtel was conducting a little nursery 

 four miles west of Staunton, III., we used 

 to hear most wonderful tales of a flower- 

 ing tree or clump of trees situated some 

 six or eight miles northeast of us in what 

 was known as 'Upper West Prairie,' but 

 as the wild tales were too much to be 

 believed, coming from a class of old set- 

 tlers we knew to be given to exaggeration, 

 we paid no attention to the matter until 

 about ten years ago, when we made a 

 trip during the blooming season and saw 

 what a valuable thing had stood there, 

 as near as we could find out from old set- 

 tlers, about forty years without being 

 brought to public notice. We at once 

 made arrangements with Mr. Woolridge, 

 in whose pasture the original clump of 

 trees were standing, to propagate and 

 introduce it to the trade. As the trees 

 were identical with the single flowered 

 wild crab growing around and in the 

 same clump, we had to mark these during 

 blossoming time so not to make any mis- 

 take in procuring buds or sions. The 

 indications all go to show that it is an 

 accidental sport from the single flowering 

 wild crab." 



During the interval between its discov- 

 ery and the present time it has been 

 increased by means of grafting and bud- 

 ding on stocks of the single form, until 

 now good trees may be had of most of 

 our leading nurserymen. Caution should 



