ORNAMENTATION OF HOME GROUNDS. 453 



sod-bound. Then we will find a lilac which stands still for six 

 or eight years and never blooms, and the leaves will fall off, and 

 the drouth will catch it, and that is because the grass is taking 

 all the benefit of the soil and the shrub has to fight for what it 

 does get underneath the roots of the grass. 



But, on the other hand, when a bed is properly prepared 

 the sod is well cut by a spade and the ground is thoroughly 

 spaded over with the addition of good barnyard fertilizer. This 

 prepares a bed in which the shrub will grow to the very best 

 advantage. If a shrub bed of that kind is well planted and fairly 

 well trimmed when young, it will succeed in nearly every season 

 without much watering or even attention. 



In the care and maintenance of public grounds I have found 

 that in the care of a lawn the watering takes three times as long 

 as in the case of properly prepared shrub beds. This is worth 

 knowing, because many believe that a shrub bed is an expensive 

 thing to maintain. If planted in well prepared ground they grow 

 for many years without very much attention except possibly 

 the removal of the older wood and the removal of the blossom 

 heads and now and then a little trimming in the spring to correct 

 the shape or to encourage the new growth of wood. 



Mr. Scott : Will you mention a few of the shrubs that are 

 quite generally used in our landscape work which need special 

 winter protection? 



Mr. Ramsdell : Of course, in our work we try to use nothing 

 that requires winter protection, because the average man doesn't 

 have the time to cover every plant as he should, but I can name 

 a few which do better for the winter covering. The tamarisk 

 is one plant with a feathery foliage and attractive pink blossom 

 which should be covered. It kills back considerably each year, 

 but it is a good thing to use. Of course the forsythias, or golden 

 bells, are not often hardy, and here these should be protected. 

 They are a fine shrub, but under ordinary conditions they winter- 

 kill so much that they are not generally used. I presume likely 

 some day some nurseryman will find a strain of hardy Japanese 

 quince. In the southern section of this state this is fairly hardy, 

 but in our section it kills back. The privet is also a tender shrub, 

 but it is so desirable that it ought to be added to our list if pos- 

 sible. The California privet is the most valuable low-headed 

 shrub which can be found in the warmer sections of the country, 

 but it is not hardy with us. The Amur river privet ought to be 

 hardy, and it may be that stock raised in a more northern lati- 

 tude would be better, but up to this time it is not hardy. Then, 

 of course, the sweet scented syringa, Philadelphus coronarius, 

 is tender in some winters. It is not always in need of protection, 



