Mat, 1919 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



171 



runner is pinned down on the damp soil by a 

 walnut-sized stone. I then usually sprinkle 

 a little fine mulch over the soil in the pot to shade 

 the plant's young roots, and also to prevent the 

 direct attacks of the sun from producing baking. 

 If the runner has taken root in the alley, I lift 

 it with a little soil. 



The runner so treated will grow immediately. 

 The only further attention required will be water- 

 ing. The deep sinking of the pot and the use of 

 a large proportion of clay as the potting soil will 

 render daily waterings unnecessary, — as they 

 would be if tiny pots with light soil were used. I 

 have found that even in a very hot and dry spell 

 a watering every third evening will keep the plants 

 in prime condition. Too frequent watering will 

 cause the plant to expect water from above, and 

 therefore to form a shallow root-system; whereas 

 the roots should be made to plunge downward 

 for their life-giving moisture. 



Young Plants Ready to Separate 



A N ORDINARY runner potted in the manner 

 -**■ described will have formed, in ten days' 

 time, a root-system of sufficient vigor to main- 

 tain the plant without the umbilical attachment 



to the mother-plant. Sometimes I have known 

 a good runner to form a big rooting system in a 

 single week. However, it is best to give the 

 runners from two to three weeks to mature some 

 of the roots. All this while they will be growing 

 larger and stronger; and the gardener can have 

 the peculiar satisfaction of knowing that when he 

 transplants them there will be no wilting period. 



If the bed happens to be located at any dis- 

 tance from the source of water, so that watering 

 the potted runners is tedious, this plan may be 

 followed: After having allowed the runners at 

 least two weeks to get well rooted (a sure sign 

 that this has taken place is the new leaves that 

 will shoot up; another is the firmness with which 

 the plant grips the soil in the pot), the pots may 

 be cut loose from the mother-plants, and literally 

 transplanted to a place near water. I have thus 

 buried rows of potted plants near a spigot; and not 

 a single plant was lost. I should not keep the 

 plants thus, however, any longer than necessary. 



Transplanting to the New Bed 



TN TRANSPLANTING I always prepare each 

 ■*■ hole with a trowel, putting in at least a trowel- 

 ful of old manure, and mixing this with the fined 



soil. I use no mulch; for it is well to keep the 

 surface-soil stirred for a time to prevent ants from 

 transferring to the roots of the plants the aphids 

 or root-lice which are a serious pest. Experience 

 seems to show that the largest and best straw- 

 berries are obtainable from the single-plant 

 method of setting; and this calls for rows 30 inches 

 apart, with plants about 15 inches apart in the 

 row. 



Although the process described may seem to 

 require much time and many operations, it is 

 really very simple. I have prepared the soil for 

 two hundred pots, have filled the same, saturated 

 them, and duly caught the runners, — all in less 

 than half a day. Of course, I was quite familiar 

 with the task, and therefore could work speedily. 

 These two hundred plants, ten months after they 

 were potted, or a year it may be, would give any 

 family a handsome strawberry bed. There will 

 be fruit in abundance; and the youth and vigor 

 of the plants will make the berries of extra size. 

 These facts should be sufficient inducements 

 for any one to try this method; but in 

 addition to them there is the genuine recrea- 

 tion to be had from this very pleasurable garden 

 pastime. 



Fair Treatment for Trees e. l d 



. SEYMOUR 



Prevention Better Than Cure. 



Why the Services of the Expert Tree Surgeon May Be Needed. Some Idea of His Diversified Duties 

 and Your Own Part in Maintenance Before the Surgeon Comes 



WHAT a splendid thing it would be to 

 apply to the care of our plants, and 

 especially our ornamental and home 

 garden fruit trees, the reputed oriental 

 principle of paying the physician to keep his 

 patients well, rather than calling him in after the 

 occurrence of illness. For, after all, prevention 

 is the wisest, cheapest and most effective defense 

 against insects and diseases. It calls for a 

 special skill and training to discover and diagnose 

 or anticipate probable troubles before they 

 become obvious and definitely injurious. In the 

 meantime, there remains available the art of 



Cedar of Lebanon standing on the estate of Mrs. H. S. 

 Huntington at Throggs Neck, N. Y. This tree was the in- 

 spiration of the acquisition of the property on which it stands. 

 Planted 120 years ago; 75 feet high, 5 feet trunk diameter. 

 The saving of this unusual specimen has been the cause of a 

 long fight with the City of New York 



tree repairing or as it is commonly referred to 

 "tree surgery" or "tree doctoring," which, 

 though still in its infancy as a branch of practical 

 horticulture, still offers much to owners of valuable 

 trees. 



Wherefor of the Care of Trees 



T~*HE main reasons that make the systematic, 

 -*■ consistent care of old trees and the "recon- 

 struction" of disabled ones worth while are not 

 sufficiently obvious to many people. 



In the first place, trees are normally denizens 

 of forests and are by nature adapted to gre- 

 garious forest conditions. The half a dozen 

 shade or fruit trees scattered- about the average 

 small home plot enjoy no such conditions. They 

 stand alone, unprotected from wind and sun 

 alike by others of their kind; often they contend 

 against disadvantages of poor, shallow soil, a 

 lowered water table affected by community 

 drainage systems, and even the poisoning effects 

 of leaky gas mains; in place of — sometimes in 

 addition to — the insect pests that normally 

 haunt forests, they are subjected to attacks of 

 unnatural enemies — the boots of climbing boys, 

 their monogram-carving knives, inanely placed 

 signboards nailed to the handiest tree trunk, 

 the gnawing of horses, the gouging contact of 

 carelessly guided mowing machines, etc. The 

 very care that they do get is not always of the 

 wisest: as the superficial semi-occasional sprink- 

 lings in place of the long, deep-soaking rains, the 

 scrupulous raking up of fallen leaves instead of 

 the gradual accumulation of leaf mould and a 

 "forest floor," etc. In truth the privilege of 

 living close to man is often a costly one for 

 trees. 



Sentiment is the second fundamental reason 

 for caring for old trees, whether they be land- 

 marks of historic value, family heirlooms, or 

 merely beauty spots in a landscape from which 

 they can ill be spared. 



There is also a very non-sentimental reason, 

 namely, the cash value of trees. Not merely 

 their timber value or worth as sources of fruit, 

 but also the increased value that trees give to 

 any piece of real estate. 



Economy is another reason for keeping the old 

 trees growing and healthy. To replace a forty 



foot Oak or Elm or Maple means a delay of a 

 good many years, means the expenditure of a 

 good many dollars or a long, long wait. The 

 cost of having a mature tree moved on to your 

 grounds and safely established there would pay 

 several times over for sufficient attention to a 

 slightly injured or diseased specimen which if 

 neglected may soon die or blow down. 



The factor of artistic appeal is worth thinking 

 of also. Though we may rhapsodize over the 

 beauty of moss-covered stumps, and vine- 

 draped, fungus-encrusted specimens fighting a 

 losing battle against disease and parasite; yet 



The "Liberty" Tulip Tree on the campus of St. John's Col- 

 lege, Annapolis, Md., 110 feet high and 14 feet trunk diameter, 

 it is estimated at more than 600 years. A tablet records the 

 first treaty with the Susquehannas signed under it, 1652; Wash- 

 ington's address, 1791; Lafayette's reception, 1824. Repair 

 work by J. T. Withers included 55 tons of concrete filling 



