August 29, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
161 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
5 Average Sun Sun Moon | Moon | Moon’s Clock 
AUG. 29—SEPT. 4, 1878. wempeniture near | Rises. | Sets Rises. Sets. Age. peor 
Day. |Night.)Mean.| h. m.| h. m.| h. m.| h. mJ| Days. | m. s. 
Wantage Show. 71.6 | 48.0 | 59.8 is 8) 6 52 6 48) 7 0O 1 0 48 
72.0 | 48.3 60.1 5 11 6 60 8 18 7 15 | 2 0 30 
Wakefield Show. 71.1 47.2 59.1 5 12 6 48 9 48 7 33.) 3 0 12 
11 SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 70.5 47.5 59.0 5 14 6 46/11 18 7 55 | 4 OF 2% 
70.6 47.6 59.1 5 16 6 43 0ad6 8 25 5 0) 725: 
70.3 47.6 58.9 5 17 6 41 2 6 9 5 »)) Q 45 
Glasgow Show. 70.4 | 46.2 | 58.3 5 19} 6 39 3°13] 9 159 7 al ere 
From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 70.9°; and its night temperature 
49,59, 
HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING.—No. 7. 
TREE PLANTING. 
I=3)¢ MBELLISHMENT, privacy, and shelter are 
‘7 our guiding stars in planting trees and shrubs 
near or in sight of a house ; all are important, 
but the first is most so from the fact that we 
the planting ornamental—in the present in 
some degree, and fully so in the future. 
Here is a difficulty confronting us at the outset ; 
for how can we expect each tree to grow into 
beauty and to develope its full perfection of size and 
SG) form if during the first two or three decades of its 
existence it form one of a crowd? Well, the truth 
is we do not expect perfection of form in every tree, but 
we do want size and vigour, and therefore the planter’s 
work must be followed by much subsequent care in thinning 
and effecting a gradual clearance of the space intervening 
between the permanent occupants, so that the spreading 
branches may constantly be exposed to the full play of 
light and air. Let this be clearly understood, for trees are 
often not only planted too thickly, but are still more fre- 
quently neglected year after year till they are ruined. Due 
attention must also be given to the situation, soil, and 
climate, all of which are important matters, exercising much 
influence upon the growth and health of trees. In a poor 
shallow soil we must plant shallow-rooting trees, such as 
the Beech, Silver Fir, Birch, and Holly. In a deep, rich, or 
heavy soil, on the contrary, we take the Oak, Elm, Plane, 
Tulip Tree, Lime (which also answers tolerably well in a 
thin soil), Horse Chestnut, Ash, Spanish Chestnut, Poplar, 
and most other trees of lofty and rapid growth. I may 
here usefully note that Spanish Chestnut also answers 
admirably in a thin silicious soil, proving superior to every- 
thing else as underwood for producing hop poles and fence 
rails. This tree, like many others, will make a free growth 
in a variety of soils, growing with almost uniform rapidity 
for the first twenty years of its existence, and then gradually 
becoming comparatively stunted and slow in growth very 
much in proportion to the thin or sterile condition of the 
soil. An appreciable annual growth is made, however, and 
in due course they become trees, not large and stately 
specimens, but yet sufficiently large to form imposing 
clumps and masses. i : 
A clear understanding of the adaptability of timber trees 
for different soils and situations is of much importance. 
' An Oak assumes magnificent proportions and becomes a 
veritable monarch of the forest in a deep rich loam ; in 
point of fact it is only in such soils that it attains its full 
development, yet in thin soil and on elevated positions it 
will grow 50 feet high, and affords some shelter in a mass. 
Much more valuable, however, for both purposes are the 
Larch and Scotch Fir. I have seen the Larch growing in 
the deep alluvial soil of a fertile valley considerably up- 
wards of 100 feet in height, and have also measured trees 
growing upon a slope some 600 feet above the level of the 
sea, in soil of only medium fertility, that were upwards of 
60 feet high. In the deep loams of Kent the Beech grows 
No, 909.—Vor, XXXV., NEW SERIES, 
are bound to aim at making the whole of | 
| to an immense size, and it is also the finest of all deciduous 
trees, growing in the poor thin soil overlying beds of iron- 
stone, gravel, and sandstone, upon the forest ridge in mid- 
Sussex. Pinus insignis, P. austriaca, Cedrus atlantica, 
| C. Deodara, Abies canadensis, A. Albertiana, A. Douglasii, 
| Pinus excelsa, Picea Nordmanniana, P. Pinsapo, Sycamore, 
| Acacia, wild Cherry, the Tulip Tree, Horse Chestnut, Lime, 
Silver Fir, Scotch Fir, and Larch also answer well in this 
| thin soil, the Silver Fir (Picea pectinata), being especially 
remarkable for its free robust growth. Jt attains an alti- 
tude of upwards of 100 feet, towering aloft above all other 
trees upon the crest of a slope fully exposed to violent gales 
of wind from the south-west, forming a bold clump of great 
beauty, singularly elegant and distinct in appearance. Seen 
from a distance the tapering symmetrical forms have a 
sprightly air that is very attractive and which blends well 
with the Larch, to which it imparts relief in summer and 
ano less agreeable warmth of tone in winter. : 
From the limited use of the Silver Fir amongst forest 
trees it would appear that its full value is not much known ; 
when it is it will probably supersede the Scotch Fir for 
purposes of shelter, or be mingled with it and help to bréak 
up the long monotonous belts and heavy funebrious masses 
of it which are now so common. Apart from the question 
of mere appearance its value for timber is superior to the 
Scotch Fir; it grows to a much larger size in both deep 
and shallow soils, answers as well in a heavy clay as ina 
light sand, and has only one weak point, which is that when 
planted low down in a valley the leading shoots of young 
trees sometimes suffer from late spring frost, just like that 
other valuable Conifer, Pinus insignis. , 
In planting for shelter avoid straight lines. The nume- 
rous belts of Larch and Scotch Fir planted in all parts of 
the country some sixty years ago are just so many blots 
upon the landscape which it is impossible to ignore. Heavy, 
stiff, and formal in themselves, they rob the most tasteful 
enclosure of its beauty and are offensive to the eye from 
every point of view ; and yet I like the trees, for individually 
they possess much beauty, and few trees may be used with 
more telling effect even for shelter. Instead of plant- 
ing half a dozen rows along the top of a hill in the old 
formal style of a belt, throw them all together in a bold 
central mass upon the top, and let it spread in picturesque 
irregularity a little way down the face of the slope. Pro- 
ceed onwards and downwards with deciduous trees, masses 
of Beech, Oak, Sycamore, Lime, Horse Chestnut, Spanish 
Chestnut, Hornbeam, Birch, Pseud-Acacia, selecting such 
of these as appear suitable for the soil, and blending with 
them the rich lively green Pinus insignis singly and in 
clumps, also Silver Firs, and the light silvery-hued Pinus 
excelsa, and for autumnal effects Tulip Trees, wild Cherry, 
Scarlet Maple, and Scarlet Oak. An occasional Purple 
Beech also tells well from spring till autumn. Enrich the 
lower portion and foot of the slope with the common Ash 
and its handsome Walnut-leayed variety Fraxinus juglandi- 
folia, the Fern-leaved Beech, the Mountain Ash, a few’ 
Birch mingled with Pavias, Willows, Robinias, Hawthorns, 
Holly, and Mespilus, also introducing a few clustered 
Scotch Firs here and near the sides. ; 
YO. 1561—VOL. LX., OLD SERIES, 
