THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



225 



THe Cut-leaved DircH 



"W. T. Macoun, C.E.r., Ottawa 



THE cu I leaved birch is one of the 

 most handsome and graceful of orna- 

 mental trees. .It is perfectly hardy, 

 and appears to succeed equally as well 

 in the province of Quebec, along the 

 lower St. Lawrence, as in Ontario. Even 

 in Manitoba it thrives well, and may be 

 seen on many a lawn in the city of Win- 

 nipeg. It is especially desirable owing 

 to its rapidity of growth, there being 

 few hardy ornamental trees which equal 

 it in this respect. It is of Very grace- 

 ful habit, the pendulous branches giv- 



ing the tree a soft outline, both in sum- 

 mer and winter. The leaves are deeply 

 cut and attractive in appearance, and 

 begin to develop very early in the 

 spring, a few warm days bringing them 

 to view. It does not live as long as 

 most trees, but its beauty may usually 

 be enjoyed for 30 or 40 years, or longer. 

 The tree at the Central Experimental 

 Farm, Ottawa, from which the accom- 

 panying photo was taken, was planted 

 in 1889, when only six feet high. It is 

 now 40 feet in height. 



A Grand Lone Specimen of Cut-leaved Birch 



Repr'xhicetl from a photograph by Mr. I'. L. Shutt taken at the Central Experimental Karm. Ottawa 



BrancHing a Rubber Plant 



How should ;i rubber plant be treated to 

 branch it and uiake it grow tree-shaped?— M. 

 B., Whitby, Ont. 



A tree-shaped rubber plant may be 

 produced by heading back the main shoot 

 at any desired height while it is in a free 

 growing condition. The best shaped 

 plants, htjwever, are obtained only by 

 natural branching. The way to induce 



rubber plants to branch, without the 

 intervention of topping, is to rest them. 

 In the spring keep the plants dry for 

 about two or three months and then 

 plant them in the open or re-pot them. 

 Give lots of fertilizer and plenty of water. 

 When the plants start into growth they 

 will commence to "break"; i.e., pro- 

 duce branches naturallv from the axils 

 of the leaves. 



The Castor Oil Plant 



In beds for tropical effect on the 

 lawn, there is no plant that excels the 

 ricinus, or castor oil plant, for rapidity 

 of growth and grace of foliage. Used 

 either as a specimen plant, with cannas, 



Castor Oil Plants in Woodstock 



caladiums, or in masses, or as a screen, 

 it gives satisfactory results. Its im- 

 mense leaves have a rich metallic lus- 

 tre, and gives the plant a stately ap- 

 pearance. 



The castor oil plants in the illustra- 

 tion were grown last year on the beau- 

 tiful grounds of Mr. J. D. Patterson, 

 of Woodstock, Ont. According to Mr. 

 Thos. Shrimpton, the gardener in charge, 

 the plants came from seeds of Zanzi- 

 barensis and Borboniensis mixed. The 

 seeds were started the first week in 

 April, and transplanted about June 10 

 to the south side of the residence. In 

 preparing the bed it was dug about 

 four feet deep, and made up of good 

 rich earth and cow manure. It was 

 watered every evening with a copious 

 supply, and about once a week with 

 manure water. The plants grew eight 

 inches after the photo was taken. 



A.nimal and Plant Diseases 



Francis Wayland Glen. Brooklyn, N.Y. 

 Some readers may think that my 

 theory that there is an intimate rela- 

 tion between the contagious diseases 

 which attack man and animals and 

 those which attack plants and trees is 

 chimerical, but there are scientists in 

 Europe and America who have been 

 seeking for years for some cure for can- 

 cer in mankind, and one of them, in 

 Sweden, found on a cabbage plant a 

 structure exactly like the cancerous 

 growth on man. He at once inoculated 

 some mice with it and produced cancer 

 in the mice, from which they died in 

 due time. Other animals were inocu- 

 lated and the same result followed. A 



