3 2S 



" * ' GARDENING. 



July 75, 



Published the 1st and 15th of each Month 



— by — 



THE GARDENING COMPANY, 



Monon Building, CHICAGO 



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CONTENTS. 



The pinetum at Wellesley (illus.) 321 



Rosa rugosa and its hybrids 322 



Cercis Canadensis 822 



Notes on trees and shrubs 322 



Hybrid Wichuraiana roses 32S 



Toe arbor vita' as a hedge plant 323 



Eremur us robust us (illus. ) .324 



Herbaceous plant notes 324 



The foxglove (illus.) 325 



The best of the hardy ferns 325 



( 'lir\ santhemum notes 3211 



Palm H-af blight (illus.) 335 



Notes on odontoglossutns (illus.) 326 



The weather and the crops 328 



Park woodlands and plan tat inns 32H 



Workers in horticulture, XI II (portrait) 329 



Stir the soil in the garden., 329 



Prevention of peach leaf-curl 330 



Quality in strawberries 330 



The vegetable garden 330 



Relative merit of bulbs 331 



Notes and comments 331 



The planting of cemetery lots 331 



From radishes to roses 332 



Do not sprinkle the lawn lightly. Give 

 it a thorough wetting or let it go dry. 



F. S. Pikenix, of Bloomington, Ills., 

 writes that his establishment is not the 

 nursery established in 1852 by Franklyn 

 K. Phoenix, but is entirely separate. 



Recent advices indicate that the wet 

 spring in Holland has injured the hya- 

 cinths, and that bulbs will likely be higher 

 in price at delivery time, and not as large 

 as last year. 



Keep the soil loose and porous around 

 both flowers and vegetables, no matter 

 what kind of a season you have. A loose 

 soil retards evaporation in dry weather 

 and assists in the absorbtion of water in 

 a rainy period. 



John Morris, gardener at Forest Park, 

 St. Louis, has "remembered the Maine" 

 by an ornamental bed representing that 

 famous battle ship. Another new deco- 

 ration in the park is a huge shield-shaped 

 bed in which in bold letters is, "Dewey, 

 U. S. N." 



Apples to the extent of 97,400 bushels 

 were imported into England during the 

 month of May, their estimated value 

 amounting to about $249,730. In the 

 five months ending with May the imports 

 of this fruit (exclusive of dried or canned 

 products) were worth $1 660,490. 



J. Algots, gardener for Mrs. Pullman, 

 Chicago, has in front of their conserva- 

 tory Celosia cristata and Mrs. Parker 

 geranium. The combination of the dark 

 red cockscomb with the light colored 

 foliage of the geranium is very pleasing. 

 Mr. Algots plants the celosia about the 

 25th of February and grows it in 

 boxes and pots until time to plant out, 

 which is done when he does the general 

 bedding of geraniums and other plants. 

 This year they were planted May 26. 



In reply to "A correspondent" we beg 

 to state that for a blue (flowering) bed- 

 ding plant we know of nothing better 

 than the common lobelias. The plants, 

 to be sure, owing to their dwarf charac- 

 ter, have only a limited range of useful- 

 ness, and should be given a position 

 along the margins of beds or borders; but 

 given a suitable location, there are few 

 beds prettier than one composed entirely 

 of a good variety oi lobelia. Taller plants 

 with bluish flowers may be had in some 

 of the ageratums. 



The plum-leaved spiraea (Spiraea pru- 

 nifolia) bloomed unusually well this 

 spring. Its small, double, pure white 

 flower somewhat resembles achillea, The 

 Pearl. This shrub combines all the good 

 qualities required, and posesses no poor 

 ones. Its numerous flowers extending 

 closely along the entire length of the 

 smaller twigs, has suggested for it the 

 common name of "Bridal Wreath." The 

 oval loliage is a glossy green all summer, 

 very pleasing in its combination with 

 other shrubs, and in the fall it assumes a 

 most brilliant coloring. It is one of the 

 oldest shrubs in our gardens that come 

 from China and Japan, having been 

 known since 1845. It grows about four 

 feet high. 



THE WEATHER AND THE GROPS. 



TEMPERATURE. 



The past two weeks were cooler than 

 usual in the west gulf states, southern 

 portions of New Mexico and Oklahoma 

 and from the North Pacific coast east- 

 ward to Lake Superior, including the 

 middle plateau and the Rocky Mountain 

 districts. The deficiency was from 1° to 

 12°. The southwestern states experi- 

 enced a slight deficiency. Through the 

 Mississippi valley and eastward the 

 weather was warmer, the excess ranging 

 from 3° to 8°. Very hot weather pre- 

 vailed on July 2 and 3 in the Atlantic 

 coast districts, and at a number of sta- 

 tions the maximum temperatures were 

 the highest recorded in the first decade of 

 July since the establishment of the 

 Weather Bureau. 



PRECIPITATION. 



There was more than the usual amount 

 of rain over the greater part of the gulf 

 states, the northwestern states, the Ohio 

 valley and middle Atlantic states. In the 

 middle Rocky Mountain slope, the Missis- 

 sippi valley, the southern Atlantic and 

 eastern gulf states the precipitation was 

 below the normal. No rain fell on the 

 Pacific coast except an inappreciable 

 amount on the extreme northern coast. 



CROPS. 



Conditions in general have not been 

 unfavorable for crops. A destructive 

 "norther" in northern California blew 

 much fruit from the trees and shelled a 

 large part of the unharvested grain. 

 Corn and wheat reports continue to indi- 

 cate a full crop. Cotton has made too 

 rapid growth and is rustingin Louisiana. 

 Fruit prospects are not of the best, as in 

 several central states there will be but 

 varying portions of a crop. 



PARK WOODLANDS AND PLANTATIONS. 



The very practical paper of J. A. Petti- 

 grew, read at the American Park and 

 Outdoor Art Association convention at 

 Minneapolis June 22, is here presented 

 in full: 



The subject of the treatment of natural 

 woodlands in parks is of vast importance 

 ami commands the earnest thought of 

 landscape gardeners. Such' areas are 

 generally made up in great part, of thick 

 growths of trees, which have injured each 

 other more or less, by close contact, 

 natural perhaps, in the sense of having 

 sprung from the soil without the aid of 

 man, but having, nevertheless, been sub- 

 ject to such unnatural conditions as to 

 upset nature's balance. 



The effort on the part of the landscape 

 gardener or forester to improve the 

 natural or growing condition of wood- 

 lands in public parks, is generally met 

 with opposition from probably well- 

 meaning, but badly informed critics, who 

 cry that the work is an interference with 

 nature, and who call in the aid of ready 

 tongues, and readier pens to stop the 

 "outrage." 



The forester brings into service the 

 practical experience and stud}' of years in 

 his efforts to assist nature in her work, 

 yet all for naught. The clamor of a few 

 enlisted in a mistaken crusade dis- 

 courages him, or influences those in 

 authority to the extent of causing a stop- 

 page of the work, and the result is seen 

 too painfully all overthe country, in their 

 malformed and distorted condition, from 

 over-crowding of park trees. 



General rules can scarcely be framed for 

 the treatment ofnatural woodland — much 

 depends on the use to be made of it, 

 whether for woodland effects or wood- 

 land use. The first operation in a thick 

 piece of woodland desired to be retained 

 for natural effects, should be that of thin- 

 ning; trees of individual merit or beauty 

 should have interfering trees removed, to 

 allow of their own development. In 

 places, areas of greater or less size may 

 be entireh- filled with trees, which, by 

 reason of overcrowding, are so far 

 injured that they can never recover their 

 lost beauty; in such case, a free cutting 

 should be made to allow light to pene- 

 trate to permit of the growth of saplings 

 or newly planted material below, and 

 further cuttings made, from year to year, 

 as the young growth demands. Care 

 should be taken that all saplings that 

 may not be needed are cut out, only 

 retaining those necessary to replace sickly 

 or injured trees. Judicious thinning of all 

 trees should be made where interfering 

 with the growth of better ones, noting, 

 at the same time, and retaining pictur- 

 esque groupings or pleasingcombinations 

 of trees, preserving, in the general mass, 

 a natural appearance, and encouraging 

 as much individuality as possible, with- 

 out impairment of natural woodland 

 effects. This thinning will permit of the 

 passage of light to the undergrowth 

 which will respond quickly to its influ- 

 ence and materially enhance the beauty 

 and naturalness of the woodland. A 

 woodland so dense as to prohibit the 

 growth of vegetation on the ground, is 

 monotonous and dreary. 



The improvement to the wood by thin- 

 ning is noticeable in thefollowingseason's 

 growth, the branches, relieved of the 

 necessity of having to struggle upwards 

 to an opening in search of light, spread 

 out, and it becomes apparent very 

 quickly, that the work of the axe will 

 have to be resumed the following winter, 

 in fact, whether in woodland or planta- 



