April 15, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



157 



plants blossom on the wood of the current year. But a shrub 

 is more than a flowering plant. It is beautiful in summer for 

 its foliage, and in the winter for its form and the tints of its 

 branches, and it should be pruned, therefore, with a view to its 

 continued use and beauty. Altlueas and Tamarisks cut back to 

 bare poles in the autumn have no beauty until midsummer of the 

 following year. Severe pruning, as a rule, leaves a disfigured 

 plant. Pruning shrubs to the form of a globe or a cone, or to 

 a single level like a hedge is a horticultural atrocity. Remem- 

 bering what has been said about the relation of the time of 

 flowering to the time of pruning, it is best not to remove large 

 branches to the extent of interfering with the typical outline of 

 the plant. It is as good a time now as any to thin out the 

 weaker and overshaded branches and those which interfere 

 with each other. Of course, this will not supersede the neces- 

 sity of summer pruning. Suckers and surplus wood can be 

 removed in the growing season, when the wounds will heal 

 more quickly than in cold weather or when the plants bleed. 

 When the flowering wood is shortened in after the bloom is 

 over the overstrong shoots can be stopped in midsummer 

 without injuring the shapeliness of the shrub, and this will 

 hasten the development of the flower-buds and help to ripen 

 the wood into good condition for the winter. This is especially 

 true in wet seasons. If the luxuriant growth is then stopped 

 the vital energies of the tree will be turned toward developing 

 buds and fruit. 

 Hartford, Conn. G. A. Henry. 



Growing Tomatoes. 



ON page 37 of the present volume of Garden and Forest 

 will be found a most instructive article on cultivating the 

 Tomato, by Mr. W. W. Tracy, of Detroit, in which he called 

 attention to the habits and surroundings of this plant in its 

 native tropics. Under natural conditions, from the time the 

 seed germinates until the plant is exhausted by bearing fruit, 

 there is not any check in its growth from chill or other unto- 

 ward circumstances, and it has consequently acquired a con- 

 stitution which resents any check. When, therefore, the 

 plants are exposed to a temperature of forty-five degrees they 

 not only stop growing, but they lose vigor and vital energy, 

 even although they are not killed. This indicates the true 

 method of cultivation which was clearly described by Mr. 

 Tracy — that is, a thorough preparation of the ground before- 

 hand by frequent stirring ; sowing the seed as late as from the 

 first to the tenth of April ; keeping the plants growing steadily 

 in a good cold frame and not setting them out until cold 

 storms are over, which is not much before June 1st in his 

 latitude. 



In the current issue of The Rural New-Yorker Mr. Tracy 

 cites some instances to show that this most reasonable theory 

 works well in practice. A field of Tomatoes in Oakland 

 County, Michigan, treated in the usual way — that is, with the 

 seed sown in March, planted in rich ground in such a way that 

 they were checked for about ten days, after which they com- 

 menced a rapid growth, so that they soon surpassed in size 

 the plants in an adjoining field from seed sown three or four 

 weeks later and set out in ground that had been cultivated 

 several times in such a way that they received no check. In 

 spite of the vigorous growth of the stalks and leaves, the first 

 field yielded less than three hundred bushels to the acre, and 

 the second yielded about eight hundred bushels of excellent 

 fruit. Of course, there were differences in cultivation. For 

 example, the second field was cultivated every week, and 

 sometimes oftener, and care was taken to stir the surface only, 

 while the other field was cultivated three times, as deeply as the 

 implement would run. Nevertheless, this will not altogether 

 account for the difference in the yield, and it appears plain that 

 Mr. Tracy's suggestions will be found very useful to all who 

 study them so that they can adopt the practice understandingly. 



New York. S. 



Asparagus. 



TST O early vegetable is looked for more eagerly than the first 

 -^ dish of asparagus. A bed of Asparagus once established 

 is permanent, and it is essential, therefore, that the work of 

 preparing the bed should be done thoroughly. A well-drained 

 sandy loam is best. Our location is a dry one, but we have never 

 known the bed to suffer even in the driest season. In heavy 

 soils some artificial means must be adopted to relieve the soil 

 of excessive moisture. Where Asparagus is grown in the low- 

 lands it is customary to cultivate it on ridges six feet wide, 

 three rows to a ridge. The intervening hollows, or trenches, 

 are filled during summer-time with the litter gathered from 

 the manure which has lain on the ridges all winter. When 



thoroughly decomposed this is thrown up again, with an addi- 

 tional dressing, and the trenches again left open during the 

 winter. This plan will be a good one to follow in all heavy 

 soils, and in such cases there is another advantage, that of 

 having earlier Asparagus than could be grown in beds on the 

 level. The beds being permanent, the ground must be deeply 

 trenched with good loam to take the place of poorer soil. Six 

 inches of good manure should be worked in deeply, as Aspara- 

 gus-roots penetrate the ground for fully two feet, and this also 

 is a safeguard against drought. It is not, however, recom- 

 mended to make the plantation deep. Our original bed is now 

 twenty years old, but it is equal in bearing and quality to plan- 

 tations six years old. It is later, and this may be accounted for 

 by the fact that crowns are yearly formed below, or behind, 

 the main one, so that now the original roots, once near the 

 surface, are from fifteen to eighteen inches deep. 



Travelers in Europe often remark on the succulent quality 

 and delicate flavor of asparagus as served in Paris, comparing 

 American-grown as stringy and coarse-flavored. The French 

 method of culture, to which alone is ascribed the excellent 

 quality of the vegetable there, is described in Robinson's 

 Parks and Gardens of Paris. A planting was made here six 

 years ago according to the instructions given in this book, and 

 with most interesting results. Trenches four feet apart were 

 dug to the depth of six inches and the soil well pulverized. 

 All along these, at three feet apart, mounds were made a foot 

 in diameter and six inches high. The young plants were 

 placed with their crowns on the top of the mound, and the 

 roots spread in all directions along the sides, and finally banked 

 up even with fine soil. This method of handling the roots is 

 of considerable importance, and may be followed to advantage 

 in any case. Regular development is insured, and the results 

 in our case were surprising. It certainly is a more rational 

 way than bunching the roots or squeezing them into holes that 

 are not large enough for them. 



Each season the stems have been stayed with stakes to 

 prevent the unavoidable injfiry from wind, liable to unpro- 

 tected plants. In a closely planted bed this would not be 

 necessary. Care was taken that these stakes were inserted 

 far enough away not to injure the crowns. All seed capsules 

 were picked off and everything done to secure the fullest 

 development of the crowns. One, two, three years passed, 

 and the hills were banked with fine soil to bleach the pushing 

 shoots. But something was wrong, for the grass was stringy 

 and tasteless, and the French method was abandoned. Nev- 

 ertheless, for private gardens, whether one wants it blanched 

 or not, finer and better asparagus can be grown in this than in 

 any other way, and we would recommend it to all. 



When the cutting season is past, which is usually when peas 

 come in, we have given an additional coat of salt with no 

 injury to the growing plants and with advantage in destroying 

 millions of small weeds. There is an excellent artificial ma- 

 nure, specially prepared for top-dressing. In city gardens this 

 will be preferable to barnyard manure. 



Asparagus roots are sometimes lifted in the autumn and 

 forced under benches in the greenhouse during winter. The 

 results are seldom satisfactory, and the shoots are at best 

 weak, stringy and tasteless. The plan adopted at the place of 

 H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., and now in good practice, after sev- 

 eral years' preparation, is to mark a bed out, which can 

 be framed over when ready to force, and cover it with hot- 

 bed sash. The bed is enclosed in the autumn, well matted 

 and shuttered and banked, so as to exclude frost. When 

 February comes, sunlight and air are allowed on all bright 

 days, so that by the middle of March good, natural-looking 

 heads push through, and these are as well flavored as any we 

 get at any time. Cutting is continued until the open-air crop 

 is well in, and then the bed is allowed to take its natural course. 

 Wellesley, Mass. T. IK Hatfield. 



Hovea elliptica. — New Holland plants are unfortunately little 

 known or they would be' very highly appreciated, and none 

 more so than this one. The Hoveas are much like Choro- 

 zemas in many respects, but differ generally by having in- 

 tensely purple or blue flowers. H. elliptica is of a rather stran- 

 gling habit that can be improved under cultivation by means 

 of pinching and pruning. The leaves are rather small, alter- 

 nate, rounded-lanceolate, mucronate. The intensely blue and 

 very beautiful flowers are produced in short axillary racemes 

 in great profusion from March until early summer. The stems 

 are very slender, with somewhat hairy brain Iks, and grow a 

 couple of feet high only, under cultivation. Hoveas are gen- 

 erally propagated by seeds, which grow freely when fresh. They 



* The method of cultivating Asparagus in : :xplained with .n-.ii full- 



ness by Monsieur Henri I., de Yilmoriti, in Garden and Forest, vol. iii , p. 557. 



