THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



is surely not asking too much that the 

 planters preserve the names more care- 

 fully. A gentleman buys and plants a 

 quantity of shrubbery, all correctly 

 labelled. Oh ! he will say, what need 

 of me to preserve these dreadful Latin 

 names and jawbreakers, why does not 

 the nurseryman give his plants English 

 names ? and so in the course of the 

 seasons the names one by one become 

 lost. By and by one flowers, it is dif- 

 ferent from the rest, it is different from 

 anything in the neighborhood perhaps, 

 some admirer inquires the name, the 

 planter himself is seized by the same 

 desire, but the label is lost and it entails 

 perhaps years of enquiry before the last 

 one is renamed. 



It is a pleasure indeed to visit such 

 grounds as those at Queen Victoria 

 Park, Niagara Falls, where trees and 

 shrubs from so many countries are grow- 

 ing and apparently flourishing. Mr. 

 Cameron, the head gardener, readily 



tells the name of any specimen in the 

 collection, but says he intends to furnish 

 all with conspicuous labels giving the 

 correct botanical name, also the common 

 or local name, for the information of 

 the public. For herbaceous plants, or 

 for plants like roses, that are pruned 

 heavily each year, good stout cedar 

 labels are the best, 20 in. long, 2 in. 

 wide and i in. thick are the usual dim- 

 ensions, point these, plane them on one 

 side, rub the smooth surface with some 

 light colored paint and write the name 

 heavily and boldly, these labels can be 

 read for several seasons. For per- 

 manent names for trees, shrubs, etc., 

 the best thing we have seen is a very 

 thin piece of soft sheet copper, on which 

 the name is written heavily with any 

 sharp pointed tool, and as it is fastened 

 to the tree with copper wire, there is no 

 reason why it should not be legible for 

 a lifetime. 



Hamilton. Webster Bros. 



SNOWDROPS. 



njl OW that we are all planting bulbs 



IN let me put in plea for the snow- 



i| H drop. What other bulb have we 



that is so pure and dainty, so 



brave and early, so easily cultivated ? 



A little colony of the bulbs, planted in 



a sheltered nook will often surprise the 



owner with a handful of sweet, white 



flowers in January, notwithstanding the 



old hymn that 



" The snowdrop in purest white array, 

 First rears her head on Candlemas day." 



Scillas, chionodoxas, crocus and aco- 

 nite bloom about the same time as the 

 snowdrop and might be planted with it 

 for variety, but I shall always want one 

 little colony that is all white. Elwesii 

 giant is the finest of the snowdrops. 



The bulbs need only to be planted and 

 then let alone. Uuder ordinary con- 

 ditions they soon naturalize themselves. 

 The individuality of the snowdrop — 

 originality, if you will — has made it the 

 subject of many poetical references. 

 All are not equally accurate, however. 

 Tennyson evidently noted the small 

 white flowers, for he wrote : 



" Pure as the virgin tint of green, 



That streaks the snowdrop's inner leaves. " 



For the snowdrop is not pure white 

 as some poets would have it. They, I 

 fear, love it better than our gardeners. 

 To find snowdrops in Carolina gardens 

 is the exception rather than the rule. — 

 Vicks Magazine. 



316 



