8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 306. 



north, against early and severe freezing, and from the east, 

 where the early sun, shining brightly on wood and leaf still 

 frozen, soon destroys them. It is only by favoring our plants 

 in every possible way, by planting them on the sheltered sides 

 of shrubberies, under the lee of buildings and at the foot of 

 walls, that we can have their beauty in the dull season ; and 

 then the roots must be mulched to prevent rapid alternation of 

 freezing and thawing. I have seen plants in full leaf when 

 they stood in a sheltered nook, while others of the same 

 species on the open lawn had been stripped six weeks before. 

 These are matters which it pays to remember at planting- 

 time. . c- r i\r 

 Pineville, Mo. Lora S - La Malice. 



Roses at the Waban Conservatories. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — Other flowers have their periods of popularity, but the 

 Rose is always queen, and of this I was lately reminded by a 

 visit to the Waban Rose Conservatories at Natick, Massachu- 

 setts. The season has been a favorable one for Roses ever 

 since June ; the autumn, especially, has been bright and clear, 

 to insure a good sturdy growth, conducive to free blooming 

 later on. The houses set apart for Tea Roses were carrying an 

 immense crop of bloom, held back, no doubt, for the Christ- 

 mas holidays. 



Madame Cusin, a lovely French Tea Rose, introduced in 

 1881, and for a long time popular in New York, is gaining in 

 favor here. It is rather variable, but when seen in its true 

 character is most beautiful. The color is very deep rose, with 

 violet and yellow shadings, and it is very fragrant. Its chief 

 uses are for bouquets and for evening wear, as it shows well 

 under artificial light. Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, a compara- 

 tively new hybrid Tea, is considered by many the coming white 

 Rose for forcing. It certainly is very beautiful, a full double, 

 free-blooming, creamy-white flower, with a most delicious 

 odor resembling that of the Magnolia, and, according to some, 

 that of the Primrose, as others perceive it. For private gar- 

 dens it will prove a decided acquisition, but it is yet question- 

 able whether for commercial purposes it will supersede the 

 Bride, as it seems to lack the continuous blooming qualities of 

 that well-known variety. 



Catherine Mermet is still considered the best rose of its 

 color. It certainly is a most profitable one. Its elegant shape 

 and lovely flesh-pink color bring it as near perfection as pos- 

 sible. Successful cultivation depends more on good, healthy 

 stock, and suitable conditions as to temperature, air, careful 

 watering, and the judicious application of stimulants than on 

 the quality of the soil. The Bride is a white sport, now well 

 known, originating with Mr. John N. May, of Summit, New 

 Jersey, and sent out by him in 1885. Waban, a deep rose-col- 

 ored sport of nearly uniform color, originated with E. M. Wood, 

 of Natick, and was sent out by him in 1891. It is a most beau- 

 tiful variety, but from a generally unsolved difficulty in meet- 

 ing with its peculiar requirements, especially in the preven- 

 tion of the development of a green centre.it has not become 

 as generally grown as it promised to be. Bridesmaid is a still 

 more recent sport, originating with Mr. F. L. Moore, of Chat- 

 ham, New Jersey, and sent out by him in 1892. It is a beautiful 

 clear pink, of nearly uniform color, having all the good quali- 

 ties of its parent. It was predicted that it would displace the 

 older variety ; however, it now seems that there is a place for 

 both. Madame Caroline Testout is a most attractive and 

 pleasing reddish-pink hybrid Tea, of good clear growth and 

 free-blooming qualities. It is more suitable for private gar- 

 dens than for commercial use, as being a poor keeper it is not 

 always a profitable investment for the dealers. 



Several houses of hybrid perpetual Roses are started for 

 Easter flowers. For earliest lorcing, Magna Charta and Hein- 

 rich Schultheis, both of delicate pink shades, are the leading 

 varieties. To give an instance of the varying adaptability of 

 different varieties for forcing, it may be noted that Baroness 

 Rothschild, started at the same time, will not be in bloom for 

 nearly a month later. 



Suisaine Marie de Rodocanachi is a new hybrid perpetual, 

 related, if one may judpre from the manner of its growth, to 

 Ulrich Brunner, and said to be one or two shades deeper in 

 color, which is a most intense scarlet-crimson. Like Meteor, 

 the popular crimson hybrid Tea, it was nearly lost to cultiva- 

 tion, its merits being accidentally discovered among an other- 

 wise worthless lot of varieties. All the varieties for earliest 

 forcing are grown in pots, and many of the plants have been 

 forced several seasons. After blooming, all the next sea- 

 son's growth is made in the greenhouses and afterward 



ripened outdoors. Many growers fail with pot Roses because 

 they put them out-of-doors to make their next season's wood. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



The Catalpa for Forest-planting. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I was much interested in the letter of your Kansas cor- 

 respondent and the accompanying editorial note relating to 

 the planting of the Catalpa in that state, and published in the 

 issue of Garden and Forest for December 20th. I can con- 

 firm all that he says about the durability of Catalpa-wood and 

 its value for cabinet-work. It is a misfortune, however, that 

 he should have accepted as true the statement which he says 

 was prevalent ten years ago to the effect that " Catalpas 

 planted four feet apart each way, and cultivated three or four 

 years, would everyone make a post in from eight to ten years." 

 Perhaps such statements did appear in the agricultural press, 

 but surely no one who has observed the growth of trees, either 

 in the forest or in artificial plantations, would have believed 

 this possible. It is very easy to assume that if a tree will make 

 a certain growth under peculiarly advantageous conditions, we 

 can therefore assume that any and every other tree of the 

 same species will always make an equal growth. 



It is only on paper that men plant forests which grow in this 

 prosperous way. " Set out your trees four feet apart," says the 

 indoor forester, "then the third year thin out every alternate 

 tree in the first row, and take the second row entirely, and you 

 will have trees standing eight feet apart, exactly one-fourth of 

 the number originally planted, all vigorous and happy, and 

 growing into timber at railroad speed." But if any plantation 

 was ever actually thinned out in this geometrical fashion I am 

 sure it must have been seriously damaged. If the same kinds 

 of trees would always grow unitormly in size and habit much 

 labor would be saved to the tree-grower. As it is now, he has 

 to assort his seedlings into several sizes from the seed-bed, 

 then he plants each size in nursery-rows. At the end of three 

 years he assorts them in sizes and plants again, and then he se- 

 lects several sizes. After that he assorts them again so as to 

 make collections of uniform size, and when they are planted 

 out permanently they still refuse to keep even with each other. 

 Now, in forest-planting, the seedlings which are set four feet 

 apart each way are from ten to fifteen inches high, with a 

 stem about as large as a lead-pencil. At the end of two sea- 

 sons some will be five or six feet high, others two or three feet 

 high. Of course, the smaller ones will be overshadowed in 

 less than eight or ten years, but they should be left on the 

 ground, as they assist in shading it, and die for the lack of light 

 when the taller trees overtop them. 



Your correspondent's plan of growing fence-posts by plant- 

 ing rows twelve to fifteen feet apart and five to six feet apart 

 in the rows would be altogether too expensive. In planting 

 corn, three rows could be grown between his rows of trees 

 the first year, and if the trees were pruned three rows might 

 be grown the second, but only two rows could be planted the 

 third year, and as the corn could only be cultivated one way 

 it would have to be hoed or hand-weeded, and the cost would be 

 enormous, and he never would plant three or four crops of 

 potatoes after three years of corn. If a farmer needs posts 

 for use on his farm only, and does not intend to raise them for 

 sale, the better way would be to plant a narrow belt of trees 

 along the north and west lines of his farm. The outside row 

 could be used as living posts, for a strip of board could be 

 tacked to the body of a tree and two or three wires fastened to 

 this. If a farmer preferred, he might plant a grove for shelter and 

 could enjoy himself in the shade by thinning out the trees for 

 posts as they crowded each other. In this case the trees should 

 be planted equidistant, for he could get more post-lengths 

 trom his trees than if planted five or six feet apart and in rows 

 fifteen feet apart. Under the latter system the trees would 

 naturally lean more or less to the right and left of the row to 

 get to the light, while if planted at equal distances both ways 

 they would struggle upward, and make long straight trunks. 



An essential point in forest-tree planting is to have the sur- 

 face of the ground shaded as quickly as possible. It has been 

 already explained in your columns that I have taken contracts 

 to plant by the acre at four feet apart each way, and care for 

 the trees until they reach five or six feet in height and shade 

 the ground, that is, until they need no further care until they 

 are thinned out. Now I could not have made this contract at 

 the same price if the trees had been planted eight feet by eight 

 and cultivated until they shaded the ground, although only 

 one-fourth as many trees would have been required. The 

 extra number of trees costs nothing compared with the years 

 of cultivation, and especially with the expense of pruning. 



