THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



deformities. The gardener has been 

 trying to improve on the master who 

 gave the trees their forms, and to my 

 mind he has not improved them. In- 

 stances can be seen at many of the rail- 

 way station gardens of shrubs and trees 

 thus sheared, and I remember seeing 

 many years ago near Hamilton city, a 

 whole yard full of sheared Norway 

 spruce, looking like so many barrels set 

 down in the yard and painted green. 

 True, some very curious gardens of this 

 kind are to be seen in Europe, which 

 are marvels to behold, but their beauty 

 is only in their queerness. 



To show that I am not alone in this, 

 I quote from Bailey. He says : " The 

 pruning knife is the most inveterate 

 enemy of shrubbery. We have not the 

 slightest objection to the shearing of 

 trees. The only trouble is in calling 

 the practice art, and in putting the trees 

 where people must see them. If the 

 operator simply calls the business shear- 

 ing, and puts the things where he and 

 others who like them may see them, 

 objection could not be raised. Some 

 persons like painted stones, others like 

 iron bulldogs in the front yard, and 

 the word " welcome " worked into the 

 door mat, and others like barbed trees. 

 So long as these likes are purely per- 

 sonal, it would seem to be belter taste 

 to put such curiosities in the back yard 

 where the owner may admire them 

 without molestation." 



With regard to the massing of shrubs, 

 he says, " Be sure that the main plant- 

 ings are made up of hardy and vigorous 

 species, and have lots of them. Then 

 get the things which you like. I like 

 bull-thistles, lilacs, hollyhocks, burdocks, 

 rhubarb, dogwoods, spireas, elders and 

 such careless things. But others have 

 better tastes. There is endless merit in 

 the choice of species, but the point I 

 want to emphasize is that the arrange- 



ment or disposition of the plants is far 

 more important than the kinds. In 

 most home grounds in this state, the 

 body of the planting may be very 

 effectively made by the use of bushes 

 taken from adjacent woods and fields. 

 The masses may then be enlivened by 

 the addition here and there of culti- 

 vated bushes, and the planting of flowers 

 and herbs about the borders. It is not 

 essential that one know the names of 

 these wild bushes, although a knowledge 

 of their botanical features will add 

 greatly to the pleasure of growing them. 

 Neither will they look common when 

 transferred to the lawn. There are very 

 few people who know even the com- 

 monest wild bushes intimately, and the 

 bushes change so much in looks when 

 removed to rich grounds that few people 

 recognize them. I have a mass of 

 shrubbery which is much admired, and 

 visitors are always asking me what the 

 bushes are ; yet I dug the roots in the 

 neighborhood. 



A word should be said about just 

 how to make a group. Dig up the 

 entire area. Never set the bushes in 

 holes dug in the sod. Spade up the 

 ground, set the bushes thick, hoe them, 

 and then let them go. If you do not 

 like the bare earth between them, sow 

 in the seeds of hardy annual flowers, 

 like phlox, petunia, alyssum and pinks. 

 The person who plants his shrubs in 

 holes in the sward does not seriously 

 mean to make any foliage mass, and it 

 is likely that he does not know what 

 relation the border mass has to artistic 

 planting. I have said to plant the 

 bushes thick. This for quick effect. It 

 is an easy matter to thin the plantation 

 if it becomes too thick. I should gener- 

 ally plant all common bushes as close 

 as two feet each way, especially if I get 

 most of them from the fields so that I 

 do not have to buy them." 



492 



