1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



261 



your hands V Suppose you secure a variety that 

 suits ymi in iiuality, form ami season, anil is 

 (»riMlneti>e, if it loses in protUietiveness three 

 bushels lu'r aere year, tor 10 years, the llftli year 

 you (flow that variety you will lose iri bushels 

 Iier aere, the sixth; IS; the seventh, 21,; the 

 eighth, ;.'4 ; the ninth, ■JT, ami the tenth, :UI. If you 

 want to buy a new variety you must pay some 

 one else for taking; the pains that you mit^ht ami 

 ou)j:ht to have taken youi-self. 



Ornamental Trees for Extreme 

 North. 



{Ejrtrart flttm imin-r rt-ad by D, Xivot bi^ore the Oa- 

 tario Krttit (jronvrs' Assoriation. 



Although the Catalpa, Tulip tree, Ken- 

 tucky Cdlfee tree, the Magnolias, the Cy- 

 press, Ailauthus. Laburnum, Euonymus, 

 BoUonwood, Persimmon, and Sassafras are 

 not suitable for our northern climate, there 

 is certainly no lack of variety of beautiful 

 trees which can be relied on as being hardy 

 enough and in every way suitable for any 

 inhabited part of Ontario. 



Amonjr evergreens we have the Hemlock 

 Spruce, which for !?i-aeefulness of habit, richness 

 in color of foliape, is not excelled by any foreign 

 variet.v that I know of. I often wonder why it 

 is so seldom grown as an ornamental tree» Per- 

 haps by some it is considered too common, but 

 this is a mistake, tor according to present indi- 

 eattoDs it will soon become one of the most un- 

 common trees in this country. 



We also have the Norway Spruce, the Balsam 

 Fir, Arbor-vitivs in variety. Red Cedar, and the 

 Retinospora, the Austrian Pine, Scotch Pine, 

 Weymouth Pine, and a lot of other Pines, which 

 when grown as single specimens with plenty of 

 room make ornamental trees. 



Then among deciduous trees besides all the 

 glorious Maples, Elms, Ashes and Mountain 

 Ashes, we have the Basswood, European Larch, 

 European White Birch, American Canoe Birch, 

 Purple Birch, and the Cut-leaved Weeping Birch. 

 Trees of all these kinds when properly grown 

 as single specimens, are admirable. 



One prevailing error is planting trees too 

 closelj' together. Recently I saw growing on a 

 lawn three beautiful trees of considerable size, 

 one each of the Purple Beech, Cut-leaved Maple 

 and Weeping Birch. They were only twelve 

 feet apart, and beginning to crowd each other 

 then, consefiuently in about three years more 

 the two outer ones will be lop sided, and the 

 middle one a spindling scrub. I have seen 

 thousands of line trees ruined in the same wa.y. 

 Indeed, it is only in rare instances they are given 

 sufficient room to display their natuml beauty. 



Another objectionable practice is that of clipp- 

 ing ortriming Evergreen tree into various fanci- 

 ful shapes. When trees are grown for orna- 

 ment and given plenty of room, they usually 

 take a natural and graceful form, which is 

 always more pleasing to those who have 

 acquired a correct taste than any distortion that 

 may be given by pruning. Many otherwise 

 Ijeautiful landscapes are sadly marred by the 

 stiff appearance of some barbered trees. 



Native and Foreign Trees. Another commijn 

 mistake is made in giving preference to all 

 foreign species belonging to the same genera as 

 some of our native trees. The European Larch 

 is of more graceful habit than our native Tam- 

 arack, and the White Birch, with its weeping 

 varieties, is certainly more Iwautitul than any 

 of our common Birches, but the European Lin- 

 den is not by any means preferable to our Bass- 

 wood as an ornamental tree. Neither is the 

 English Elm for either beauty or shade to be 

 compared with some of the varieties of our 

 White Elm. Particularly' is this noticeable in 

 Toronto when the different species are growing 

 on opposite sides of some of the streets. 



The Horse Chestnut is a magnificent tree when 

 grown to (>erfection, but in my district it is too 

 short-lived, and even if it lives forty years it 

 loses its beauty, as the branches begin to die. 



There is perhaps no tree more unsuitable for 

 ornamentation than the Silver Poplar. Yet 

 about many farm homes it is the only tree plant- 

 ed. When once planted it is there to stay, for it 

 continuously sends up suckers enough to de- 

 stroy every other kind of tree near by. The 

 down it throws off after flowering is an abomin- 

 ation. 



The Lombardy Poplar Is admired by some, 

 but it deserves no place on ornamental grounds. 

 The Aspen possesses some beauty ; yet it would 

 be folly to plant it unless for the sake of variety. 



When asked which of all trees I prefer for the 

 ornamentation of a lawn, I invariably recom- 

 mend the Cut-leaved Weeping Birch. I have 

 U)st many tine specimens of it through the depre- 

 dations of "sap sucker" (yellow-bellied wood 

 pecker); yet if I had but room for one ornamen- 

 tal tree I wo\ikl plant a Cut-leaved Weeping 

 Birch. Ne.xt I wo\ild prefer the Purple llirch, 

 Weil's' ('ut-leaved Maple. European Larch, Red 

 Cedar, Blue Spruce, and Norway Spruce. After 

 the European Mountain Ash, the Imperial Cut- 

 leaved Alder, the Basswood, and the Bogwood. 

 On ext^'nsive grounds I would, of course, plant 

 a large \'ariety, and would include the Yellow 

 Locust. The only ob.jection to it is its tendency 

 of suckering. The sweet perfume from its 

 Howers in the month of June entitles it to a 

 place on the pleasure grounds 



The wild Black Cherry is seldom planted as an 

 ornamental tree, although remarkably suitable 

 for the purpose. It is beautiful in tiower as well 

 as in fruit. I have seldom seen it affected by the 

 black knot, but have found it to be one of the 

 most enduring. 



The Hickories, as a class, are of slow growth 

 while young, but their foliage is exceedingly 

 beautiful. In exposed positions they endure 

 and thrive well, while many other kinds would 

 be in.1ured. 



The Ashleaved Maple is quite as hardy, but it 

 requires a richer and moister soil. 



For a large growing and wide-spreading tree 

 for shade the Common Beech is unsurpassed. 



The White .\sh when grown as a single speci- 

 men with plenty of room is a noble tree, well 

 suited for an extensive landscape. 



The number of trees I have mentioned is suffi- 

 cient to make any country home as cheerful and 

 beautiful as the most refined taste could desire. 



I believe one of the chief reasons why so many 

 farmers' homes look desolate is because the 

 owners have become discouraged through the 

 imposition of unscrupulous vendors who have 

 urged the imrchase and planting of trees utterly 

 unsuited for locality and conditions. Nurser.v- 

 men who allow their agents to sell unsuitable 

 trees are also to blame ; and they make a mis- 

 take, because success with suitable trees would 

 certainly lead to increased demand. 



Common Sense and Common Non- 

 sense in the Naming of Plants. 



{Abstract of paper by Mr. Shirley Hibbard, read at a 

 meeting of the Horticultural Club.) 



If you compare what I term the pre-Lin- 

 naean names with those that Linna?us estab- 

 lished, you will perceive at a glance how 

 fully possessed of common sense was the 

 great botanical reformer. Those names in 

 use in books in the time immediately pre- 

 ceding Liuna?us are to be regarded as de- 

 scriptions in brief. In " Turners's Herbal," 

 1.5U8, simple names occur, as for example, 

 Coniza Magna and Hyacinthus Maximus, 

 and again in " Kay's Plantarum,'' 1H8.5, the 

 names are in reality brief descriptions, as 

 for exaraple,' Hyacinthus orlcntalis vuliiaris 

 clivcr-siirum colorum, the ordinary Oriental 

 —Hyacinth. 



The Binomial System. Linnaeus in his "Genera 

 Plantarum," 1737, and "Species Plantarum," 1753, 

 established the binomial system, having prepared 

 the way for it by a general review of the \ege- 

 table kingdom, and prepared the way for the 

 natural system which is now in general favor. 

 Those of his canons that directly concern us now 

 are that the same generic name shall be applied 

 to all plants of the same genus; that each generic 

 name must be single; that generic names com- 

 pounded of two entire words or portions of two 

 entire words are improper; that generic names 

 derived from the Greek or Latin languages are 

 alone admissable; that names are not to be 

 adopted for the purpose of gaining the good will 

 of saints or celebrated persons; and that long, 

 awkward and unpronounceable names are to be 

 avoided as altogether objectionable. There are 

 many more such. Mr. Alcock quotes from Pluk- 

 cnet Otrwtragcmatfidendros as an example of a 

 " long, awkward, disagreeable name." 



A good name of a plant may serve two pur- 

 poses. It may guide one to a plant not seen or 

 known before. I submit as an example that 

 Ilex cornuta does this, when we have learned to 

 recognize the Holly as an Ilex, for the specific 

 name admirably suggests the form of the leaf. 

 A good name recalls it in the absence of a speci- 

 men, and assists to identity the specimen. 



A fanciful name is of no use for either of these 

 purposes; it is simply a mnemonic sign, and a 

 ta.\ on the memory. A German botanist is re- 

 port/tMl to have said that it is not in the power of 

 a man Ui attjiin to a knowledge by name, and, in 

 fact, of more than 1(1,111)0 plants. Many intelligent 

 and observant men of fairly good memory would 

 be glad if tlicy could master the identification 

 correctly b.v name of ten hundred plants. 



Commemorative Names. What I mean by 

 common sense in this connection is compliance 

 with the Liuna-n methixl, but we may with ad- 

 vantage build uiiim the Linnu'n foundation, so 

 as to carry the edifice a few stories higher. 



For example. Linnaeus admitted commemora- 

 tive names; but such have of late years been em- 

 ployed with such a lack of discrimination that 

 the abuse suggests a necessity for their total 

 abolition. The great sin of modern botanists is 

 the wholesome adoption of cDinmemorativc 

 nanieK. A plant comes to hand, the characters 

 of which separate it from all known genera. The 

 troultle of inventing a name by means of an ex- 

 ploration "of Greek roots is saved, because the 

 botanist has a friend named Smith to whom it 

 would be agrerable to pay a compliment. So 

 Smith furnishes the generic name. For the 

 specific name there stands Brown, and the thing 

 is done. By-and-by a variety of the species is 

 met with, and again the process is repeated, and 

 the \ariety is named after Jones. 



Among the reputed British species of Salix, 

 there are no fewer than twenty-two named after 

 persons or places, and not one of the names is so 

 good as that devised by a humble botanist who, 

 finding a plant he had never seen before, and 

 having no means of ascertaining it name, called 

 it, because he found it by the roadside, lihodum 

 Sidum, as good a name perhaps as Geryiuw 

 Sidug, and one that might be adopted and pass 

 current without raising a laugh. In Curtis' 

 •• Botanical Magazine " for the year 1865 there 

 are figures and descriptions of sixty-six plants, 

 of which nine are named from the countries or 

 districts in which they grow, and nineteen from 

 persons. 



Geographical names are, as a rule, not good. 

 Very many of the plants found in Japan, and 

 named (with how little effort) Japonica, are also 

 found in China; and species that inhabit both 

 the old and new world cannot with any propriety 

 at all have geographical names assigned them. 

 If books of authority like the " Botanical Maga- 

 zine " arc thus open to animadversion, what shall 

 we say of trade catalogues? 



In the " Botanical Magazine " during the year 

 1838 there were published sixty-one plants, of 

 which thirty-one have specific names commem- 

 orative of persons, three are records of Geo- 

 graphical location, and twenty-one are founded 

 on visible characters, and may be regarded as 

 descriptive. The bestowal of a personal or a 

 geographical name saves time, and demands ab- 

 solutely no talent; but for the bestowal of a 

 good descriptive name a diagnosis is required, 

 and it must be performed by a botanist familiar 

 with the genus, and in a state of mind favorable 

 to clear perception and discriminative comj)ar- 

 ison. 



Descriptive Names. A generic name should 

 cover all generic characters, and a specific name 

 should clearly separate a plant from all other 

 specic!< in the genus. The thick or broad guage 

 men are lum[)ers, and see fewer species worth 

 naming than the thin or narrow guage men who 

 are splitters, and usually see more species than 

 common sense can acknowledge. 



To name plants from their colors is bad practice. 

 We have DigUali^jmrpurca aWa, the white pur- 

 ple Foxglove, which is not more rational than to 

 say the white black cat. Nor is it consistent with 

 the aims of science to adopt names that reflect 

 injuriously or unpleasantly upon persons. Sir 

 J. E.Smith, who was a purist in this'mattter, 

 refers to the Linnean name Buffonia tenuifolia 

 as " a satire on the slender botanical pretensirins 

 of the great French Zoologist, as the Hillia para- 

 sitica of Jacquin, though; perhaps not meant, is 

 an equally just one on our pompous Sir John 

 Hill. Such satires stain the purity of our lovely 

 science; if a botanist does not deserve commem- 

 oration let him sink peacefully into oblivion." 

 Mr. Alcock has put the case reasonably, thus— 

 "Those names that point out a decided specific 

 character are the best, as Areiiaria trinervU^ 

 Chhtra perfuUala, Epipactis ensifolia, and the 

 like." 



The greatest sinners against propriety in nam- 

 ing plants are the orchidists, for they ignore all 

 settled rules, they repudiate the requirements of 



