582 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 3, 1890. 



City House-Gardening. 



THE opportunities for gardening available to the average 

 city-dweller are so circumscribed that he is apt to con- 

 sider them hardly worth using. Garden space is usually 

 limited to a few square feet between the house and the side- 

 walk, or to the back-yard, and to the windows and possibly the 

 roof. Attempts at cultivation are confined as a rule to the 

 handkerchief-like bit of ground in front, where the grass is 

 sometimes kept in good condition by the residents of a whole 

 block, who unite in engaging a man with a lawn-mower to 

 maintain it for the season. If anything is done beyond this, 

 efforts are usually confined to the planting of a few Geraniums 

 or a solitary shrub, which may blossom for a few days in this 

 or that part of the season and show little life or beauty the rest 

 of the year. 



A distinctive advance, however, has been made in some of 

 our cities of late years. One evidence of this is the universal 

 favor which the Japan Creeper {Ampelopsis tricuspidatd) has 

 found. Its use on the house-fronts is a great relief to our city 

 streets, and in most of them is an improvement upon shade 

 trees, which are out of place in a closely built urban thorough- 

 fare that is not of exceptional width. In certain quarters of 

 some cities good examples of house-front gardening have 

 proven so infectious that even a suburban resident, accustomed 

 to more ample spaces, finds delight in wandering through 

 them and noting the diverse effects. These are often charm- 

 ing - , and are carried through the season from early spring 

 to late autumn. In a sunny exposure the coming of the 

 spring will often be manifest far in advance of the season out 

 in the country close by, and the grass of the little space will 

 be gay with Snowdrops, Crocuses, Hyacinths, Tulips and Nar- 

 cissus, in succession, while the scent of the sweet Violet per- 

 vades the air. Through the summer the doorsteps will be 

 bordered with pots of Hydrangeas and a variety of other 

 flowering plants, with perhaps Bamboos and other tropical 

 plants in tubs. On the house-front a variety of surface is 

 presented, perhaps, by the Japanese Ampelopsis, irregularly 

 diversified with Virginia Creeper and Wistaria, and possibly 

 inlaid with the dark glossiness of the English Ivy, which 

 occasionally flourishes even in our more northerly cities. All 

 this luxuriant greenery contrasts with the background of rich 

 red brick, or of the always harmonious hues of stone, be they 

 brown, buff or gray. Then possibly the windows may contain 

 masses of bloom in boxes, and the doorway likewise be crested 

 with a floral glory. In the autumn the gorgeousness of the 

 creepers as their leaves turn vies with the country-side in 

 splendor, and, as the tender growths on the doorsteps are re- 

 tired, their places are taken by the Chrysanthemum, and the 

 season expires in a prismatic array of color. 



Even in a 'tenement street there may be encountered an 

 occasional oasis of bright blossoms in some window — often a 

 token that Germans or Italians inhabit the place. In Boston 

 the action of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society has 

 multiplied these sights to a remarkable degree by the encour- 

 agement it gives to children for window-gardening, and many 

 eyes and hearts are thereby gladdened. 



The opportunities offered by the back-yard are almost 

 entirely neglected, and that locality is usually a sorry place in our 

 cities. We should goto school to the Japanese to learn what is 

 possible here. In that importantandextremely interesting work, 

 " Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings," Professor Ed- 

 ward S. Morse devotes a chapter to the garden. As an illus- 

 tration of how the smallest areas of ground are utilized for 

 gardens and garden effects, he recalls an experience in a cheap 

 inn: "The immediate surroundings indicated poverty, the 

 house itself being poorly furnished, the mats hard and uneven, 

 and the attendants very cheaply dressed. In the room where 

 our meal was served there was a circular window, through 

 which could be seen a curious stone lantern and a Pine-tree, 

 the branches of which stretched across the opening, while 

 beyond a fine view of some high mountains was to be had. 

 From where we sat on the mats there were all the evidences 

 of a fine garden outside ; and wondering how so poor a house 

 could sustain so fine a garden, I went to the window to inves- 

 tigate. What was my surprise to find that the extent of ground 

 from which the lantern and the Pine-tree sprung was just three 

 feet in width ! Then came a low board fence, and beyond 

 this there stretched the rice-fields of a neighboring farmer. 

 At home such a narrow strip of land would in all likelihood 

 have been the receptacle for broken glass and tin cans, and a 

 thoroughfare for erratic cats ; here, however, everything was 

 clean and neat — and this narrow plot of ground, good for no 

 other purpose, had been utilized solely for the benefit of the 

 room within." 



Again he says : "The Japanese have brought their garden 

 arts to such perfection that a plot of ground ten feet square is 

 capable of being exquisitely beautified by their methods. . . . 

 With cleanliness, simplicity, a few little evergreen shrubs, one 

 or two little clusters of flowers, a rustic fence projecting from 

 the side of the house, a quaintly shaped flower-pot or two, 

 containing a few choice plants, the simplest form of garden is 

 attained. So much do the Japanese admire gardens and gar- 

 den effects that their smallest strips of ground are utilized for 

 this purpose. In the crowded city, among the poorest houses, 

 one often sees, in the corner of a little earth-area that comes 

 between the sill and the raised floor, a miniature garden made 

 in some shallow box, or even on the ground itself." 



I lately noted a charming back-yard effect while passing a 

 house that was undergoing reconstruction for business pur- 

 poses. The front and rear of the first story had been removed, 

 so that the large rectangular opening at the further end 

 seemed like a framed picture in which were revealed grace- 

 fully disposed masses of vines and shrubs with some pic- 

 turesque architecture for a background. But such glimpses 

 are rare. The back-yard of any city house is capable of being 

 made a delightful spot instead of the desolate space that it now 

 almost universally is. Even the absence of full sunlight is no 

 insurmountable obstacle, for Ferns and Mosses will grow 

 luxuriantly in a place that is always shady, as well as many 

 beautiful shrubs and plants, including the shadow-loving Be- 

 gonias and Fuchsias, whose abundant masses of brilliant 

 flowers, with their variety of coloring, show most luminously 

 against the cool green semi-obscurity of such a place. 



Roof-gardens have a great attractiveness in a city, and we 

 occasionally hear of some very delightful places of the kind. 

 They have the advantage of light and air, and often of a beau- 

 tiful view, with space for awnings, hammocks, easy chairs 

 and other comforts that go far to reconcile the stay-at-home 

 to his lot of life in town for the summer. 



Were it not that so many families leave town so early in the 

 season and do not return until summer has passed, we should 

 see more attention paid to city-house gardening. But, as it is, 

 there are thousands of even well-to-do families some of whose 

 members stay in the city the greater part of the summer, and 

 who would be well repaid for taking some trouble in this 

 direction. 



A Vase of Chrysanthemums. 



HTHE recent exhibitions at Boston and Philadelphia proved by 

 -*- many good examples the decorative value of Chrysanthe- 

 mums cut with long stems and loosely arranged in vases. The 

 best -Varieties for this purpose are not those considered of the 

 highest-merit according to exhibition standards. The flowers 

 should not be too large, and should excel in breadth rather than 

 depth. They should have abundant foliage, so that no other 

 contrast to the flower is needed than a good background. If 

 only one variety is used the effect will generally be stronger 

 than if different forms and colors are employed together. 

 Perhaps, too, it is desirable to emphasize the special qualities 

 of this favorite flower, which are a profusion of bloom and a 

 mass of color, and in that case we should use as many flowers 

 as possible, without giving the appearance anything like 

 crowding. 



Our illustration, page 587, shows a vase of the flowers of the 

 Chrysanthemum Ada Spaulding. The flowers of this va- 

 riety have great substance, and when well grown are very 

 deep. A group of them on longer stems and standing rather 

 more erect than those in the illustration would probably have 

 a bolder and more characteristic effect. The Ada Spaulding 

 has gained a high rank among the newer kinds of this type. 

 The plants have a vigorous habit, the flowers are massive, 

 well imbricated and usually colored in a pleasing way. The 

 flowers here shown are from strong plants, as is evident from 

 their healthy foliage, although they are not so finely imbri- 

 cated as many exhibition specimens which we have seen. 

 The illustration, however, is not meant to display the special 

 qualities of this variety, but to indicate one of the best ways in 

 which Chrysanthemums can be employed for in-door deco- 

 ration. It is taken from a photograph of one of the vas.es 

 which were exhibited at Boston by Galvin Brothers, and which 

 were characterized in our report as one of the noteworthy 

 features of the show. The flowers were grown by Mr. S. J. 

 Colman. 



The simple, uncombined landscape, if wrought out with 

 due attention to the ideal beauty of the features it includes, 

 will always be most powerful in its appeal to the heart. 



Ruskin. 



