3o6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 227. 



suitable soils or within range of the smoke of large towns. 

 But these plants are not dear, even if one has to renew them 

 every few years. We do not hesitate to spend fifty pounds 

 in the purchase of Tulips and Hyacinths for a week or 

 two's display in spring, and this sum laid out in Rhodo- 

 dendrons would produce something at least equally as at- 

 tractive and lasting. But, as Mr. Waterer says, Rhododen- 

 drons and Azaleas will succeed in almost any soil that does 

 not contain lime or chalk, and in man)' sandy loams they 

 grow with as much vigor and luxuriance as they do in 

 peat. 



I set down the names of the Rhododendrons which I saw 

 and thought excellent. They were as follows : White, 

 Rosalie Seidel, Sappho, Mrs. S. Simpson, Mrs. J. Glutton, 

 The Queen ; rose or lilac, Everestiana, Marchioness of 

 Lansdowne, Lady C. Mitford, Alexander Dancer, Lady 

 Grey Egerton, Stella ; scarlet, J. Mackintosh, Mrs. Shuttle- 

 worth, E. S. Rand, M. H. Sutton, Doncaster, J. M. Brooks ; 

 crimson or purple, Cetewayo, Melton, G. Paul, John Wal- 

 ter, Sigismund Rucker, Michael Waterer, Purpureum 

 grandiflorum. King of the Purples, C. S. Sargent, Sir Hugo. 

 These are all sterling sorts, such as I would like to plant in 

 quantity in a garden for myself. In a nursery where bad 

 or inferior varieties are not cultivated it is almost super- 

 fluous to make selections. To stand on an elevation at one 

 end of the nursery and look over the whole extent of Rho- 

 dodendrons is to see the full splendor of these plants, a 

 splendor which, in my opinion, is unequaled even by the 

 Rose. 



The propagation of Rhododendrons is partly from layers 

 and partly by grafting, the former, although slower, being 

 preferred by Mr. Waterer on account of the suckers which 

 grafted plants are almost certain to develop to the injury 

 and even destruction of the cion. The renovation of sickly 

 or worn-out specimens by cutting them in hard, and some- 

 time by grafting better sorts upon them, was described and 

 shown to us by the young Mr. Anthony Waterer, who is as 

 keen a grower and admirer of American plants as his 

 father. 



In June everything at Knap Hill is eclipsed by the Rho- 

 dodendrons and Azaleas, but if one can afford the time an 

 inspection of the other plants in the nursery is of more than 

 ordinary interest. Nothing but what is good, and almost 

 everything in fine health and form among Coniferse, forest- 

 trees, ornamental trees and shrubs, and even herbaceous 

 plants may be seen here as one rarely sees them. I noted 

 variegated Turkey Oak, Double White Thorn, Weeping 

 Thorn, Adrus atlantica glauca, a beautiful Laburnum 

 called Waterers, remarkable for length of raceme and 

 color ; a huge tree of the Golden-yellow Chestnut ; another 

 of the Crested Beech, and one of the evergreen F. antarc- 

 tica ; a Weeping Beech, thirty feet by sixty feet, which is 

 said to be only about sixty years old, and is one of the 

 most wonderful trees in the nursery. Thousands of the 

 Blue Spruce (Picea pungens glauca), of Golden Yews, Cy- 

 presses, and many other conifers ; Acer Worleyi, with rich 

 bronzy leaves ; Alnus Van Houttei, yellow ; a fine deep- 

 colored red Horse-chestnut, called yEsculus rubicunda 

 rosea Brioti ; the silvery Pyrus sorbus, van lutescens ; 

 grand forms of Cydonia Japonica ; Weeping Purple Beeches, 

 and very fine Hollies. ' I might run through almost the 

 whole of the numerous plants enumerated in Mr. Waterer's 

 catalogue, and state that all were first-rate. A form of 

 Spiraea Bumalda, called the Knap Hill Scarlet, is one of Mr. 

 Waterer's new plants with a promising future. It has scarlet 

 flowers in large compact heads, and blooms from July until 

 destroyed by frost. Old, and in some cases unique, speci- 

 mens of many trees are scattered about over the nursery, 

 and impart to the place an appearance unusual in trade 

 establishments. The preparation of the plants for removal 

 is done systematically and thoroughly, so that large speci- 

 mens can be transferred to other gardens without much 

 danger of failure. Some of the best of our newer gardens 

 have been planted with material supplied from Knap Hill. 

 The garden at Waddesdon Manor, the residence of Baron 



F. de Rothschild, considered by competent judges one of 

 the best gardens in England, was stocked principally by 

 Mr. Waterer. 



London. VlSllOr. 



Cultural Department. 



Iron-clad Stocks — The Graft-box Fungus. 



T AM much pleased to find that my proposal to employ iron- 

 -'■ clad seedlings as stocks for budding or grafting tree-fruits 

 for the cold north meets with the endorsement of Professor 

 Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, who has made a special 

 study of the best methods of propagating fruit-trees in the 

 north-west, and who is a well-known experimenter with the so- 

 called Russian varieties of fruit-trees. Refeiring to my re- 

 marks on this topic in a recent issue of Garden and Forest, 

 Professor Budd says in Rural Life: "Beyond all doubt 

 budded Apple-trees on hardy roots would prove more valua- 

 ble than our ordinary piece-root grafts. In practice it would 

 also be a source of gain to the nurseryman. Budded trees, 

 when two years old, are larger and smoother than root-grafts 

 three years old, and the number of culls among budded trees 

 would be small — not one-tenth the number found among 

 piece-root grafts where third cuts are used." 



While defending piece-root grafting from what seemed to 

 me unreasonable criticism, I have always opposed the use of 

 third cuts, or even second cuts from small roots. But I shall 

 hail with joy the laying away of this controversy by the adop- 

 tion of a class of stocks which will allow of budding the iron- 

 clads in place of grafting them. Heretofore this has been im- 

 practicable, because it brings the stock above ground, and 

 imless the iron-clads budded on common stocks are planted 

 out in the orchard so deeply as to well cover the point of 

 union, the young trees are no hardier than their stocks. 



In order, however, to obtain iron-clad seedlings fit for bud- 

 ding valuable market fruit must be used at a loss unless it is 

 evaporated and the seed saved from the cores ; and even this 

 makes much more work in extracting the seed from the cores, 

 compared with ordinary cider-mill seed. But at a dollar 

 or two per pound such seed will be cheap for all nurserymen 

 who are growing budded stock for planting where the ther- 

 mometer goes down into the minus thirties and lower nearly 

 every winter. 



On the subject of the "graft-box fungus" Professor Budd ad- 

 vises keeping the grafts in a low temperature, even considera- 

 bly below freezing ; and a long experience has taught me that 

 grafts so kept winter in fine condition, and grow strongly 

 when planted out. So particular have I been about this mat- 

 ter that when I have had root-grafting done by others I have in- 

 sisted that the grafts be made early in the winter, and sent to 

 me as soon as made. A single neglect of this rule cost me the 

 loss of a considerable lot of grafts of one of the new Russian 

 Pears. When received from the grafter, early in April, they were 

 nearly all started. Though very carefully put out, only a few 

 grew, and of these none made a satisfactory growth or became 

 merchantable. 



The chief difficulty in wintering root-grafts, aside from 

 temperature, arises from variations in the moisture of the 

 packing. When fine sawdust direct from the green log is 

 used, carefully packing it about and between the bundles of 

 grafts, containing not more than one hundred each, the boxes 

 closely covered and kept in a freezing temperature, the grafts 

 will afterward be found in perfect order, and no sign of the 

 fungus makes its appearance. This statement is based on an 

 experience of more than twenty-five years. On the other 

 hand, if the grafting is carelessly done, with unnecessary ex- 

 posure of stock and cion to heating and drying influences, 

 and then the completed grafts, in large open bundles, are 

 packed loosely in a mixture of chopped straw and wet sawdust, 

 and kept in an even moderately warm cellar, either the grafts 

 will be attacked by the fungus, or they will become too dry, or 

 their buds will swell and grow — any one of which occur- 

 rences is fatal to that vitality upon which, with careful planting, 

 we must depend for a stand of marketable young nursery trees. 

 On light soils particularly, but also on any soil suitable to the 

 purpose, a vigorous growth of the grafts depends largely upon 

 deep, careful and firm planting. One good bud above the 

 surface is better than more. The soil should have been 

 several years in tillage, deeply plowed, and abundantly and 

 evenly enriched from the surface downward. In this way we 

 get very fine trees from carefully made, kept, and planted 

 root-grafts. But with good iron-clad stocks, still better results 

 may be attained by budding. . 



Newport, Vt. T. H. Hoskins. 



