128 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 475. 



now if I get a half-dozen cartloads of turf I mix it with two 

 loads of the best manure — sheep-manure is preferred, as it is 

 richer, so that less is required. This I put in layers alternately 

 with pure ground bone; fermentation starts and the soil is 

 heated to 120 degrees, Fahrenheit, which will kill all insect- 

 life and weed seeds and make the bone meal available as 

 plant-food. Bone meal should be worked into the compost 

 long before it is needed, as it is not fit for use until lermentation 

 has subsided. It should never be used as a top-dressing. I 

 have said that light soil is best for potted plants, but a man 

 may get along with heavy soil if he understands its manage- 

 ment. Injudicious watering will lessen the value of the best 

 compost, and lack of air and of proper heat and moisture 

 would ruin the best plants. 



In potting plants clean pots are a necessity. If new, expose 

 them to a rainstorm, or else fill with moist earth and leave for 

 a day or two to deodorize them. This earlh should not be 

 used again. Next in importance is good drainage. The best 

 material is crocks of broken pots. Coal ashes, though excel- 

 lent for many plants, is bad for others. Plants which do the 

 greater part of their growing in winter-time, as well as those 

 which remain a long time without repotting, require most care. 

 All potting should be done firmly and for the most part by 

 hand. Plants which grow quickly, Geraniums, Heliotropes, 

 Coleus and Fuchsias — what gardeners call soft-wooded plants 

 — need less care. Amateurs often put out their window-plants 

 for a summer's growth, and it is pleasant to see how luxu- 

 riantly they grow with unrestricted root area, fresh air and 

 sunshine. But in winter again they must be pruned and cur- 

 tailed in root-room. Geraniums and almost all window-plants 

 stand this rough treatment. I, myself, should preler to dis- 

 pense with old plants, having raised a lot of young stock in 

 the mean time. 



Amateurs often ask what fertilizers to use for potted plants, 

 when all that is needed is better light and air, or more or less 

 heat. The best of liquid manures for potted plants, to con- 

 tinue the productiveness of flowers or fruits after the natural 

 resources of the soil have been exhausted, is the dregs from 

 the barnyard. It is well to start with one-eighth strength and 

 increase as experience dictates. Colorado sheep-manure may 

 be used at the rate of a peck to fifty gallons of water. Sulphate 

 of ammonia and nitrate of soda, at the rate of one pound to 

 fifty gallons, furnish nitrogen in a form easily assimilated, and 

 their action is quick of benefit as well as of injury. These 

 should only be given in such quantities as the plant can digest. 

 Even if a surplus did no injury to the plants it soon leaches 

 away and is lost. Liquid manures should be used only on 

 healthy plants, and tree drainage must be secured at all 

 hazards. 



Azalea Indica. 



MOST of the varieties of Indian Azaleas which are generally 

 brought into flower for Easter are now beginning to show 

 their colors. It is usually somewhat difficult to keep them 

 back until this time even in the coolest possible quarters, but 

 this year they seem to be developing so as to be at their best 

 at the right time. The weather, which until recently has been 

 somewhat dull and sunless, has doubtless had a retarding in- 

 fluence. The most forward of all the varieties is the pure 

 white Deutsche Perle, which is generally the first to flower. 

 The buds on A. Indica alba are also well forward, and while 

 this old favorite is less popular than the newer sorts, it has not 

 yet been excelled for freedom of growth and flower, and we 

 still value it as a useful variety for cutting. Apollo is another 

 good white variety of the older sorts, and its flowers are among 

 the largest. Louisa Pynaert is also white, and unrivaled in 

 purity and substance, but somewhat shy in flowering. Imbri- 

 cata, a white variety flaked with rose, on the contrary, is more 

 inclined to make flowers than growth. Other good varieties, 

 old and new, are A. Borsig, Ami du Cceur, Bernhard Andre 

 and its white variety, alba, the double-flowered Camellie, Can- 

 didissima, Flambeau, Madame Camille Van Langenhove, 

 Madame Iris Lefebvre, Madame Van Houtte, Pharilde 

 Mathilde, President Oswald De Kerchove, Princess Alice, 

 Theodore Riemers, Stella and Vervaeneana. These varieties 

 are very numerous, and these are only a few of the best of 

 those with which I have familiar acquaintance. 



One of the points of cultivation which should be attended to 

 now is the pinching out of all young growths as they appear 

 alongside the flower-buds. If these are allowed to grow, the 

 flowers will be quite worthless. They appear on most plants 

 at this time, no matter how carefully they may have been cul- 

 tivated. They are otten induced by feeding after the buds are 

 set. This is a mistake and should be avoided, though fre- 



quent applications of weak liquid-manure may be given 

 while the plants are in active growth ; the inducement 

 of soft growth must be guarded against. Syringing is im- 

 portant in maintaining the vigor of the foliage, and it also 

 helps to keep in check such troublesome insects as thrips and 

 red spider. 



We find that planting out after the beginning of June is the 

 simplest and most convenient method of summer cultivation, 

 unless for large plants. A liberal supply of leaf-mold should 

 be worked into the soil where they are to be placed. Water- 

 ing is, ot course, necessary during dry weather, but it is easy 

 to maintain an even moisture about the roots of the plants 

 under this treatment as compared with the former practice of 

 plunging the pots. We like to see the buds well set before 

 lifting in fall, but it is better to lift a little early rather than incur 

 danger from freezing. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. 



William Scott. 



Correspondence. 



Is the White Pine Doomed? 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I have read with interest the very ingenious and highly 

 philosophical, yet rather unnecessarily forced and, I believe, 

 erroneous explanation which Professor Corbett advances in 

 your issue of March 24th for the difficulty which the White 

 Pine seems to experience in reproducing itself, namely, be- 

 cause, with the Coniferas in general, the Pines are " less highly 

 organized" morphologically, they are " less virile than many 

 of their competitors," and " more congenial conditions for 

 growth and development must be provided for them than for 

 other species with which they now have to contend." And 

 finally he states that " the White Pine requires extra care to 

 induce it to perpetuate itself." These statements might be 

 misconstrued into meaning that the Pines are more fastidious 

 than other species regarding conditions of successful repro- 

 duc'ion. This would be a grave mistake, for, on the contrary, 

 the Pines, of all trees, are among the most frugal, able to exist, 

 and even thrive, in the poorest and driest soils and climates, 

 where no other trees will. Is it not the tree of trees for sand 

 dunes ? Does not Pinus rigida maintain itself in the most for- 

 bidding gravels and sands of the Jersey plain ? Is not P. Vir- 

 giniana the very emblem of frugality ? Does not P. Tasda 

 immediately take possession of the abandoned southern fields, 

 keeping out all competitors and wrestling even in the swamp 

 for supremacy ? Do not P. edulis and P. ponderosa occupy 

 the driest slopes and exposures of the Rockies, and does not 

 the latter range from arid southern Arizona to humid British 

 Columbia, showing a most remarkable adaptability which few 

 species share ? Is not P. Banksiana the most frugal inhabitant 

 ot the northern Pine lands, and does not P. resinosa thrive in 

 the swamps of Minnesota as readily as in the dry gravels, 

 showing hardly any difference in the rate of growth ? And 

 the White Pine is no exception to the rule — nay, if anything, it 

 is even more adaptive in certain directions. 



Within its climatic range and even beyond its natural limits 

 of distribution it occupies, or may be made to occupy, the 

 greatest variety of soils, and may be propagated with the 

 greatest ease. That there is no more difficulty than with most 

 other species in regard to its spontaneous reproduction, if the 

 chances are even, may be seen in the hill country of Massa- 

 chusetts, as well as in the true Pine country of Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota. Wherever an opening large enough is made 

 young seedlings quickly appear and find no difficulty in main- 

 taining themselves against broad-leaved competitors, if only 

 the fire did not come to the aid of the latter. For these have 

 one advantage in their constitution over the Pine and one 

 only, namely, that they can sprout from the burnt stump. As 

 to their seeds, contrary to Mr. Corbett's supposition, it is well 

 known that those of the Pine retain their germinative power 

 much longer than many and as long as most broad-leaved 

 species. To be sure, the observed deficiency in the recupera- 

 tion of the White Pine growths is, as Professor Corbett sug- 

 gests, due to unfavorable conditions, but these are entirely 

 extraneous and not inherent in the constitution of the Pine or 

 its seed. Any other species treated in the same way would 

 and does react similarly. Even the White Oak, most tenacious 

 of life, can be almost exterminated, as some parts of Kentucky 

 testify. Cull out all or most of the old White Oak in a mixed 

 forest, leaving all other species to shade the ground and to 

 compete in much larger number for the openings and you 

 will soon miss all reproduction of that light-needing species. 

 Thus, it is the culling of the Pine, reducing their number as 

 compared with its competitors, and the leaving of these to 



