492 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 407. 



be difficult to arouse an interest which will lead the 

 student of nature to the neighboring woods and roadsides 

 for additional knowledge of our trees and their uses, their 

 histories, their relationships and distribution. In a recent 

 address by the Secretary of the Minnesota State Forestry 

 Association, it is justly contended that the foundation for 

 systematic forestry is best laid in the school-house lot, for 

 if we are ever to have a stable forest-practice throughout 

 the country it must rest on the general knowledge of trees 

 and their importance to the whole community. This knowl- 

 edge ought to begin in the primary schools. The youngest 

 school boy is old enough to find the study of the school- 

 garden the most absorbing of all his occupations. 



fruits persist on some of them all winter, and there is a 

 delicacy of tint in the branchlets of a shrubbery which is 

 never as charming as when the ground is covered with 

 snow. One who knows trees and shrubs only when they 

 are in leaf and flovi^er knows only halt their beauty. 



The Shrubbery in December. 



SHRUBS with brilliantly colored bark or with persistent 

 bright fruit appear to the greatest advantage in these 

 clear, cold December days, and make parks and shrubberies 

 where such plants are skillfully massed exceedingly inter- 

 esting. In our country they should be more largely em- 

 ployed than any one has yet used them, because during 

 several weeks after the leaves have fallen from most trees 

 and shrubs we have here delightful, sunny, crisp days, 

 when it is a pleasure to be out-of-doors, and parks should 

 be made as beautiful as at any other season of the year. 



The shrubs whose bark is now the most brilliant are the 

 red-stem Dogwoods, principally the North American Cor- 

 nussericeaandCornusstolonifera, and the Old World Cornus 

 alba and its Siberian variety, the Japanese Kerria, with its 

 bright yellow-green, slender, graceful stems, and several of 

 the yellow-stemmed shrubby Willows. Massed together 

 these plants now make a handsome and agreeable com- 

 bination of color. 



Of fruits borne by shrubs none is now so brilliant as that 

 of the Japanese Berberis Thunbergii, which is loaded with 

 its bright scarlet berries ; and these retain their freshness and 

 beauty until after the leaves appear in May. It is interesting 

 to note that as quails are particularly fond of these berries, 

 Berberis Thunbergii can be planted with advantage where 

 it is desirable to furnish these birds with winter food. Every 

 year makes the value of this excellent shrub appear greater, 

 and the ease with which it can be raised from seed, and its 

 hardiness, which enables it to flourish as far north, at least, 

 as Ottawa, in the Province of Quebec, make it possible to 

 cultivate it on a very large scale, and to place it within the 

 reach of every one. Other shrubs which are just now 

 conspicuous with brilliant scarlet fruit are the native Black 

 Alders, Ilex verticillata and Ilex laevigata. Of these the 

 latter, although the more beautiful of the two plants, is 

 comparatively rare and very little known, except by 

 botanists. 



Some of the American Thorns can well be used where it 

 is desirable to produce winter effects with deciduous-leaved 

 trees. The scarlet fruit of the Washington Thorn, Cratae- 

 gus cordata, is just now beautiful ; it is not large, but very 

 lustrous, and it retains its freshness quite late into the 

 winter. At all seasons of the year thfs is a desirable little 

 tree, and it is hardy and grows rapidly. The flowers 

 appear in the early summer, after those of the other Haw- 

 thorns are gone, and its shining nearly triangular leaves 

 turn late in the autumn to bright shades of orange and 

 scarlet. It is probably most beautiful earlj^ in November, 

 for the color of the fruit is heightened then by that of the 

 foliage, the two blending and harmonizing perfectly. 

 The fruit of the Cockspur Thorn, Crataegus Crus-galli, is 

 now at its best, and often quite covers the branches from 

 which the leaves have all disappeared. The fruit of this 

 species is much larger than that of the Washington Thorn, 

 but it is dull, and red, rather than scarlet, in color. But the 

 most showy fruit of.any of the Thorns at this season of the 

 year is that of Crata?gus Carrieri, a probable hybrid of which 

 some account is given in another column of this issue. 



This list includes but a few of the shrubs whose bright 

 colors delight the eye in early winter. These ornamental 



-p] 



The Heaths among the Pines in Early Winter. 



'HE attractiveness of the Pines in winter is largely due 

 J_ to the Heath family, which is the best represented 

 order of woody plants in our region. One of the chief 

 charms of the deciduous members of the order is in the 

 diversified forms and colors of the denuded branches and 

 twigs. The soft and downy young shoots of the Stagger 

 Bush, Andromeda Marianna, are reddish brown, and be- 

 low them, on last year's growth, are snuggled the scaly 

 buds which, in spring, will open into delicate clusters of 

 white waxy flowers. A. ligustrina, though not as hand- 

 some as A. Marianna, is, nevertheless, quite interesting 

 now and at any time during the winter. This species also 

 has its flower-buds in clusters on the branchlets of last year. 

 The two species of Leucothoe in the Pines are both 

 deciduous. L. racemosa is tall, compact, straight and 

 clean-limbed, and all the new growth is a deep red color. 

 L. recurva is much lower and more straggling. The flower- 

 buds, formed during summer, are arranged along the stems 

 of this year's growth in both species ; they terminate the 

 branches in long racemes, and some of the buds now look 

 almost ready to expand, but they will not unfold, however 

 warm it may be, until spring. The three species of Gay- 

 lussacias, familiar here, are also interesting studies now. 

 The little creeping G. dumosa is still holding its leaves, but 

 there is no difficulty in finding the numerous scaly buds 

 which inclose next season's racemes of handsome flowers. 

 The taller shrub, G. frondosa, has slender upright gray 

 branches now bare of leaves. From the scaly, conspicuous 

 buds next spring will burst drooping slender pedicels of 

 reddish bell-shaped flowers, followed by sweet, edible ber- 

 ries which are often found in markets under the general 

 name of huckleberries. Less tall than G. frondosa is the 

 more straggling G. resinosa. The leaves are gone from 

 this species, too, but the numerous clustered buds promise 

 abundant flowers, and later the shining black edible fruit. 



The Vacciniums, or true Huckleberries, are well repre- 

 sented in the Pines. V. Pennsylvanica is a dwarf straggling 

 bush, growing in dry sandy places. The large, scaly 

 flower-buds are easily recognized from the leaf-buds. The 

 flowers open a little before the leaves appear, and are fol- 

 lowed by large, sweet, delicious fruit, ripe by the last of 

 June and early July. The numerous fine seeds of the fruits 

 of the Vacciniums are not objectionable as are the ten 

 large, long seeds of the Gaylussacias. In similarly dry 

 sandy tracts grows the low shrub, \'. vacillans; its fruit 

 ripens later and is less luscious than that of V. Pennsyl- 

 vanica. Both species have green branches throughout the 

 winter. In the damp Pines the Swamp Huckleberry, V. 

 corymbosum, and its numerous forms are abundant, the 

 bushes of the different varieties being of various sizes. The 

 branches show a wide range of color, some having a pur- 

 plish tinge in winter, others red and yellowish-green. 

 There is even greater diversity in the form of the flowers 

 and fruit ; some bushes bear broad flat berries, while others 

 have nearly round fruit, and still others pyriform. While 

 the quality of all is good, that of the large flat ones is the 

 best. 



But no plant among the Heaths is more attractive in win- 

 ter than Rhododendron viscosum, the white Swamp Hone}'- 

 suckle. The large terminal scaly flower-buds are variously 

 tinted, as are also the twigs and branches and leaf-buds. 

 In striking contrast is Clethra, which grows by its side. 

 This shrub is almost wholly a dull gray color, nearly all 

 the branches and twigs being surrounded with dry gray 

 seed-pods. The evergreen members of the family are 

 always interesting. The thick, shining leaves of the broad- 

 leaved Kalmia and the varied color of the branchlets which 



