54 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



WINTER CARE OF TREES. 



HERP^ is no better time than the present to examine groves and 

 groups of trees in order to determine whether they are becoming 

 overcrowded, and to designate those which should be removed to 

 make room for the rest. The axe is the only remedy for crowding 

 among trees, and when the heroic treatment is necessary, no con- 

 siderations of sentiment should be allowed to interfere with its use. At this 

 season, too, it is easier to find where branches are growing too thickly on a tree, 

 and where they are rubbing each other, than it is when they are in full foliage, 

 and in the warm days of midwinter pruning can be done to advantage. When 

 it is necessary to remove large branches they should be sawed close to the 

 trunk and the edges cut smooth with a sharp knife. Coal tar applied to the, 

 wound will keep out moisture and fungi, and thus prevent decay. Any kind of 

 ochreous paint will answer almost as good a purpose, and it can be easily 

 applied with an ordinary brush. All sprouts could be cut from the trunk and all 

 suckers from its base, but the dead twigs in the heads of trees can be more 

 easily detected in the summer. Of course, all diseased limbs should be ampu- 

 tated, and so should the branches of such trees as Hawthorns or Yellow-wood 

 thit are badly infested with scale. A top-dressing of loam or fine well-rotted 

 stable-manure spread over the roots will encourage a vigorous growth next year. 

 The dressing should be scattered over a circle as far as the roots extend. 



In the Shrubberies. — Shrubs, too, must be well fed if they are expected to 

 make luxuriant growth and show their highest beauty. No cultivator thinks 

 of obtaining a fair crop in garden or field without fertilizing his land, and yet too 

 many persons starve their shrubberies and then wonder why they are thin and 

 unattractive. Of course, the shrubs like Coreopsis, Forsythia, Van Houtti's or 

 Thunberg's Spir?ea, Cercis, the bush honeysuckles and other shrubs which 

 flower early, should not now be cut in severely, since the buds for spring flowers 

 are already formed, and if we cut away the branches we destroy the possibility of 

 flowers next season. If late flowering shrubs have not yet been pruned, the work 

 can still be done, and this will encourage the growth of wood which will bear 

 flowers later in the season. In this class are the Alth?eas, Hydrangea paniculata* 

 Indian Tamarisk and others. The pruning of roses which are liab'e to be 

 killed back to some extent had better be postponed until spring, so that we can 

 be sure to cut below the dead wood. — Garden and Forest. 



" I SAY," inquired the lady-bug ; " why don't you dress in the prevailing 

 colors ? " " Bah ! " answered the potato-bug ; " lavender doesn't go with my 

 complexion, and these Paris greens simply make me sick." — Puck. 



