THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



27 



Columnar Bay Tree. 



\.ve a striking effect and are certain- 

 not out of place. A single pair of 

 ;rfect form could be admitted to any 

 lurch ceremony or at the decorating 

 a large hall. In the summer time a 

 indsome pair stand one on each 

 ie of the broad granolithic walk, 

 iding to a stately mansion on one 

 our fine residence streets, and very 

 te their appearance is. Too much of 

 may get tiresome, as clipped and 

 3tesquely-shaped Norway spruces do 

 overdone, but the chronic grumbler 

 10 in his ignorant and prejudiced 

 ndness objects to these handsome 

 ,y trees because "they are not nat- 

 al" should be confined to the back- 

 >ods eternally. Their formality sets 

 the brighter the natural grace of 

 > birch, the elm, the maple or lin- 

 i and the more or less freedom 

 the hardy flowering shrubs. 



Another place I found the Bays to 

 useful was when asked to decorate 



a store opening and wagon loads 

 palms were expected. They are just 



thing to fill up, and a fine pair or 



half a dozen of them on the sidewalk 

 is just what Mr. Goldstein wants to 

 attract the attention of every passer 

 by, and what could you put there 

 equal in appearance and withstand 

 the ordeal unharmed? Considering the 

 years they must be grown, the labor 

 entailed and great skill in producing 

 such a large tree in such a compara- 

 tively small tub, their cost to us is, I 

 think, very moderate. 



It is often a surprise to us that such 

 a stout stem and large head of 

 branches and leaves can subsist on 

 such a relatively small quantity of 

 soil. From early spring till fall they 

 want an abundance of water. They 

 are out of doors all summer, or should 

 be, so the hose can play on their 

 heads freely and over watering of the 

 soil is about impossible. From No- 

 vember to April a cold shed will keep 

 them in good order if it is not too 

 dark and where they won't get more 

 than 10 degrees of frost. A coach 

 house is an excellent place. It is usu- 

 ally light and seldom too cold. Less 

 water will do than in the summer 

 time. 



The Sweet Bay is a native of South- 

 ern Europe. All good boys should have 

 read in the good book that if they are 

 righteous in their lives they will 

 "flourish like the green bay tree." But 

 they must not become a millionaire by 

 keeping a department store or they 

 will be more like an aged pumpkin, 

 hollow, mushy and slushy inwardly. 

 This fine evergreen grows well and 

 is much planted in the milder parts of 

 the British Isles. I expect that all 

 over Ireland it grows finely and is sel- 

 dom or never injured by frost. In the 

 South of England it grows and flour- 

 ishes for years, but a winter comes 

 occasionally and kills it to the ground. 

 Such a winter was that of '60 and '61. 



The best time for us to cut back 

 growths or to keep it in that splendid 

 form that they are sent to us, is in the 

 spring just before they start to grow, 

 but if you wished a still more trim 

 appearance you would have to pinch 

 the young growths as they develop. A 

 new tub and more root room is needed 

 every three or four years, but keep 

 them in as small a tub as possible. 

 Liquid manure will help them much 

 in April, May and June. To those who 

 have not made bows of their strong 

 bottom growths or hunted rabbits 

 beneath their branches, they may ap- 

 pear a cumbersome plant to- occupy 

 valuable greenhouse room. They don't 

 want it. If never coddled up under 

 glass they will stand 15 degrees of 

 frost without harm, but rather give 

 them a little higher temperature. 



BEDDING PLANTS. 



Although directions for the man- 

 agement of all our familiar bedding 

 plants will be found under their re- 

 spective heads a few words on the 

 general subject is in order. The earli- 

 est bedding that the writer can re- 

 member was not very unlike that of 

 the present day. 



Fifty years ago we had (I am speak- 

 ing now of the gardens of Great Bri- 

 tain, for the American flower garden 



had then scarcely an existence) beds 

 of verbenas edged with a variegated 

 geranium, beds of heliotrope, beds of 

 Tom Thumb geraniums, masses of 

 yellow calceolarias, in fact it was 

 masses of flowering plants, and that 

 is largely the taste of the day, though 

 not exclusively so because we have so 

 many foliage plants now which were 

 not then known and which now make 

 beds equal in color effect to many of 

 the flowers. The coleus and achyran- 

 thes were unknown and most of the 

 small plants that afterwards came into 

 favor for carpet bedding were not in- 

 troduced, or were neglected because of 

 no value in the economy of the flower 

 garden. It seems to me that those 

 gardens of old with their circles and 

 squares and ovals of showy plants, 

 just as well kept as our gardens are 

 to-day, were fully as beautiful as any 

 we now have. 



Then came the ribbon border long 

 strips of flower garden, perhaps six or 

 seven feet on each side of a path. This 

 often began with the blue lobelia next 



Pyramidal Bay Tree. 



