1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



105 



to door; second, by objectionably introduc- 

 ing the slopes in central positions, the present 

 slope is almost continuous and considerably 

 rounded from front to rear, and then a bold 

 walk winding naturally about some clumps 

 of shrubs is introduced. 



This is to be designated as the natural 

 style of arranging a steeply sloping front 

 yard, in distinction from the formal or Italian 

 style. While the wallc without steps, of the 

 former style, must be somewhat longer, it 

 would be less costly, less difficult to ascend 

 or descend, and less tiresome to the eye of 

 correct taste than would be that of the other 



Southern Planting. 



We have seen enough of the best portions of 

 Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina to 

 know something as to the success of fruit grow- 

 ing there. The land as a rule ha-s been badly 

 run, but we have never seen soil there more 

 quickly respond to good treatment, cultivation 

 and a little manure as a fertilizer than that. 



We would advise no person to go there and 

 set out trees and plants at least on cleared land 

 that has been worked and cropped for years 

 without feeding them a little — and this may be 

 cheaply done in sections where wood is of no 

 value, or where there is plenty of brush, fallen 

 wood, etc., or brick kilns to obtain ashes from, 



style. Moreover in general that form of bold- or in sections where leaves have lodged in low 

 ness in a front lawn which should ""^ 



be always aimed for, as of great value 

 in giving a house an appropriate set- 

 ting, is in such a style secured in a 

 degree utterly impossible to the more 

 arliticial and costly one. 



A Noteworthy New Orna- 

 mental Tree. 

 From Northern Japan there came 

 some years since the seed of a handsome 

 ornamental tree, now known botanically 

 as CercidiphyUuin Japonkuni. Theseed 

 was planted, it grew, and up to the 

 present time the trees have in this country 

 been tested to an extent showing that 

 in the new comer we have an addition 

 to our ornamental growths, possessing 

 both decided beauty and hardiness. 

 That it bears such a long (albeit a soft 

 and pleasing) name may not be in its 

 favor as regards speedy introduction, 

 for, long difficult names serve in a meas- 

 ure to repel acquaintance. But with the 

 tree came also the shorter, it haraher 

 sounding, Japanese name of Katsura, 

 and this might be made to answer as 

 the popular one. 



The qualities of the Cercidiphyllum 

 that recommend it to public favor are 

 several: It is of i-apid growth and up- 

 right habit, but without any of the stiff- 

 ness that often accompanies trees of this 

 form. The leaves are heai-t-shaped, dark 

 green above and silvery green beneath, 

 quite closely resemblin? those of the 

 Ci'i-cis Canadensis, or Red Bud. The 

 accompanying engraving which we an 

 permitted to use through the kindness 

 of Thomas Meehan, Nurseryman, Ger- 

 mantown, Pa. , is a faithful representa- 

 tion of the habit of the tree and of the 

 form and appearance of the leaf. 



The young growth of the tree, slender but 

 vigorous and ample is one of its most attractive 

 features, for this is of a clean, reddish-brown 

 color, rendering it distinctly conspicuous. The 

 leaf stalks are of a dark red, and the veins of 

 the leaves of a similar color, which hues tend 

 to increase the attractivness of the tree. In 

 general the tree may be said to be one of great 

 beauty and possessing a distinct style of its own 

 that would give it marked character in any 

 collection. 



As to hardiness this new Japanese tree may 

 be classed among the more reliable ones of the 

 numerous valuable trees and shi-ubs that have 

 reached us from Japan. This was to have lieen 

 expected, considering that its home is in the 

 northern part of that Island. From Boston, 

 Mass., it is reported that in the six or seven 

 years following the first planting of the seed it 

 had never lost a bud by winter killing ; Being 

 thus hardy in its early and most trying age 

 inspires the hope that it will prove hardy even 

 much farther North. 



Young trees of the Cercidiphyllum, of a size 

 suitable for planting, may now be had from a 

 number of our leading nurserymen, at a dollar 

 and a half or less each. Why should not this 

 ■' Jap." be given a wide trial ! 



CERCIDIPHYLLUM JAPONICUM. 5 YEARS GROWTH 8 FEET HIGH 

 places and have become a mass of rich mold. 

 When holes are dug for trees, scatter even a 

 trifle of this in the bottom, mixing it into the 

 soil, and if a spoonful or two of some good fer- 

 tilizer is added, all the better; then keep the 

 trees whitewashed or washed with strong wash- 

 water once or twice a year, and as fine trees 

 can be grown there as one can ask for. 



As for small fruits like the Strawberry, Rasp- 

 berry or Blackberry, when set out if a little of 

 one or the other of these fertilizers is put under 

 the plant, and also on the surface, round the 

 plant, it will give them a remarkable growth — 

 in fact as strong roots of Strawberries as we 

 have ever seen were grown on our place at 

 High Point, North Carolina, where ashes had 

 been scattered over the vines. 



A friend of ours in Florida, goes into the 

 woods and cuts down brush and trims out trees 

 and burns these for ashes to scatter on his 

 Strawberries. 



To do this properly, when set, plow furrows 

 and set plant as described in another article in 

 this number, and pass along before planting 

 and scatter in a bit of some good fertilizer 

 right mider where each plant is set ; and the 

 same, too, with Raspberries and Blackberries. 



Of course the newly cleared lands wUl not re- 

 I quire this for at least three or four years. 



Swanley White Violet Culture. 



IN ANSWER TO INQUIRIES NO. 2.31 AND 27.'3, QUSTAVUS 

 SCHOKNFELD, CHAUTAUQUA CO., N. Y. 



The soil of my jilace is gravel and deficient 

 in potash and lime. In the fall it is manured 

 and plowed, in the spring cross-plowed and 

 muriate of potash at the rate of :ini) pounds to 

 the acre, with some slaked lune or land plaster 

 is applied and well harrowed in. The plot has 

 a good cinulation of air, which I consider very 

 essential to the best results. 



The young Violet plants are set out as soon 

 as the weather permits, usually by the middle 

 of April. I plant in rows 1(5 inches apart and 

 13 inches in the row, keeping them clean by 

 cultivation until the first week in July, when 

 they are mulched with rotten manure. 

 They wUI now commence to make run- 

 ners and grow rapidly. About the first 

 week in September the runners are 

 taken off and of these such as are from 

 the most short-Jointed plants are selected 

 I or cuttings from which to propagate 

 I he plants for next year's planting, and 

 the remainder are thrown away. 



These cuttings are put in boxes hold-, 

 ing about a hundred each, which had 

 been previously filled with good com- 

 post. Coming back again to the present 

 seasons plants, these are allowed to grow 

 on until about the 2.5th of October 

 before they are lifted, for as a rule, and 

 especially so in the case of Swanley 

 White, they will not flower until a mouth 

 later. At the date named the ground 

 is usually moist and the plants can 

 readily be dug, with good large balls of 

 earth adhering. In greenhouse culture 

 they are planted on benches of soil at 

 3 inches apart each way, and these so 

 constructed as to give good drainage, 

 the soil being 4 inches deep. 



Each summer before refilling theViolet 

 benches, these are thoroughly white- 

 washed with a solution of lune, sulphur 

 and carbolic acid (crude), which has 

 been previously cut with soap. The 

 soil I use consists of one-half gravelly 

 loam and one-half rotten hot-bed ma- 

 nure, with some wood ashes or muriate 

 of potash well mixed together. My 

 Violet house is 113 feet long, a lean-too 

 facing east, from the eaves of the Car- - 

 nation house to the ground. It is 

 covered with hot-bed sashes 3x0 feet. 

 The house being 5 feet 6 inches vride 

 inside, gives room for a bench 3 feet 

 8 inches wide and a walk 18 inches wide. 

 It is heated by one 4 inch return pipe, 

 placed under the eaves of the sashes 13 inches 

 above the bench. 



As to watering, about once a week on an 

 average from November to March suffices. 

 The ventilating is carefully attended to by 

 drawing the sash more or less down, leaving a 

 space at the bottom as well as towards the top 

 trying at all times to keep the temperatm'e be- 

 tween M" and .5.5°. 



The plants ai-e kept clean from decaying 

 leaves and runners, and the number of flowers 

 produced average about 75 to each plant during 

 the season, which is, with me, from November 

 25 to March 15, after which date the sashes are 

 taken off and used for hot-beds, leaving the 

 Violets to the mercy of the weather and soon 

 to be thrown away. 



As to insects and Violet fungus my plants 

 don't know them, and I attribute their absence 

 to the fact that I never propagate from a 

 plant that has been weakened from flower- 

 ing or the constitution impaired while in the 

 winter quarters. 



I grow only two varieties, viz. : Swanley 

 White and Marie Louise, they are treated alike 

 in all i-espects ; the last named gives me about 

 Hid flowers to each plant during the course of 

 the forcing season, or about 35 per cent more 

 than I get per plant from Swanley White. 



