RAILROAD GARDENING 



RAILROAD GARDENING 



1493 



pared to the possibilities, for roses and half-hardy 

 shrubs thrive throughout the state, while south of the 

 27th paraUel semi-tropical plants make fine growth and 

 bloom profusely. 



PossibUitics in. California. — California offers limit- 

 less opportunities for railway horticultural development 

 ranging from the semi-tropical growths of the citrous 

 belt to the alpine plants on the verge of the everlasting 

 snow that caps the mountains. A few examples of railroad 

 gardening that existed in the southern part of the state 

 about 1890 were maintained wholly by private enter- 

 prise as a means of advancing real estate interests. 

 Some years later, however, embellished station-grounds 

 aggregating a goodly number existed. But these were 

 scattered, the state being so large that no railway com- 

 pany could afford to establish gardens throughout the 

 extent of its lines at once, and the most progressive com- 

 munities secured the first improvements of this class. 

 The Southern Pacific Railway Company was the origina- 

 tor of the work and has expended large sums in beauti- 

 fying choice spots along its route, as at Merced, Fresno, 

 Santa Monica, Pomona, Pasadena, Riverside. The range 

 of soil and climate is wide. At Los Angeles there are 

 palms dating from the Spanish occupation, a collection 

 of semi-tropical shrubs, and a display of yuccas, cacti 

 and other curious vegetation from the Arizona desert. 



(Sterculia) and casuarina, which latter does excep- 

 tionally well, eucalypti, acacia in all except the most 

 tender varieties, grevillea, ligustruni, magnolia, Frax- 

 inus C'alifornicus and F. excclsa where water is 

 available, crape myrtle, abutilon, oleander and pome- 

 granate (both the last do magnificently), olive and 

 carob which do finely, and roses, which are inclined to 

 burn and to stop flowering during the heat of mid- 

 summer away from the coast. Vines used are passi- 

 floras, which thrive in the heated valleys, bignonias 

 and wistarias, also jasmines, which incline to burn 

 when used in the interior of the state, as do also maple 

 trees. Of palms, Pritchardia and Washingtonia are as 

 easily grown as onions; Phasnix Canariensis does well, 

 and Chama3rops grows slowly. A long list of plants, 

 tender in the east, are mentioned, among them gera- 

 niums, which are spoken of as being "killed to the 

 ground away from the coast some winters." The plants 

 that have proved best adapted to alkali soils are: 

 Phoenix, Pritchardia and Washingtonia among palms, 

 the European sycamore, cottonwood, olive, crape myrtle 

 and some eucalypti. Mr. Reimers is of the opinion 

 that: "The gardens of California should be given a 

 classic Mediterranean aspect. It has the climate, the 

 coloring of rock, of soil and of sky, together with the 

 warm blue sea of Italy, Spain and Greece. The state- 



2068. One method of treating a railway ground. 



Roses in bloom all winter are the si:)ecial attraction at 

 several points. Along the ocean, where difficult hor- 

 ticultural problems are met, the use of mesembryan- 

 themums, eucalypti and other succulents is general. 

 Where water is available, passifloras, ipomeas and the 

 tropical hibiscuses make a wonderful show. In some 

 places acres of bamboos, planted closely in shifting 

 sands, are of great value. (Water is essential for their 

 establishment. ) Some of the best railway gardens are 

 on the Monterey line from San Francisco past San Jos6 

 to the ancient capital of the state. At Castroville there 

 is a picturesque "wilderness " garden overflowing at all 

 seasons with fragrance and bloom, and the little railroad 

 gardens along the "peninsula" (San Mateo county) have 

 a more finished aspect than any others in the state. 



Johannes Reimers, landscape gardener of the San 

 Francisco & San Joaquin Valley Branch of the Santa F^ 

 road, furnishes the following information: "For lawns, 

 we use exclusively a mixture of Australian rye grass 

 90 per cent and white clover 10 per cent. We find that 

 this mixture gives a lawn better able to withstand the 

 heat, drought and poor soil usually furnished for filling 

 than any other. The grass retains its dark, rich color 

 even when almost dying from thirst, and makes a 

 strong turf that is not likely to burn even when watered 

 in the heat of a cloudless summer day; and it also re- 

 quires less water and less fertilizer than either blue- 

 grass or timothy. We make much use of a regular form 

 of the Pride of China tree (Melia Azedaruch), known 

 as the Texas umbrella tree, for shade around buildings 

 and for avenues. Its low, spreading form makes it 

 harmonize with the broad-roofed Spanish style of archi- 

 tecture used for our buildings. It is a rapid grower 

 and is not deformed by the continuous northwest trade- 

 winds." 



Other trees and plants mentioned include the paul- 

 ownia, pepper, catalpa, mulberry, fig, the brachychiton 



2069. A better method of treating the area. 



liness of the cypress has not been appreciated here; and 

 what might not be done with the fig, the olive and the 

 palm on these hillside slopes?" 



Mr. Chas. H. Shinn, of the California Experiment 

 Station, says; "There seems no doubt that the time 

 will come when one of the special features of travel in 

 California will be the horticultural display at thousands 

 of small railroad gardens scattered along every valley 

 and mountain from San Diego to Siskiyou." 



Treatment of tJie Bight of Way Between Stations.— 

 On this point the Garden & Forest editorial previously 

 quoted says : "What is needed is a ground covering that 

 will be more permanent than turf and will not need its 

 constant cutting and attention, and which can be se- 

 cured without the enormous first expenditure for accu- 

 rate grading and the deep soil that makes a grass slope 

 presentable," and adds: "Such low plants as wild roses, 

 dwarf willows and sumacs, sweet fern, bayberry, etc., 

 when once established will prevent surface soil from 

 washing, will not grow tall enough to interfere with 

 operating the road, and if destroyed by fire would soon 

 grow again from the root and re-cover the ground." 



The pi-oof of these deductions is seen yearly on many 

 roads, wliere thousands of miles of railroad rights of 

 way which, in the spring and early summer, are like 

 ribbons of flowered brocade linking the towns together 

 but later in the season become blackened wastes from 

 accidental or intentional fires. Year by year this mourn- 

 ful program is repeated. 



Railway officials offer no practical objections to the use 

 of small trees and of shrubs between stations that apply 

 when they are placed with discretion; viz., on the outer 

 boundaries of rights of way that are 100 or more feet 

 wide, on straight stretches, or on long tangents, and not 

 on short curves or near grade crossings. The tracks 

 should never be menaced by the danger of trees falling 

 across them in wind storms, nor should the telegraph 



