Garden and Forest. 



[Number 463. 



Experiment Station, entitled Suggestions for the Planting 

 of Shrubbery, will be found useful to novices and to many 

 who are not altogether without experience. This little 

 pamphlet, which lays down many sound principles, illus- 

 trated in a helpful way by half-tone pictures, shows at the 

 outset an example of the common or nursery type of 

 planting, in which each tree and shrub is treated as a dis- 

 connected individual, and a contrasting one in which the 

 same materials are massed about the borders of the same 

 lawn so as to make a satisfying and consistent picture. 

 The point emphasized fs that the value of the shrubbery 

 lies primarily in the effect of the mass, and not of the sepa- 

 rate shrubs. Illustrations are given to show how effective 

 a natural copse may be when it stretches across a vale on 

 the further border of a meadow, which it makes more 

 beautiful by the mystery of its boundary. Nature's irregu- 

 lar planting of this sort is always interesting because of its 

 attractive sky-line and the wonderful play of light and 

 shadow on the masses of foliage that advance in promon- 

 tories or retreat in quiet bays, with the greensward flowing 

 about and among them like the waters of a lake rippling 

 along a picturesque shore. The beauty of such a boun- 

 dary is not fully appreciated until we study examples of 

 another kind, and it is emphasized in this pamphlet by the 

 picture of shrubbery in a city lot where each plant is 

 pruned to a definite form with its outline sharp and hard, 

 a practice which is utterly destructive of the continuous 

 flow of form and color which makes a natural copse so 

 delightful. Nothing is gained by planting shrubs in masses 

 unless the plants are allowed to mingle so that the at- 

 tention is not arrested by individuals. After this principle 

 is established it is logical to insist on the elementary rule 

 that for small places there should be a central open space 

 without sharply defined limits, but with a natural or ap- 

 parently unstudied border ; that any arrangement which 

 gives a patchy effect should be avoided, and that shrubs 

 should be eschewed which are only interesting for their 

 curious forms or singular colors. 



Now, what class of shrubs is the most desirable? Dif- 

 ferent persons will have various preferences, but the main 

 point is to be sure that the bulk of the planting consists of 

 hardy and vigorous species, and for this nothing better can 

 be chosen than many of our native species. Every planter 

 who has room for Roses will plant them somewhere, but 

 the foliage and habits of garden Roses are not such as 

 give them value in a shrub border, although some of the 

 species, like the Japanese Rosa rugosa, have distinct merit 

 in a mass. There is no fear that our wild shrubs will look 

 common when transferred from the woods to the lawn, for 

 they develop such beauty under cultivation that those alone 

 who are well acquainted with them will recognize them as 

 the natives of our roadsides and wood borders. Of course, 

 no one can plant effectively unless he has an affectionate 

 regard for the shrubs he uses, and any one who establishes 

 intimate relations with nature has the tenderest feeling for 

 the wild things that he finds struggling for life along brook- 

 sides and in the corners of pasture lots. This is why our 

 native shrubs are always good for homelike pictures, and 

 although we may take some interest in the variegated 

 foliage and the weeping habit of the sports which are for 

 sale in the nurseries, the greatest satisfaction will come 

 from a sympathetic use of our own wild shrubs. 



We commend this little pamphlet to our readers, not so 

 much for its specific directions as for its general temper 

 and the foundation principles which it lays down. One 

 cultural rule, however, we are glad to see insisted on. This 

 rule is, that in making a shrub group the holes for the 

 bushes should not be made in the sod, but the entire area 

 should be deeply spaded and the shrubs set in thickly. If 

 small shrubs are set closely, say, eighteen inches or two 

 feet apart, there will be no danger of a display of bare 

 earth, for the whole surface will be practically covered 

 with a carpet of green the first year. Under this plan, too, 

 the plants can be hoed, and this stirring of the soil will 



cause a much stronger growth, while just as soon as the 

 plants begin to crowd each other they can be lifted from 

 what is practically a home-made nursery. In this way the 

 planter has not only a shrub garden at once, but he has a 

 reserve garden in which for several years he can find sup- 

 plies of the very best material for use in other places. 

 Professor Bailey says that the man who plants his shrubs 

 in holes in the sward does not seriously mean to make any 

 foliage-mass, and it is likely that he does not know the 

 value of broad masses in artistic planting. Where large 

 shrubs have open spaces between them, some low-growing, 

 procumbent species, like the hardy Vinca or Evonymus 

 obovatus, may be planted, but all this is another matter. 

 The rule for continuous cultivating in shrub groups is sound 

 in theory, and it has proved of great advantage in prac- 

 tice in many places. 



An Outline of a Course in Horticulture. 



THE first question which confronts every teacher of 

 horticulture is : What shall be included in horticul- 

 tural instruction ? Shall the course be restricted to the 

 so-called practical problems attending the propagation of 

 fruits and vegetables, or shall it be made to include the 

 wider field of landscape-gardening and plant-breeding, 

 and the application of the laws of vegetable physiology ? 

 Shall we study the art of raising plants, or shall we consider 

 the principles on which the art is founded ? 



For my own part, I should not regard with favor a course 

 in horticulture which is restricted to the mechanical opera- 

 tions of the propagation and culture of plants. The student 

 should know something of the origin, habits and relation- 

 ships of plants, also of the causes of variation and the 

 effects likely to be produced by the operations he may per- 

 form. In other words, he should know something about 

 plants and their amelioration, as well as something about 

 their cultivation. For this reason, as well as to train the 

 powers of observation, thorough knowledge of systematic, 

 structural and physiological botany should be at the foun- 

 dation of every course in horticulture. 



A knowledge of agricultural chemistry, of elementary 

 physics and of soils is also essential, for reasons which are 

 apparent, and this work should precede technical instruc- 

 tion in horticulture. Accepting this view, no course in horti- 

 culture should be offered before the junior year in our 

 colleges. 



Beginning with the junior year a twelve or sixteen weeks' 

 course in pomology may well be introduced. The student 

 will at this time have had sufficient training in botany to 

 understand the necessary discussions of the distinguishing 

 characters and the relationships of the fruits studied, while 

 the season is favorable for a field study of orchard fruits 

 and grapes, with special reference to harvesting and mar- 

 keting. The propagation and culture of many kinds of 

 fruits may also be studied in a practical way at this time. 

 In some sections the season will be too far advanced for 

 budding, but the making of hardwood cuttings, and the 

 pruning and preparing of plants for winter, afford abundant 

 opportunity for illustration during the whole term. The 

 subject of pomology is naturally treated under three sub- 

 heads, viticulture, small-fruit culture and orchard culture. In 

 some sections a fourth — nut culture — might well be added. 

 Certain general principles may be stated which will hold in 

 each of the divisions of the subject ; then the various fruits 

 included in each may be treated specifically. The scheme 

 adopted in my own work is similar to that of Bailey, at 

 Cornell, and is somewhat as follows: (1) Botanical ; 

 (2) History ; (3) Importance and extent of cultivation ; 

 (4) Culture and management ; (5) Harvesting, storing and 

 marketing ; (6) Propagation. 



The winter term may profitably be devoted to green- 

 house construction and management. This course should 

 include a careful discussion of the evolution of the modern 

 greenhouse and of the uses and details of construction of 



