1400 



RAILROAD GARDENING 



It may be well to begin an aeeouni nf railroad garden- 

 ing witli an historical sketch. 



The. Moremnd in JCngland.-FhuxUrn; Iki^ been dune 

 on the station-grounds of some English railways for 

 many years, but it is almost exclusively limited to 



2065. Ameliorated Radishes, fourth eeneration (X z^)- 



Aft.T i.';iiTii:Te. (See Riulish, j.nt^u 14xy.) 



purely oruaineiiTal i.^ardeuing. Tiie corporations do little 

 beyond otff-riuij: prizes to station-masters and their as- 

 sistants. This system has been in operation for about 

 twenty-tive years on the Great Eastern, since 1885 on 

 the Midland" and for a shorter t-ime on the Gre:it West- 

 ern rail\va\ . The prizes range from 3s. to £5, and in 

 1900 ag;.^n"^^ilc<i f:!00 on the :Midland railway. The 

 little phmtiiiM: that is done ))y the railway companies 

 themselves is .-oulined to afewtreos of low growth near 

 statitnis, to a liaid^ground of shrulis for some of the .so- 

 called "platform ,t:ardens." and to sowing liroom and 

 gorse on certain slopes of the permanent way between 

 stations. The "allotment t,^ardens " that attract attention 

 on English roads are small tracts near stations that are 

 rented to employees of the roads, who use them as vege- 

 table, fruit, an(l, to some extent, as flower gardens. 

 The Railway Banks Floral Association is a new and 

 interesting factor in the improvement of English rail- 

 way rights of way. Lord Grey was the originator of the 

 novel and excellent scheme. The society is an organi- 

 zation for interesting owners of adjacent property, and 

 for collecting money and materials for sowing and 

 planting railway "banks" (downward slopes) and "cut- 

 tings" (upward slopes) of the permanent way, to the 

 end of making them more attractive. The resiilts have 

 been eminently satisfactory. 



Dctnnark'x Profiress. — In Denmiirk the railways lie- 

 long almost without exception to the government, and 

 improvements are begun when the road.s are constructed . 

 These consist of live classes of work: (1) planting of 

 station-grounds; {'2) hedges as a substitute for fences; 

 (3) snow shelters; (4) vegetation on eudiankments as a 

 protection against erosio]i ; (5) allotment gardens near 

 block aignal slations. Planting on station-grovmds is 

 purely for estlu/tic purposes: tin- other features, while 

 possessini;- sonu' attractions, are maintained cliieHy f<"'r 

 their economic advantages. The materials for plantin.iz; 

 are obtaine<l fi'om nurseries ( "planleskoler " ) owned by 

 the roads and I'onsist for the most part of shrubs, 

 largely coniferous. Tliese nurseries, as well as the 

 entire plan f in;,', ai'e under the sujier vision of a" plantoer," 

 i.e.. a '-hief holanicid instructor. Tlu- allotment gar- 

 dens, like their rMi;j;lish mnuesakes, are tracts near the 

 block signal stations where railway employees conduct 

 vegetal )le and fruit gardens for their own use, and 

 sometimes care for a. few flowering plants. 



('oiiiJi/ ii'iis i II ,v^rc(?c)^ — (.) I'll an lent al planting lias 

 been uni\"ersal on Lrovernnient railways, as well as on 



RAILROAD GARDENING 



the majoritv of private railways in Sweden since 1862. 

 Accordinii; to the Roval Administration of the Swedish 

 State Railways, the following <listinctions are made: 

 (1) decorative and fire protective plantings on station- 

 grounds; (2) mixed plantings ( decorative and economic) 

 ou "habitation grounds "; (ii) plantings along the railway 

 lines as iiedges or for protection against snow. Station 

 ]dantiug consists of trees selected to suit the clinnite of 

 various' parts of the country, of shrubs, and of peren- 

 nials and annuals (lowering as well as bedding ].Iants). 

 At the largest stations (only about (5) annuals are 

 ex(dusively used for "modern or elegant combinations." 

 The planting at habitation grounds consists of fruit 

 trees, snudl" fruits, a few ornamental shrubs, some 

 flowering plants, and a small kitchen-garden. The state 

 railwavs yearly plant out al tout 40, IHIO hard-wooded plants 

 (trees" and shrubs), and 400,1)00 soft-wooded plants 

 (perennials and annuals | , which are nearly all grown at 

 five greenhouses, liot I leds and inirserles situated in 

 dilTerent parts of the country. Aliout 20,000 fruit trees 

 anil fiOO.OOO gooseberries and currants are at present 

 jilanted out on the habitation grounds. Ou lu'ivate rail- 

 ways the same scheme is f.dlowe<l on a smaller scale. 

 (See G.F. 2:36 for further facts regarding railway 

 planting in Sweden.) 



Jn various otlur romifrii.^ there are scattered in- 

 stances of ornamental, economic and protective jdant- 

 ing on railways, includin^i: the cultivation of fruits 

 along the rights of way of certain railways of Gernumy 

 and of France. 



The Canadian Paciiic Railway Company has planted 

 a considerable part of its right of way to tamarack and 

 other suitable trees 

 to supply the tie ma- 

 aterial of the future. 



The director of the 

 a s s o c i a t i o n called 

 Het National Belaug. 

 at Utrecht, says that 

 til e association has 

 contracts with the 

 Slate Railway Com- 

 pany and the Holland 

 Railway to plant the 

 dykes of their roads. 

 Different kinds of 

 wi 1 lows, low apple 

 and pear trees (half- 

 stam appel en peeren- 

 bloomeu ) and av i 1 d 

 prune trees are used, 

 tlie fruit of the last be- 

 ing "used for jams." 



The common (juince 

 is used to a limited 

 extent in Uniguay for 

 Idnding earth on em- 

 bankments, and the 

 P a r a d i s e tree for 

 shailiiig station plat- 

 forms. "The (")nd:>u is 

 the national tree of 

 Uruguay.— useless as 

 fuel or as timber, use- 

 less as food, but as 

 wtdcome as Jtuuih's 

 gourd at midday at 

 certain seasons." 



The Royal Railway 

 partment of Siam reports 

 through M. Kloke. a<-ting 

 Director General of Rail- 

 ways, that efforts have for- 

 merly been nunle to estab- 

 lish protective Tamarind 

 hedges along eml)ankmeuts 

 in the Korat section, whitdi 

 wfu'e destroyed by cattle ; 

 Eucalyptus trees grown 

 from seed received from 

 ipiickly into "stately trees"; and good 

 resulted from the introduction of 



2066. 



Rat-tailed Radish (X \0. 



Grown t'or its enormous pods. 



(Sec Radish, page 14S8.) 



Australia have developed 



success has 



tree from 



Manila which is said to ' strongly resemble the cherry 



