February 27, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



83 



which perceives the scenic value of such places and conserves 

 them for public enjoyment, is a promising signet the strength 

 of publicsentiment which in any community may be depended 

 on to support all intelligent effort in the improvement of a 

 public ground to conserve and develop its natural beauty. 



The Chestnut in the West. 



THE Chestnut has naturally a somewhat restricted 

 range, its western limits being in the states of Michi- 

 gan, Indiana and Tennessee. It illustrates, as do many 

 other forest-trees, the fallacy of supposing that natural dis- 

 tribution is a reliable indication of possible range under 

 cultivation, for the tree can be successfully grown through- 

 out Missouri, the eastern counties of Kansas and Nebraska, 

 and the southern half, at least, of Iowa. I know splendid 

 trees in bearing at Des Moines and Kansas City, and there 

 are thrifty specimens at Farlington and Manhattan, Kansas. 

 What is even more surprising is that the tree can be seen 

 at Fort Collins and Denver, Colorado, though, through lack 

 of irrigation at the latter place, the thrifty little plat of them 

 has been almost entirely destroyed. 



The best Chestnut-trees that I know in the west are in 

 the grounds of Mr. L. A. Goodman, at Westport, a suburb 

 of Kansas City, where they occupy two rows in the 

 orchard. The trees are twenty years old from the seed, 

 were transplanted twice before being set in the orchard, 

 and some of them are now forty-eight feet high, with a 

 spread of branches of twenty-eight feet. There are twenty 

 or more of them, and all are of good form and habit, and 

 as healthy as any trees of this species wherever found. 

 Mr. Goodman has grown them for their nuts, and, being 

 an expert horticulturist, he has developed full crowns and 

 comparatively short trunks, treating them essentially as he 

 has the Apple and Cherry trees which make up the remain- 

 der of his orchard. 



The Chestnuts at Farlington have been in close mixture 

 with Wild Cherry, Black Walnut, a few Catalpas and Ailan- 

 thus, planted four feet apart each way. These were set as 

 yearlings in 1882, and are now fifteen years old. They 

 average twenty-eight feet high and about three inches in 

 diameter, breast-high. The trunks are cleaning themselves 

 well, and are free from live branches to a height of ten or 

 fifteen feet. The close planting has undoubtedly retarded 

 their growth, but it must be remembered that the Farling- 

 ton trees have received practically no attention in twelve 

 years. The trees in these two plantings fairly illustrate the 

 difference in management for timber and for nuts, and 

 this point cannot be too strongly emphasized. In growing 

 any of the nut-trees — Hickory, Butternut, Pecan, Walnut or 

 Chestnut — if timber is to be the crop, close planting, with 

 a proper regard for light requirement, should be the method 

 pursued. If the nuts are to be the crop, wide spacing, 

 high cultivation, with proper attention to fertilizing the soil 

 and pruning are necessary. In the one case we seek to 

 get length of straight trunk at the expense of crown, and 

 in the other we pay little attention to length of bole, and 

 develop the crown to its fullest proportions. 



A good many years ago, Mr. James Smith, the veteran 

 horticulturist of Iowa, planted Chestnuts along his fence 

 rows, and in the early eighties the small boys of Des 

 Moines were surreptitiously enjoying the unique pleasure 

 of opening chestnut burrs. 



There is a single Chestnut-tree, fully eighteen inches in 

 diameter at the ground, on the lawn at Professor Popenoe's, 

 Manhattan, Kansas, and several small Chestnuts in the 

 grounds of the Colorado Agricultural College, at Fort Col- 

 lins, are doing well under irrigation. On the Everett place, 

 near Denver, trees of this species attained a height of 

 twenty feet, when they failed for lack of water. These 

 were planted in a forest-tree nursery, which was afterward 

 abandoned and the water withdrawn. 



In growing Chestnuts it is best to plant the seed where 

 tlie tree is to stand, but if transplanted at one and two years 

 old they can be removed without especial difficulty. The 



nuts should either be ]:ilanted in the fall, or kept in a well- 

 drained place in the open air, in layers a few inches thick, 

 with a covering of leaves and boards. Fall planting is 



Wasiiintcton. Oiar/cs A. Keffer. 



Plant Notes. 



Spirasa Thunbcrgii. 



THIS Chinese shrub is not only one of the best of 

 Spiraeas, but one of the most useful of all hardy shrubs, 

 from the fact that it is attractive from early April till late 

 November. It bears flowers every year, which are small 

 individually, but as they are produced in corymbs on the end 

 of the lateral branches in great profusion they completely 

 cover the shrub in early spring. A habit at once graceful and 

 compact, with slender willow-like leaves of a bright, cheer- 

 ful green, makes it an interesting plant all summer long. In 

 the autumn it holds its foliage until nearly every other decid- 

 uous shrub is bare, and then it turns first to a deep bronze, 

 and afterward to a brilliant orange or scarlet, or sometimes 

 pink, colors which are so effective that the shrub is worth 

 planting for its autumn tints alone. Some complaint is 

 made that the lower portions of the stem of the Spiraea Thun- 

 bergii become naked and unsightly with age, but this is a 

 fault with many shrubs and one readily overcome by 

 ]iruning. Its only real drawback in this region is that the 

 very tips of some of its branches are occasionally killed in 

 severe winters, as will be seen in the picture of a flowering 

 branch on page 84. 



Mrs. R. Swain Gifford, who sends us some interesting 

 notes on the behavior of this shrub in New Bedford, Massa- 

 chusetts, says that "in landscape-gardening its delicate and 

 graceful habit makes it oneof the best foils for a sturdy and 

 stiff growth. An artist painting a picture of a formal entrance 

 to a garden where Hydrangeas and a stiff hedge of Flaw- 

 thorn grew beside a stone wall chose a position where the 

 light feathery branches of a Spira?a Thunbergii swept 

 across the foreground. What is good for a picture must 

 also be good for a garden arrangement." The illustration 

 on p. 85 well shows its value in landscape composition. 

 Mrs. Gifford als<:) notices what we have never before«seen 

 stated, that this Spiraea is one of the very best of shrubs for 

 planting near the sea. "I have a plant," she writes, "that 

 has grown for several years so near the sea that it is sub- 

 jected to all the rough usage of wind and storm. Although 

 it appears delicate and fragile, it endures these hardships 

 well, and when it becomes drenched with salt spray it 

 loses none of its brightness, while the foliage of other 

 shrubs and trees near it is blackened and unsightly." 



Both the illustrations of this Spireeaare from photographs 

 taken by Miss Edith Eliot, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 



Viola odorata, var. Schonbrunn. — This is a perfectly hardy 

 Violet, which succeeds well under almost any conditions. 

 The growth is low, there are numerous runners, and the 

 flowers are deep blue, small and very sweet. The most 

 abundant bloom comes in early spring, the last of March, 

 or in April, when well-grown plants are a perfect mass 

 of blue. The flowers begin to appear in September, contin- 

 uing until severe weather, and often during the winter 

 even a few blooms can be picked, with short stems, to be 

 sure, but none the less sweet-scented if they are grown in 

 a sunny, sheltered place and have the advantage of a few 

 mild days. The plants can be grown in masses in the 

 herbaceous border, and these, with liberal treatment, will 

 give the best resultSv. They spread by runners and by self- 

 sown seeds, which latter make the best plants ; the only real 

 care required is to foster the production of fresh plants, 

 and even this is generally done by the natural seed propa- 

 gation. This Violet is a fine plant for the wild garden ; it 

 does not dislike a partial shade, and does wondertully well 

 in grass, if the latter be not too well kept. A pretty effect 

 can be obtained by planting beneath sunny windows, 

 where the Violets will bloom with Crocus and Snowdrops, 



