PREPARING ROSES FOR WINTER. 



the white or silver spruce. To get the 

 finest specimens it is therefore neces- 

 sary to select those with the darkest blue 

 foliage. The tree is perfectly hardy, 

 and will grow with any reasonable care. 



Abi€s amcolor. — This is next to the 

 Colorado blue spruce in point of beauty. 

 Selected blue specimens are nearly, and 

 by some, considered equal to the above- 

 named tree. The foliage is more soft 

 and feathery, and tree quite hardy. 



Picea polita (Tiger tail spruce). — A 

 beautiful tree from Japan ; quite hardy: 

 foliage light deep green, forming a nice 

 contrast with the above. 



Piaa akocquiana, (Alcock's spruce), 

 is another Japan tree of great beauty. 

 The foliage is deep green, above which 

 forms a brilliant contrast with the sil- 

 very tint of the underside of the leaf- 

 hardy. 



Reti/wspora plumosa and R. filifera 

 are both pretty. They have soft fea- 

 thery foliage, and are very useful where 



a small tree or shrub is required ; quite 

 hardy. 



Mitn^o pine is a nice dwarf-growing 

 tree that usually grows broader than it 

 does high ; very pretty in contrast with 

 tall-growing trees. 



S. Verticillata (Umbrella pine)— A 

 Japan evergreen, with upright trunk and 

 horizontal branches, bearing whorls of 

 shining green : very broad, flat needles, 

 lined with white on the under side. 

 These needles, by their remarkable size, 

 and still more remarkable arrangement 

 in umbrella like tufts, and their leathery 

 texture gives this tree the most unique 

 and elegant appearance of any known 

 conifer. 



I have all the kinds named above, 

 growing on my grounds, and consider 

 them well worthy of more general plant- 

 ing. 



W. W. HlLBORN. 



( To he a^n tinned next montit ) 



PREPARING ROSES FOR WINTER. 



ri LMOST all kinds of roses may be 

 /q\ kept over winter out of doors, 

 illl Many sorts are hardier than sup' 

 posed, and need but little protection. 

 Many plants which die through the 

 winter are killed by too much care. One 

 of the most common errors is to cover 

 the plants too early in the season before 

 the wood is thoroughly ripened, and 

 while the weather is still far from very 

 cold. All that have watched their rose 

 bushes know that the chief injury to 

 them in the winter season occurs toward 

 spring. It is when the heat of the late 

 winter sun sets the sap in motion, and 

 the freezing nights follow, that the bushes 

 are injured. In the Middle States, there 

 is no need at all to cover roses of any 



kind until after New Year's. By that 

 time, their shoots are well ripened and 

 able to withstand what cold they may 

 encounter to better advantage than if 

 covered early. 



The hybrid perpetuals, or June roses, 

 as they are popularly called, need no 

 covering at all here, near Philadelphia. 

 Perhaps the extreme tips will be hurt, 

 but there is rarely more to be cut away 

 than good pruning requires. Usually, 

 the shoots are tied together, their tops 

 cut off, and a little straw tied neatly 

 about them. This is a good way when 

 the plants are on the lawn ; but when 

 they are in cultivated ground, the work 

 is as well done by bending the shoots 

 over and covering them with four to six 



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