June 20, 1SS8.] 



Garden and Forest. 



203 



as well as in the Peace River country on the eastern slope of 

 the Rocky Mountains, I believe that the degree and length of 

 summer heat requisite for the development of this species 

 closely corresponds with that necessary for the growth of 

 wheat, and its distriliution thus appears to possess a peculiar 

 interestj regarded as a criterion of summer heat in places 

 where cultivation has not yet been attempted. It may be 

 mentioned that wheat has been successfully grown at Tele- 

 graph Creek on the Stikine and that barley is habitually culti- 

 vated there. 

 Ottawa, Canada. George AF. Ddiusflii. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — When trees are planted in a lawn shall the grass be 

 permitted to grow directly around tlie trees, or shall a circular 

 space be left around them ? 



Shall trees be trimmed when they are tirst planted, and if so, 

 in what manner .'' Will it be necessarv or advisable to trim 

 them the second year ? 



Providence, R. I., May igtli. C. A. 



[Trees, especially when first planted, will grow more 

 rapidly if the ground about them is kept free from grass 

 and weeds by frequent cultivation. A top dressing of 

 well rotted manure spread over the dug sjiace about the 

 tree in the autumn, once in every two or three years, and 

 forked into the ground the following spring, is an assist- 

 ance to all deciduous trees. In the case of low-branching 

 Conifers, like Firs, Spruces, and some Pines, standing in 

 grass where the lawn-mower is used, it is a good plan to 

 cut a circle in the turf a few inches wider than the lower 

 branches of the tree. A tree protected in this way cannot 

 be reached by the lawn-mower, even in the hands of the 

 most careless workman, and its lower branches will be 

 saved from mutilation. 



It is a not uncommon practice to prune trees severely at the 

 timie they are transplanted. All the branches and a consider- 

 able part of the stem are cut away sometimes, especially 

 in the countr}', and nothing but a bare pole planted. Trees 

 mutilated in this manner often live, and sometimes eventu- 

 ally grow into fine specimens. The object of leaves is to 

 elaborate sap, and the more leaves a plant carries, the 

 more vigorously it ■will grow. It is a mistake, therefore, 

 and an injury to the tree, to reduce its leaf surface just at 

 the time when it needs all its vitality to overcome the 

 serious shock which transplanting gives it. If a trans- 

 planted tree needs pruning to improve its form or to 

 remove a dangerous fork in the main stem, or from any 

 other cau.'^e, it is mucli better to wait for a year or two, luitil 

 it gets a good hold of the ground, rather than to prune it at the 

 time of planting. The subject of free pruning in its 

 various aspects will be discussed in the columns of this 

 journal, and it is only possible at this time to say, gener- 

 ally, in answer to the inquiry of our correspondent, that 

 the objects to be attained in pruning an ornamental tree 

 are to so form the head that all the branches may be ex- 

 posed to the light, to stimulate the growth of feeble and 

 check the too rampant growth of vigorous branches, and 

 to prevent the forking of the main trunk too near the 

 ground, and so preserve it from splitting. The one rule 

 which should be followed alwa)'s in pruning a tree, is, 

 that when a branch is to be cut off, it should be cut close 

 to the trunk, so that no stub is left to decay and carry 

 rot into the heart of the tree, and that when ^ branch is 

 shortened, it should be cut back, for the same reason, to a 

 lateral branch or bud. If this rule is followed a -well 

 established tree cannot be injured and often can be greatly 

 improved by pruning. — Ed.] 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Can you kindly advise me what to plant to make a 

 hedge against a fence aboLit four and a half feet high which is 

 shaded, but not at all densely, by a few tall Cherry and Ailanthus 

 trees, and which faces the north-east ? Would' Red Cedar do 

 in such a situation ? I should prefer an evergreen hedge, but 

 do not like the Spruce for this purpose. 



New Brunswick, N.J. V^. 



[The Red Cedar, the Hemlock, the Arbor-vit« and the 

 White Pine can all be used to make a hedge in New Jer- 



sey. All these trees grow rapidly and bear cutting. De- 

 ciduous shrubs, however, as a rule, make better hedges in 

 this country than Conifers, as they can better support the 

 unnatural conditions to which liedge-plants must be sub- 

 jected if they are to be kept to formal lines. The common 

 Privet is one of the hardiest and most easily raised plants 

 which can be used for a hedge. The Barberry makes a 

 beautiful hedge, and so do Lilacs, Syringas, Tartarian 

 Honeysuckles and other hardy garden shrubs. A hedge is 

 a formal thing, which is beautiful only when it is uniform 

 and regular and perfect ; a hedge in w'hich there are gaps 

 or in which some plants are feeble and sickly is not an at- 

 tractive object, and had better be cleared away and a new 

 one planted, as it is almost impossible to repair an old 

 hedge by inserting new plants. This is the reason why 

 it is important to use only very hardy and carefully se- 

 lected plants in making a hedge. It would be impossible, 

 probably, to make a really good hedge under the condi- 

 tions given by our correspondent. The overhanging trees 

 will inevitably stunt the growth of the plants under them ; 

 and the hedge will present, therefore, a broken and unsat- 

 isfactory appearance, which cannot fail to be disappointing. 

 An irregularly planted border of hardy shrubs in front of a 

 fence is always better than a stiff, clipped hedge ; and 

 when, as in this case, the fence is overshadowed by large 

 trees, an informal plantation is the only one which can be 

 safely used. The common Barberry and some of our 

 native Viburnums and Dogwoods will be found excellent 

 plants to use in this way. — Ed.] • 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In passing from woods to prairie here in Minnesota, 

 some points in difference of climate are forced on our .notice. 



About November 20th, 1886, a foot of snowfall in the woods 

 north of Minneapolis, while on the prairie, fifty miles west, 

 the ground was not well covered. 



On April ist, 1887, in the woods, near Aitken, sleds were 

 running with fair sleighing, and crossing the lakes with heavy 

 teams as in winter ; while on the prairie, near Fergus Falls, 

 the seeders were going. 



On April 23d, 18S8, the dense Tamarack swamps of the Itasca 

 basin held two feet of snow ; while on the clearings, too yds. 

 away, and on all tlie ground well exposed to .= iin and south 

 wind, the ground was l>are. M. B. Ayres. 



Recent Publications. 



Pen and Peiuil in Asia Minor ; or notes from tlie Levant. By 

 William Cochran. New York, Scribner and Welford. 



This book, written by an Englishman who is a member of 

 various British Agricultural Societies, is a combination of lively 

 notes of travel with the serious and e.xhaustive discussion 

 of an industry which the author has long been recommending 

 to the notice of British colonists. Incidentally he gives in- 

 teresting information with regard to the agricultural and fruit- 

 growing possibilities of Asia 'Minor, especially as concerns the 

 success which German colonists have had in raising the 

 vine in the neighborhood of Smyrna. But his main object is 

 to point out the possibilities and' explain the processes of silk- 

 culture as practiced in tlie Levant. 



A long residence in China some twenty years ago convinced 

 Mr. Cochran that the cultivation of the 'Tea-plant and of the 

 Silk-worm miglit profitably be introduced in certain parts of 

 Oueen Victoria's dominions ; and on his return to England he 

 preached this belief so vigorously in the press and elsewhere, 

 tliat, largely as a result of his words, Tea-farming was taken 

 up on a great scale in Ceylon and in India. But the general 

 adojition of sericulture in the east has V)een longer deterred, 

 owing to the diseases which, for many years, had been raging 

 among the silk-worms in China and which threatened the suc- 

 cess of fresh enterprises of the sort. A few years ago, however, 

 M Pasteur devoted himself to examining these maladies and to 

 providing a cure ; and his lessons having been put in practice 

 in the Levant, Mr. Cochran spent a season there for the pur- 

 pose of studying the results. These, as seen in the large es- 

 tablishment 'near Smyrna of Mr. Griffitt— who although an 

 English citizen, has for many years been the consu of the 

 United States— proved to be entirely satisfactory. In his pre- 

 sent book Mr. Cochran exhibits this fact in a clear way, and 

 o-ives full accounts, carefully illustrated, of the whole process 



