3IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 227. 



constructive fancy. Things grow and arrange themselves at 

 his bidding, and out of a poor little suburban garden, strug- 

 gling witli dust and drought and want of pennies to spend 

 on gardening, he creates a little bower of beauty. And, 

 seriously, I do not think he is altogether so fantastic and un- 

 practical as many people would make him out to be. Take 

 the garden just alluded to, for instance. I admit that Lilac- 

 bushes do not grow into the right shape in a night simply 

 by being set free from contracted surroundings. But in 

 most cases they will correct their own shape in time, and in 

 gardening, as in other things, promise is often as pure a source 

 of joy as fulfillment. You will observe that the other sugges- 

 tions I m;ide did not entail the laying of a single new bed, 

 except one near the kitchen-door, and a bed of Lilies-of-the- 

 valley and Ferns is not an expensive one. If you do not care 

 to have that bed, you can always find some place to put the 

 rejected Geraniums where their colors do not clash with those 

 of other flowers. It is only a trifle more expensive to buy 

 seeds — for the round bed — of one or two choice varieties of 

 the same flower than it is to buy " assorted " packets. The 

 bed running along the piazza can be managed by degrees. 

 If you get one or two salient points to begin with — say the angles 

 of the steps — the remainder will not disturb you so much, and 

 you can go on gradually, getting nearer and nearer to your 

 ideal till your bed comes fairly up to it, and you can turn your 

 attention elsewhere. There are several cheap ways of filling 

 such a bed as the one we are discussing, if you feel that you 

 would like to keep it, and, by degrees, make it into an appro- 

 priate setting for the house to stand in. These beds are not 

 so much the fashion now, and many people seem to hide their 

 flowers carefully out of the way if they have any at all, and 

 yet this flowery setting to the house may be easily made to 

 have a consistent character and pleasing effect. There are 

 many ways of keeping up this character ; the one suggested 

 above, of an artistic grouping of indoor plants that are kept 

 over for next winter's use on either side of the piazza-steps, is 

 quite effective, and might be made, with some knack in the ' 

 grouping, to combine gracefully with the beginning of a 

 herbaceous border. If there are no indoor plants available, 

 and a herbaceous border is what you care most for, some of 

 the perennials might be made to take their place, but, whatever 

 you choose to have, do not let it look as if the piazza-steps 

 were an accident cutting the flower-bed into two disjointed 

 halves ; let the flower-bed lead up to, and accentuate, the steps. 

 This, again, can be done in many ways — everything can be 

 done well in more ways than one, if you once set about look- 

 ing for them. Again, if a herbaceous border be what you are 

 aiming for, there is no reason for trying to convert the whole 

 of the bed along the piazza into a herbaceous border at once ; 

 it can be planted bit by bit, filling in the ends with some 

 such things as Mignonette or Poppies. The Mignonette would 

 require a row of Nasturtiums or Scarlet Runners at the back 

 to bind house and border together, and also some kind of a 

 boundary line of Ferns or low Nasturtiums between them 

 and the more elaborate arrangement near the piazza-steps. 

 Either Mignonette or Poppies would allow of a border of 

 Daffodils to make the house look bright in the spring- 

 time. 



As for the Tulips, the best plan is to start by buying the right 

 ones ; but, in any case, obnoxious ones can be weeded out 

 either by making a little color chart when they are in full 

 bloom, and marking the bulbs accordingly, or simply by tying 

 something to the displeasing ones and discarding the bulbs 

 when they are lifted. All this work of reconstruction is easier 

 to plan than to accomplish, and yet it is much more satisfac- 

 tory than criticising pictures, for you can continue at this for 

 years and know nothing of art or beauty either. But you can- 

 not begin criticising gardens without learning certain broad 

 lessons in gardening, such as, for instance, that Hollyhocks do 

 not bloom in the spring, and that different plants, in order to 

 look well, must have different surroundings. From this it is 

 only a step to begin to put your theories into practice, and it is 

 this practice of gardening that deserves to be much more 

 widely spread than it is. Gardening in America seems to me 

 a luxury for the wealthy only, and there appears no good rea- 

 son why this should be so. My first impressions of America 

 in autumn had left ine with a vague sense of perplexity at the 

 inconsistency between the glorious woods and the uncared-for 

 front-yards; my spring impressions only served to increase 

 this perplexity. In a country where so much might be done, 

 it is sad to see how comparatively little is done ; how few of 

 the residents in these Boston suburbs that I have had an op- 

 portunity of observing seem to appreciate the inestimable 

 blessings of gardening as a fine art. 

 Milton, Mass. CeaKa Waern. 



Is Spraying Overdone ? 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — If Dr. Hoskins' opinion (p. 261) is correct, — " that we 

 are doing more spraying in our orchards now than we shall do 

 ten years hence," — then it must follow that the work of our 

 experimenters and the conclusions of orchard-owners are 

 alike well-nigh valueless, for probably not one orchard-owner 

 in fifty now sprays his trees. In comparatively few commu- 

 nities has spraying yet become sufficiently popular to exert any 

 marked eftect upon the fruit-markets, especially of the tree- 

 fruits. Any diminution of this practice must reduce the value 

 of the operation, so far as markets are concerned, to an insig- 

 nificant margin. My own opinion is decidedly opposed to 

 that of Dr. Hoskins. I am convinced that ten years hence 

 three times more spraying will be done than now ; and my 

 faith rests less upon the present work of experimenters than 

 upon the fact that very many of our most acute fruit-growers 

 are ardent champions of spraying. I know of no recent 

 practice in agricultural directions which finds so many earnest 

 advocates among the best farmers as this ; and this fact is in- 

 disputable proof of the excellence of the operation. 



I am willing, and, in fact, anxious, to admit that much indis- 

 criminate spraying is being done, and that some growers will 

 be inclined to discontinue it ; but this fact only brings out the 

 more clearly the benefits which result from proper methods. 

 It is also true that some of our insect and fungus invaders are 

 occasionally our friends, but they are most unreliable friends. I 

 cannot trust the codlin-moth to thin my apples ; sometimes it 

 thins them until none are left, and sometimes not enough. And 

 if I breed a healthy crop of insects in the year when my fruit is 

 abundant, I am afraid that I shall have too many of these 

 helpers the coming year when my crop may be small. The 

 codlin-moth and apple-scab are expensive allies. The only 

 real benefit which I can get from them is the consolation that 

 they will often ruin the crop of my neighbor who does not 

 spray, and thereby leave the better market for myself who do 

 spray ! 



It would certainly be effective treatment to " uproot every 

 variety " of Apple which is subject to apple-scab, for then, in 

 western New York, at least, we should have no market apples 

 left, and we should have no occasion for spraying! But we 

 cannot expect to convince our orchardists that it is wise to up- 

 root the Baldwin orchards ; they will at once answer that it is 

 cheaper to spray. I own that we should attempt to produce 

 scab-proof varieties, and Dr. Hoskins makes a good point in 

 calling attention to the fact, but until we obtain them we must 

 content ourselves with present varieties and carbonate of cop- 

 per. We have no proof whatever that crosses with scab-proof 

 varieties will give scab-proof offspring ; and the means of ob- 

 taining such varieties are not yet known. There are, to be 

 sure, many present varieties which are little affected by scab, 

 but, unfortunately, most of them are not profitable market 

 sorts. 



Weshall, no doubt, greatly cheapen andsimplify the methods 

 of spraying, but the practice, as a whole, is, in my opinion, one 

 of the distinct advancements of modern times in agricultural 

 and horticultural practice. 



Cornell University. L. H. Bailey. 



A Good Example. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Last year the atteiition of your readers was called to the 

 making of a semi-public water and wild garden by Mr. S. C. 

 Nash at Clifton, New Jersey. It will be remembered that this 

 had only recently been a swampy, worthless piece of ground, 

 occupying a depression stretching along the public highway. 

 The hollow had been fed by abundant springs, and nature had 

 full sway for years to establish the various indigenous 

 weeds, which, with the attendant animal life, make such 

 places eyesores when near frequented roads, whose dust 

 adds the last touch of desolation. Such places are only too 

 frequent, and the attempt to convert such a waste into an or- 

 derly garden in keeping with the natural conditions of the 

 situation seems so interesting that some report of the progress 

 made may probably be encouraging and helpful to others. 



Mr. Nash being an enthusiastic grower of aquatic plants, the 

 first work done was the clearing out of the natural basins and 

 adjusting the borders to which the waters should be confined. 

 After clearing out the grasses and rushes it was found that the 

 bottoms were covered with indigenous water weeds of 

 no beauty, but of very rapid growth, which seemed an 

 almost insuperable bar to further progress. These have been 

 fought persistently for several years, but are still very vigorous. 



