152 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1907 



Hardy Trees and SKrxibs 



C. S. Harrison, York, Nebraska 



THERE is often a misconception regarding 

 trees, shrubs and plants. It is thought 

 that even a hardy tree grown 1,000 miles 

 south of its habitat becomes tender and 

 cannot stand up with the same tree as grown 

 at its own home. This is a mistake. According 

 to Professor Hansen, it takes a tree over 1,000 

 years to materially change its structure and 

 nature. 



Take the cherry for instance. In the main 

 its northern limit seems to be near St. Paul; but 

 I found over 30 years ago that cherry trees raised 

 in Alabama were much better than those raised 

 in Iowa. And why? Because those raised in 

 the south were absolutely hardy, because well 

 ripened in bud and limb, while those grown in 

 the north, on account of severe weather, were 

 often injured, having the black heart. These 

 results were obtained by actual test of trees grow- 

 ing side by side. I showed our nurserymen the 

 difference, and now most of the cherry trees used 

 in Nebraska are grown in Alabama for the reason 

 that they are absolutely sound in every bud and 

 twig when planted. 



It is just so with apples. A tree with a hardy 

 constitution, like the Duchess, is just as hardy 

 grown in the gulf states as in the Dakotas, and 

 perhaps more so, for by no possibility could the 

 southern tree be injured by cold weather, and it 

 might be in the north. 



WHERE THE TROUBLE COMES IN 



A man in Manitoba reads about the hardiness 

 of red cedar He gets a lot of price lists. He 

 finds that he can get cheaper ones in southern 

 Illinois. He thinks that red cedar is red cedar 

 anyway. Now those grown in southern Illinois 

 are worthless in Nebraska and would be worse 

 than useless in Manitoba. Even the famous 

 platte cedar of Nebraska could not thrive in 

 Manitoba, for it is not hardy in North Dakota. 

 And if red cedar is wanted for Winnipeg they 

 must be taken from the farthest north where they 

 grow. Now, if trees were grown in southern 

 Illinois from North Dakota seed, and shipped 

 back there again they would be just as hardy as 

 if grown at home. 



People hear that the box elder is hardy (this 

 is called the Manitoba maple). A man sends 

 to a Nebraska nursery for a lot of seedlings be- 

 cause he can get them cheap, and they are 

 tender. He loses the whole lot. Had those 

 Nebraska seedlings been grown from Manitoba 

 seed they would have been as hardy as the home- 

 grown. 



The cut-leaved weeping birch is hardy in 

 itself, no matter where grown, whether north or 

 south. 



Take the Russian olive, one of the very best 

 trees for the semi-arid regions. No matter 

 where grown, whether in Manitoba or Alabama, 

 it is all the same and perfectly hardy. So with 

 the Siberian pea tree. 



There are now 150 kinds of lilacs in cultiva- 

 tion. Take out 10 of them and you will have 

 140 that will be hardy in Manitoba, no matter 

 where grown. Too little attention is paid to 

 these glorious ornamentals. A strange thing 

 about it is that two of the Japan varieties (the 

 Syringa Japonica, or tree lilac, and S. Villosa) 

 are hardy at Brandon. 



There are many kinds of tamarisk, Tamarix. 

 A planter wishes to try some, but only one kind 

 out of the 10 will succeed, and that is the silver, 

 also called the Russian, the Amour, and T. 

 odessana — four names to one plant and that not 

 perfectly hardy. 



The question that comes up for the northern 

 planter is not so much where a tree or shrub is 

 grown as whether it is of a hardy nature. Un- 

 fortunately many things offered by southern 

 growers are not hardy in themselves In 

 Nebraska we find it is useless to try to grow any 

 of the Dentzias, and of course they would be 

 worthless further north. Most of the different 

 kinds of philadelphus are too tender for Mani- 

 toba, while rhododendrons, kalmias, and azaleas 



we have entirely discarded and they would be 

 useless further north. Of course southern agents 

 will swarm a rich country like western Canada, 

 and they will have alluring pictures. Well, you 

 may buy the pictures, for they will be hardy; 

 but you had better examine the lists recommend- 

 ed by your own horticultural societies before 

 you buy the trees and shrubs. 



Another thing is that many things which do 

 well in the moister air of the Atlantic states 

 cannot endure the drier air of the west. The 

 white spruce of Maine is worthless in Minnesota, 

 while Manitoba or Black Hills white spruce is 

 all right. White pine from Massachusetts would 

 not be hardy by the side of white pine of northern 

 Minnesota. The eastern oaks do not succeed in 

 the west, while the native oaks are all right. — 

 The Nor'-West Farmer. 



Valvie of NortKern Trees 



W. T. Macoun, C.E.F., Ottawa 



The information contained in the article on 

 "Hardy Trees and Shrubs," by C. S. Harri- 

 son, "York, Neb., is in most particulars cor- 

 rect, judging by our own experience, but 

 we differ from the writer in regard to the value 

 of northern and southern grown trees of the 

 same variety of fruit. A trunk of a nursery 

 tree developed in the north and going through 

 two or three winters there, is more likely to 

 withstand the winter in the north after 

 planting than one grown in the south. If 

 the tree from the south is not injured the 

 first winter or the following spring and becomes 

 well established it will probably do as well as the 

 northern grown tree. 



If I were planting a tree at Ottawa I should 

 prefer a well-grown, well-ripened tree from the 

 Niagara peninsula than one with black heart 

 grown at Ottawa. But by growing the trees 

 carefully the hardy varieties can be grown 

 without black heart in northern nurseries, and I 

 should prefer such trees to those grown in the 

 Niagara peninsula. 



It is a fact that it takes many years for a 

 tender tree to become any hardier in the north. 

 Our experience, covering 19 years, has not shown 

 any increase in hardiness of species or varieties 

 of fruits and ornamental trees that killed back 

 or proved tender 19 years ago. We do not know 

 that it would take 1,000 years to make a change, 

 but we believe it would take a great many. It 

 is important to note, however that red maple, 

 black walnut, red cedar, or any other species 

 having a great range from north to south in the 

 wild condition may vary noticeably in hardiness, 

 as has been observed at Ottawa and elsewhere ; 

 hence, it is preferable to get trees from stock, 

 the parent tree of which was a native as near the 

 northern limit of the species as possible, or as 

 near the point where it is desired to grow them 

 as possible. It may be said, however, that the 

 large majority of the ornamental trees and 

 shrubs hardy at Ottawa have been obtained from 

 nurseries in a warmer climate, so that with most 

 trees and shrubs which are grown in Canada, 

 exclusive of the tree fruits where tenderness of 

 trunk is an important consideration, it is not 

 a matter of great importance where the stock 

 is obtained, providing it is well grown and the 

 wood thoroughly ripened. No doubt the 

 nurserymen get their stock from as near the 

 northern limit as possible. 



vegetables are grown. If a family of three can 

 save $.50 on one-tenth of an acre, how much ' 

 more would a vegetable garden be worth to those 

 farmers with large families, and with a number 

 of farm hands to board. The vegetable garden 

 pays. .Most farmers think they have not time 

 for small things like this; they don't stop to 

 think that they can save money by growing 

 vegetables instead of buying them." 



Plants Must Bear Grief W^ell 



Ed. The Horticulturist, — About 18.54, one 

 Stephen B. Ainsworth, of Mendon, Ontario Co., 

 N.Y., a professor of phrenology, became a fruit 

 grower. He was a quaint, but intelligent, man, 

 and a close observer of men and things. He 

 was a member of the Fruit Growers' Assn. of 

 western X.Y., and always attended its conven- 

 tions. Upon one occasion he rose in the con- 

 vention and said' "Fellow fruit growers, when 

 you decide to plant a fruit tree select one that 

 will bear grief well." That was his entire 

 speech, and it was a good one. 



If you wish to make a friend that you can 

 "tie to," as they say in the west, "select one 

 that will bear grief well." If you wish to buy 

 a horse that will be of service, "select one that 

 will bear grief well." To "bear grief well," is 

 a good trait in a man, a horse or a fruit tree. 



When a beginner in horticulture asks your 

 advice as to the selection of a summer pear on 

 quince or pear stock, do not advise him to 

 purchase a Buerre Giffard just because it is of 

 the best quality as a summer pear. The Buerre 

 Giffard will not, as a young tree, "bear grief 

 well," and when it gives up the ghost the novice 

 in horticulture is not encouraged to trv, try 

 again. Tell him to purchase a Brandvwine. 

 He will eat the fruit thereof and be encouraged 

 to try other varieties ripening at other seasons. 

 When he has passed into the amateur stage as 

 a fruit grower and lover, he will give a young 

 Buerre Giffard, Buerre Bosc, or Winter Xilis, 

 the care they demand to ensure success. 



When a man or woman has tasted of a new 

 fruit, or seen and smelled of a new flower, he 

 or she wishes to know where to purchase one 

 like it. This they should learn from the adver- 

 tising columns of The Ca'sadias Horticultur- 

 ist. Therefore, I, as one of the founders of the 

 Ont. Fruit Growers' Assn., am pleased to see 

 a marked increase in the advertising pages of 

 The Horticulturist. The men who have, and 

 the men who desire to have and have not, meet 

 in the advertising columns of your journal and 

 become friends and co-workers in a most benef- 

 icent occupation. The advertising columns are 

 in one sense, and a most important one, "news 

 columns" to those who seek to find. The 

 advertising columns, also, enable you to make 

 a better journal for the same money, or the 

 same journal for less money. You should have 

 at least .50 pages of advertisements that pertain 

 to the production and distribution of trees, 

 fruits, flowers and vegetables. As the only 

 journal of its kind in British North .America, 

 and as one of the best of its kind in the Western 

 Hemisphere, you should have liberal support 

 from those who have trees and plants, and all 

 things that appertain to their successful produc- 

 tion and distribution. May the advertising 

 pages of The Canadian Horticulturist in- 

 crease, is the wish of a life member of the Ont. 

 Fruit Growers' Assn. — Frances A^'ayland Glen, 

 Brooklyn, N.Y. 



Farmers' Vegetable Gardens 



" Every farmer should have a small vegetable 

 garden near the house," said Mr. Linus Wool- 

 verton, Grimsby, "to grow a succession of greens 

 and vegetables for the home table. One-half of 

 the farms of this country have nothing of the 

 sort. On my farm I have a small plot of 100 

 by 40 feet, c>n which each season $50 worth of 



A little booklet entitled "Home Life of Wo- 

 men in Western Canada," has been received at 

 this ofiice. It is published by the Canadian- 

 Pacific Railway Co., and is a story of what 

 women are accomplishing in the west. Should 

 any reader of The Canadian Horticulturist 

 desire a copy, it will be mailed to them upon 

 receipt of a two-cent stamp sent with address 

 to Advertising Manager, Canadian Pacific 

 Railway Co., Montreal, Que 



