POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



A PUBLIC PARK is the people's garden— the 

 garden of every human being in the City, 

 the people pay for it, and the people have 

 the right to dictate what shall be grown in 

 it. The people of Buffalo don't pay for hav- 

 ing these flowers in their park, hence we 

 conclude they don't want them. These 

 things cost high but they are well worth 

 the money. They draw the people to the 

 park— the poor people, and tens of thousands 

 who give no heed to landscape pictures, be- 

 come ecstatic over flowers, and find in them 

 both recreation and religion. But if you 

 \vill call these landscapes education, then 



Gardening, "can never forget it. With a 

 clean trunk, straight as a column, for forty 

 or fifty feet, surmounted by a firm, ample 

 summit of rich green foliage, it is, in our 

 estimation, decidedly the most stately tree 

 in North America. When standing alone, 

 and encouraged in its lateral growth, it 

 will indeed often produce a lower head, but 

 its tendency is to rise, and it only exhibits 

 itself in all its stateliness and majesty 

 when, supported on such a noble columnar 

 trunk, it towers far above the heads of its 

 neighbors of the park or forest. Even when 

 at its loftiest elevation, its large blossoms 





v'l'.^ 



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^■■#'Av 







Front W(i,lh and Lawn at Woodhajihs be- 

 fore being Improved. 



please give us both education and religion, 

 you have room for both, and we need both. 



The Trees. In some parts of the city the 

 soil is loamy and good, but in most parts it 

 is either hard brick clay or covered with a 

 thin shell of soil. In the loamy land the 

 trees prosper, but in the rock or clay they 

 do not thrive very well. Now if a tree is 

 worth planting at all it is worth planting 

 well and taking good care of afterwards, 

 for there is more pleasure in one thrifty, 

 happy tree than in fifty starving, sickly 

 scrubs. Every starving wretch of a tree is 

 a standing monument of shame to its owner. 

 Then begin right. In preparing for planting 

 dig out the tree holes six, eight or ten feet 

 wide and two to three feet deep, according 

 to kind of tree to be planted, remove the 

 rock or clay and replace with good soil. 

 This will cost a good deal but it is necessary, 

 and if one doesn't wish to incur this expense 

 and trouble he should not plant the trees, 

 for he is unworthy of the trees. 



In the subukbax residence streets the 

 fences between lots, also between the lots 

 and the streets, have been removed and 

 the green lawns are spread along the sides 

 of the streets from end to end, giving them 

 a pretty, pleasing, gardenesque appearance. 

 But no flowers and no evergreens. Why? 

 Because the flower beds would be a field of 

 temptation to many a passer-by, and a de- 

 lightful play ground for cats and dogs; and 

 every dog that passes along the street will 

 rest against an Evergreen, and the choicer 

 and prettier the Evergreen the better it 

 seems to attract the dog's attention. 



The Tulip Tree for Lawn or Park. 



Why is it that the magnificent, stately 

 Lidriodendron tulipifera, commonly called 

 Whitewood, Yellow Poplar, or Tulip Poplar, 

 is not more frequently met with on our 

 lawns and in our parks and avenues? 



"Whoever has once seen the Tulip tree in 

 a situation where the soil is favorable to its 

 growth," says Mr. Downing, in Landscape 



Front Walk and Laxon at Woodban'ks after intro- 

 ducing Curvea and new Plantinys. 



which from their form one of our poets has 

 likened to the chalice, 



Through the radiant maze. 

 The tulip tree 

 Its golden chalice triumphantly displays. 



—Pickering. 

 jut out from the tufty canopy in the month 

 of .June, and glows in richness and beauty. 

 While the tree is less than a foot in diam- 

 eter, the stem is extremely smooth, and it 

 has almost always a refined appearance. 

 For a lawn or park, we conceive the Tulip 

 tree eminently adapted : its tall, upright 

 stem and handsome summit contrasting 

 nobly with the spreading forms of most 

 deciduous trees. No tree of the same 

 grandeur and magnitude is so truly beauti- 

 ful and graceful in every portion of its 

 trunk and branches. Where there is a taste 

 for avenues, the Tulip tree ought by all 

 means to be employed, as it makes a most 

 magnificent over-arching canopy of verdure 

 supported on trunks almost architectural in 

 their symmetry." 



The Tulip tree is greatly valued for its 

 lumber. The wood is excellent for cabinet 

 work, ceiling, floors, and inside flnishiug, 

 but does not endure well in the open air 

 unless protected by paint. Our bee-keepers 

 value the tree as a honey producer, and the 

 sweet nectar might often be gathered out of 

 the great Tulip-like flowers by teaspoonfuls, 

 but this honey, although good for bees, is 

 by no means of the quality that would suit 

 a fastidious taste. The flowers are large, 

 greenish-yellow, foliage rich and glossy, 

 somewhat square, truncated. Bark of wood 

 and branches is bitter and aromatic, some- 

 times used in medical practice. 



The tree is readily propagated from seed. 

 which should be sown in a fine rich mold, 

 in a cool, shady place. If planted in 

 autumn as soon as seeds are ripe, they will 

 germinate the next spring; if sown in 

 spring, they often fail to germinate until 

 spring following. Although the tree has 

 the reputation of being diflScult to trans- 

 plant, it is no more so than any of the nut 



trees, and when grown in nursery, and 

 occasionally transplanted, it can be handled 

 as easily as our common fruit trees. 



Notes from the Popular Gardening 



Grounds at La Salle-on-the- 



Niagara. 



SlraigM Lina< versus Curves. By the annexed 

 engravings is shown how in improving the 

 grounds at '" Woodbanks " we introduced grace- 

 ful curves in the front walk and drive, and 

 irregularity in the planting where there was in 

 these before a preponderance of straight lines 

 This was done in accordance with natural prin- 

 "ciples of arrangement, for as nature In her most 

 pleasing landscape gives us no straight or formal 

 lines, why should we employ them. 



In the present case not only was the walk from 

 the front door to the bridge, which gives access 

 to the highway opposite, straight, but the bridge 

 also was on the same line. Together there was a 

 straight course of some 12 rods in length and de- 

 cidedly objectionable to good appearance. By 

 throwing a slight curve into the walk, extend- 

 ing the lawn, and planting a few Evergreens 

 in its former course, we worked a marked im- 

 provement in this portion of the grounds. In 

 the drive something similar was done with re- 

 sults quite as satisfactory. Where preriously as 

 seen in the left hand engraving the drive 

 to the stable was parallel with the north line 

 of the house, thus giving emphasis to the 

 lines of the building, our improvement called 

 for carrying this drive a half further away from 

 the house than formerly, thus admitting of a 

 graceful curve throughout its course. This, 

 however, was not the only gain. By changing 

 the drive the lawn was here widened, with 

 the effect of giring a broader setting to the house, 

 where before there was a suggestion of cramjied- 

 ness. Room was thus also secured tor introduc- 

 ing several clumps of shrubs and some individual 

 specimens trees with excellent effect for pro- 

 moting a balance in the embellishing features. 

 This widening outlprocess, it will be observed, 

 favorably effected the yard to the front of the 

 house also. 



With having thus made slight changes in the 

 course of the passage ways there came the op- 

 portunity for introducing irregular clumps of 

 trees and shrubs about the home which was 

 gladly improved. Together the effect for the 

 better has been so great as to call forth favorable 

 comments from all who have visited the place, 

 both before and after the improvements. More- 

 over, the cost of these changes was very small. 

 We have no hesitation in saying that in the eyes 

 of the average judge of real estate values they 

 have enhanced the worth of the ground twenty 

 fold beyond the actual outlay in this direction. 

 It is a point worthj- the attention of every prop- 

 ei-ty owner, and especially every gardener. So 

 improve your surroundings by judiciousarrange- 

 ment of the features of the place, and by plant- 

 ing that you will not only derive increased pleas- 

 ure from the same, but that there will be a 

 marked increase in the value of your land out of 

 all proportion to the cost. It can he done. 



Lima Beans. We have freijucntly been com- 

 plimented upiin the attractive, really ornamental 

 appearance of Lima Bean trellis as described and 

 illustrated in a former number. The season has 

 been a rather cool one, but the dry weather not 

 being favorable t« late growth, blooming and 

 fruit setting, there are at present no immature 

 pods left on the vines; the whole crop has been 

 utilized. Of coui-sc some of the tirst pods, those 

 nearest the ground, were left to ripen, and are 

 now being gathered for seed. We lUways like to 

 depend on a home selection of Bean and similar 

 seeds rather than on purchased supply. We do 

 this in especial consideration of the fact that 

 plenty of seed should be used in order to make 

 sure of a full stand and a full crop. There are so 

 many enemies of young Lima Bean plants— cut 

 worms, cold rains, gi-ubs, etc.,— that we should 

 plant quite a number of seeds for each jilant 

 which we expect and desire to sec remain. It is 

 easy enough to pull some uj) if there arc too 

 many; but it is annoying to have gaps in the 

 rows. We had planted what we thought a great 

 sufficiency of seed, and the plants came up ijuite 

 thickly, but so many came to grief before they 

 made much growth, that probably we would 

 have had twice the yield if twice the number of 

 plants had remained in the row. This we mention 

 in order to urge our readers to select as many of 

 the best filled pods from the lower parts of the 

 vine, and of the nicest Beans as possible to ha\'e 



