298 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 174. 



habits. Stocking a garden with persistent weeds is rather 

 worse than selling us hardy plants altogether unfitted for out- 

 door cultivation, a practice not altogether unknown. 



Of Aquilegias there is not one prettier than the Rocky 

 Mountain Columbine, A. ccerulea. It is a pity that it is not a bet- 

 ter perennial, for, with the best of care, it does not live long in 

 gardens. If good seed could be obtained fresh from its native 

 localities there would be plenty of purchasers both here and 

 in Europe, as seed of this species is dearer than any other of 

 the older kinds, and it often germinates badly or turns out to be 

 not true to name. After A. Canadensis, A. ccerulea was the first 

 to flower with us, and it is still very beautiful. 



S. Lancaster, Mass. (J. (J. 



Hardy Plants for Edging a Border. 



STRAIGHT lines, as "the shortest distances between two 

 points," are entitled to some consideration, but we usu- 

 ally have too many of them in our small gardens. In most 

 of the well-kept suburban gardens one can start at the. front 

 gate and follow rectilinear paths all through the garden with- 

 out finding a curve or relief to the trim formality. The lawn 

 is trimmed at the border to the straightest line, and not a twig 

 is allowed to encroach on its smooth surface. The borders 

 following the straight paths are usually edged with grass in 

 narrow lines, a source of constant care, and the whole effect 

 is very prim and formal and sometimes distressing. In our small 

 places we cannot often change the paths, and straight ones are 

 often more in character than curved ones, which in limited 

 grounds seem often in bad taste. But, given such a long path 

 bordered by a flower-bed, why not discard the grass edging 

 and grow plants, which are not only attractive and interesting, 

 but which from their habit of growth will form irregular lines 

 and break the formality? There are innumerable low hardy 

 plants suitable for such a situation, and a border of this kind 

 may be made one of the most interesting features of the gar- 

 den, if one is willing to give its planting some little study. 



To prepare such a border, the ground should be well broken 

 up to a good depth and enriched with manure. The border 

 should be raised about six inches above the path arid edged on 

 either side with rough stones. This does not seem an attractive 

 picture, but it will be seen that such a border will exactly suit 

 a large number of plants which require good drainage about 

 their crowns, and, as they are mostly deep-rooting kinds, they 

 will find moisture. On this border should be established 

 dwarf plants, and especially those with procumbent, or creep- 

 ing, habit. These latter will soon cover the nakedness of the 

 stones, and, as they spread into the path, will form little areas 

 of verdure and bloom, projecting into the desert walk and 

 softening the stiff border-line into gentle undulations. Some 

 of these plants, in time, make spreading clumps several feet 

 in diameter, but while they are reaching this state there will 

 be room to grow on the edging numerous small dwarf alpines 

 and other plants. To mention a few suitable plants among 

 the profusion which 'might be named, here might grow Ara- 

 bis alpina, A. albida and A. arenosa ; the hardy Alyssums — 

 A. saxatile, A. spinosiim and A. Montanum (the latter now in 

 bloom, being a charming plant, with attractive light yellow 

 flowers) ; Iberis Gibraltarica, more hardy on the raised border 

 than it often proves when not in a well-drained situation. Au- 

 brietias find a congenial home in such a border, too, as do the 

 small Sedums — and there is a wealth of dainty beauty in this 

 family. Achilleas, A. tomentosa, A. argentea, etc., Thymus 

 montanus, and many more will occur to those who are famil- 

 iar with hardy plants. If one were in a hurry and plants were 

 scarce, the Moneywort (Lysimachia Numniularid) would soon 

 cover all bare spots, and at this season is very attractive, 

 although a very common plant. 



To a lover of small plants such a border is invaluable as a 

 substitute for a rockery and safe location for those which 

 might be lost in an ordinary border. 



Elizabeth, N. J. J.N.Gerard. 



The Vegetable Garden. — The Chelsea Pea is an improvement 

 on American Wonder in growing slightly taller and being- 

 rather more productive. It was also as early as any of the so- 

 called extra earlies, this season. Its quality is inferior. 



Profusion is a promising late pea, and so is the Mayor. 

 Admiral is weak and delicate in growth, too tall, and not pro- 

 ductive. The Don is also entirely too rampant in growth. At 

 this date, June 10th, it is still running up, and where it may 

 stop is not yet fully apparent. 



The Sandwich Radish we like very much. It is much 

 quicker in growth than most of the white Radishes we have 

 grown. The backward season has retarded the ripening of 

 tomatoes, and we have noted little in regard to any varieties 



yet. Last year Early Ruby was ripe on the 25th of May ; this 

 year it is still green, though in advance of most others. 

 Atlantic Prize seems ahead this season. 



Devon Market Lettuce may be different in some respects 

 from the old Curled Simpson, but I have not been able to see 

 it. Golden Beauty Lettuce shows no particular merit above 

 other smooth-leaved Lettuces. Trianon is doing better than 

 we expected of a Cos Lettuce out-of-doors. It will be valuable 

 here if sown earlier than ours was this year. 

 Raleigh, n. c. W. F. Massey. 



The American Association of Nurserymen. 

 Annual Meeting at Minneapolis. — II. 



OUR report of the Nurserymen's Meeting at Minne- 

 apolis, which was begun last week, is continued 

 below, with some additional extracts from the papers read 

 on that occasion and the discussions which followed. 



THE NORTH-WEST AS A FIELD FOR NURSERY EXTENSION. 



Professor Charles A. Keffer, of the South Dakota Agricul- 

 tural College, read an essay with this title. He said that Iowa, 

 Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas had been planted thickly 

 with orchards and fruit-gardens because they were settled by 

 men who were home-makers as well as farmers, and who 

 wished to reproduce on the prairies the surrounding of their 

 homes in the east and in Europe. The failures have been 

 countless and the successes few. The farmers are prone to 

 attribute their loss in fruit-culture to the false representation 

 of the tree-seller, while the nurserymen feel that a large share 

 of the failure is due to ignorance, to an unfortunate choice of 

 varieties, or to needless haste, that is, to planting fruit-trees 

 before the soil and shelter were ready for them. The climatic 

 conditions here are so trying that some means for modifying 

 them must be devised. It is useless to hope for success with 

 fruit-trees on the prairies until the winds are conquered by 

 groves and forest-belts. A forest-tree can thrive in untoward 

 conditions where a fruit-tree would perish, and the wind-break 

 must be the precursor of the orchard. Grove-planting must 

 be the pioneer work in horticulture, and the farmer of the 

 north-west cannot expect a profitable orchard until he has pro- 

 vided a sheltered location for it. Now that the Government 

 has withdrawn the slight encouragement it once gave to tree- 

 planting it is a matter of vital importance to the north-west that 

 all the persons interested in agriculture and horticulture should 

 unite to promote what may be called prairie-forestry. It seems, 

 then, that the first duty and the first interest of the nurseryman 

 is to push the sale of forest-trees in the treeless west, and, when 

 these are established, there will be abundant demand for other 

 stock. 



The Plum is the pioneer fruit of the north-western states, and 

 we are fortunate in having a native species from which many 

 varieties of good quality are being secured. It would certainly 

 promote the interest of the trade if such sorts as the Miner, 

 and all of the Chickasaw family, were discarded, north of cen- 

 tral Iowa. Of the more hardy type the Desoto Plum is our 

 standard variety, although in the greater part of Dakota it is 

 too late to be relied upon, for we must have fruits in which 

 early maturity is united with extreme hardiness. The Plum- 

 tree, being found along the streams of western Nebraska, 

 eastern Colorado and both the Dakotas, is presumably hardy, 

 but many varieties are caught by the frost before the fruit 

 ripens. Two years ago I received specimens of fruit that was 

 ripe on the 15th of August, small native red plums of excellent 

 cooking quality. There are now being tested on the grounds 

 of the South Dakota Experiment Station forty varieties, and 

 from some of these we have hopes of securing the two great 

 essentials of hardiness and earliness. 



The Apple presents a still more serious problem. The 

 north-west cares little about an Apple-tree's genealogy, 

 whether it is Russian or American, but we want one that will 

 live through the winter and one that has leaves and bark to 

 withstand intense heat and sunshine ; and these requisites se- 

 cured, for the immediate future we will be content with a 

 moderate quantity of fruit of only a moderate quality. Pro- 

 fessor Keffer said that he once thought there was no virtue 

 in the fruit of the Crab-apple, but that was before he had 

 moved to South Dakota. He was not prepared to discuss the 

 relative merits of the Russian and other varieties, but only 

 knew that good fruit of Wealthy and Fameuse is grown in the 

 southern counties of his state in peculiarly favorable locations 

 on the borders of the Missouri River bottom-lands. 



As to the relative methods of budding and grafting trees he 

 had no question as to the superiority of the latter. Root-grafts 



