4IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 24, iS 



which separates a tree from a shrub, and any classification 

 of plants which attempts to separate trees from shrubs must 

 be purely artificial, and, therefore, unsatisfactory. The 

 best definition of a tree we have seen, and one that goes a 

 long way towards answering this perplexing question, 

 was presented by Mr. B. E. Fernow to the Botanical Club 

 of the American Association, at its recent meeting at Col- 

 umbus. "Trees are woody plants, the seed of which has 

 the inherent capacity of producing naturally, within their 

 native limits, one main erect axis, not divided near the 

 ground, the primary axis continuing to grow for a number 

 of years more vigorously than the lateral axes, and the 

 lower branches dying otT in time, "is Mr. Fernow's defi- 

 nition of a tree, and it is a sound and philosophical one. 



the autumnal tints of their foliage, will open the way to 

 more effective plantations than have yet been made in this 

 country, and will reap the reward of his intelligence and en- 

 terprise. The field, so far as we know, is entirely a new one. 



Planting for Autumn Effect. 



Planting with reference to making the most of the 

 autumnal change in the color of the foliage of many of 

 our North American plants, and to producing brilliant 

 pictures by harmoniously grouping together trees and 

 shrubs which are specially beautiful at this season of the 

 year, is a matter which has received as yet little attention. 

 The field, nevertheless, is an inviting one, and a careful 

 study of the material at the disposal of the American 

 planter for the production of autumnal effects will well 

 repay the landscape-gardener and the planter. Different 

 species must be studied with reference to the colors they 

 assume in autumn, and if the best results in picture-mak- 

 ing of this sort are to be attained, the peculiarities of 

 coloring in individual trees must be taken advantage of. 

 With some kinds of trees, and they are often the most 

 brilliant at this season of the year, like the Flovi^ering 

 Dogwood, the Tupelo and the Liquidambar, all individuals 

 assume the same autumn livery, and there is little choice, 

 therefore, between individual trees in this respect. In 

 others, individuals differ greatly in the time of the turning 

 of the leaves and in the colors they assume. Every one 

 has noticed, in the case of the Sugar Maple, that on some 

 individuals the leaves are all golden, while on others a 

 portion are scarlet, or that sometimes the leaves on a 

 single branch turn scarlet while the remainder of the tree 

 is still green. Individuals of the Scarlet Maple differ even 

 more than Sugar Maples in this respect. On some the 

 leaves are pale yellow ; on others they are green with 

 scarlet margins ; others are brilliantly scarlet ; in western 

 Massachusetts there is one tree of this species, now known 

 from one end of the Commonwealth to the other, whose 

 leaves turn from green first to deep, dark purple, and then 

 to the most brilliant scarlet. There are individuals of the 

 White Elm whose leaves barely change color at all before 

 falling ; in others they are bright yellow for many days. 

 Individuals of the White Ash vary remarkably in this way. 

 The leaves upon some trees turn to a deep, bronzy 

 purple peculiar to this Ash, while in others they turn pale 

 yellow and never show the real autumnal beauty of the 

 tree. The Scarlet Oak is generally constant in its autumn 

 colors ; but individual White Oaks vary considerably, and 

 the Black Oak varies still more. 



It is noticed that the autumnal coloring of an individual 

 tree, or even of a particular branch of a tree, is constant. 

 If the leaves on a particular branch of a Maple tree as- 

 sume a particular color one year, they will continue to do 

 so, year after year, as long as the branch exists. If the 

 leaves of a certain Oak are more brilliant than those of 

 any of its associates, they will continue to be so year 

 after year. Autumnal effects of foliage, as a whole, vary 

 in different years, but whether, as a whole, its brilliancy is 

 greater or less, certain individuals will always excel others 

 in effects of color. 



Planters, therefore, can well select and perpetuate these 

 individuals in the same way that trees with abnormally 

 colored leaves, like the Purple Beech, or with unusual 

 habit of growth, like the Pyramidal Oak, have been per- 

 petuated. The nurserjmian who will propagate by graft- 

 ing Maples or Oaks or Elms, selected with reference to 



The English are gradually being led — if we may 

 trust the words of many writers in their horticultural 

 journals — to abandon that bedding-out system which has 

 long almost exclusively prevailed in their gardens, and to 

 give more attention to hardy plants and informal arrange- 

 ments. As a reaction in taste almost always, at its out- 

 set, leads those who favor it into extreme opinions and 

 statements, we are not surprised to find that many of these 

 writers go too far in their condemnation of carpet and 

 pattern beds, granting to them no beauty and seeing no 

 situations in which their effect is appropriate. Such is 

 the case with a writer in a recent number of The Gai'deti, 

 whose interesting article is called "English Flower Gar- 

 dens." Nevertheless, much that he says is well felt and 

 well expressed, as the following brief extracts will show : 



" It is evident that there is a growing taste for a more natu- 

 ral style of planting and a freer use of hardy plants in our 

 Hower gardens. It takes time to breakdown prejudices, even 

 when they have little to recommend them. A transition 

 period is necessary in many cases, and this we have been 

 going through lately, as shown by the use of ' dot ' plants on 

 our hitherto flat and monotonous beds ; but even this is not 

 satisfactory, and the whole system must be swept away to 

 make roonr for a better. Many and great are the difficulties 

 which beset those of us who have at heart the better planting 

 of our gardens. While deprecating the sameness and pat- 

 terns of the l:)edding-out system and the extensive use of 

 tender plants, we must not run to the other extreme and ex- 

 clude many of our best plants on the plea that they will not 

 stand our inclement winters out-of-doors. As well discard 

 those hardy annuals which will not reproduce themselves in 

 the soil where the seed fails without some sort of preparation, 

 and the perennials, which want an annual division and an 

 occasional renewal or manin-ing of the soil. . . . Variety 

 is one of the great charms of the garden, of which we must 

 not lose sight, and I, for one, should be sorry to discard 

 many tender things. Who is there amongst us, having once 

 seen a good bed of Heliotrope, would be induced to do with- 

 out it in the garden ? And yet it is one of our most tender 

 plants. . . . But there are other gardens which have none 

 of this formality, or where it can be easily swept away, and 

 these are the places that gladden the hearts of those who are 

 striving to give us something better than lessons in geometry, 

 or in making thousands of plants look as nearly as possible 

 like one. In these we shall see artistic grouping of flowering 

 and ornamental foliaged plants here, there and everywhere, 

 except in the positions most often selected, where they break 

 up and spoil a fine stretch of landscape. . . . There are 

 many gardeners who thoroughly understand the requirements 

 of the plants under tlieir care; but all are not able to make 

 the best use of the material at hand, and before our gardens 

 can be made beautiful this knowledge of plant life must be 

 combined with the eye of an artist and the means of carrying 

 out the requisite work. Tiie great dislike to change arises 

 from the fact that unhappy comfiinations may result in some- 

 thing offensive to good taste. The average 'bedding-out' 

 gardener makes exact copies of some beds seen elsewhere and 

 is safe. But this is not possible or desirable in artistic gar- 

 dening, the end and aim of which should be the production 

 of beautiful living pictures not seen quite in the same way 

 elsewhere; they should be, in fact, masterpieces instead of 

 copies." 



Window Gardens. 



THE practice of decorating windows with growing plants is 

 growing in every part of the country, and a great diver- 

 sity of taste is displayed. In some places we find, in a box 

 that occupies the window-sill, a miniature flower garden, as 

 great a variety as possible, and so crowded that individuality 

 of form or color is entirely lost. The result is simply con- 

 fused color, which is anything but pleasant. In another 

 section we find Isoxes filled with Coleus, and where Initone or 

 two colors are used the effect is very good. With but one 

 variety of Coleus, and the plants well grown and leapt in 

 proper shape, a window-box can be made beaiuiful. In 

 other places we find boxes of Palms, Dracs-nas and the like, 

 and these are often l:)eautiful. Again we see boxes filled 



