

The Garden Magazine 



Vol. X— No. 5 



Published Monthly 



DECEMBER, 1909 



One Dollar a Year 

 Fifteen Cents a Copy 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



A New and Better Kind of 

 Christmas Gift 



HERETOFORE, we have encouraged 

 the practice of giving florists' flowers 

 and plants at Christmas time. We do not 

 discourage it now. Such gifts would be 

 nearly ideal if the plants were grown by the 

 givers, but unfor- 

 tunately this is 

 rarely practical. It 

 takes too much time 

 and forethought for 

 most people to grow 

 their own Christmas 

 gifts. Even Roman 

 hyacinths, the 

 quickest of all, need 

 six weeks. 



Consequently 

 everybody buys 

 flowers or plants at 

 a store. They give 

 a great deal of 

 pleasure during the 

 holidays, but soon 

 afterward most of them are thrown away. 

 The finer and costlier plants, such as azaleas, 



Baby's 



first Christmas 

 true 



Think how many of these will never be sold! And 

 all will be burned in three or four -weeks 



roses and lilacs, cannot be made to bloom 

 well a second year without a greenhouse. 

 Of course, the practical thing is to "board 

 them out" at a florist's. But a person of 

 sentiment always winces at such a course. 

 We have just learned of a method by which 

 you may put more personality into such a 

 gift and make it far more permanent. A 

 lady whom we know gives her family every 

 year a large and beautiful evergreen tree 

 at Christmas time. She is careful to choose 

 long-lived species, like white pine, hemlock 

 and red cedar instead of the showier but 

 short-lived retinisporas. Therefore she will 

 probably have the satisfaction of seeing 

 them grow to a height of fifty feet or more. 

 And I have no doubt that these memorial 

 trees will some day have beautiful and 

 permanent labels which record the age of 

 each and the occasion on which it was 

 planted. The chances are that these trees 

 will be cherished by her children and grand- 

 children to the fourth or fifth generation. 



How much better is this custom than the 

 heedless destruction of Christmas trees! 

 Look at this picture of balsam spruces on 

 the wharves of a great city. Think how 

 many will be unsold and burned! Remem- 

 ber that none of them can ever grow again. 

 And then look at this picture of the northern 

 forests, showing the devastation wrought 

 by those who chop down Christmas trees 

 for gain. Will you be a party to this needless 

 waste any longer? 



Here is a better idea for your Christmas 

 tree. Let the children dig a littlexedar a foot 

 or two high in the woods and put it into a 

 pot. Let them decorate it and have it on 

 the table during the holidays. Then they 

 can plant it out in the yard. It may live 

 and it may not, but it is a step in the right 

 direction. Some day the florists will all 

 have little white pines and red cedars 

 which have been specially grown and potted 

 so that they will live and become great 

 trees. Perhaps you can get something of 

 the kind from your nurseryman now. 



The more you think of it the more this 

 idea grows upon you. For our northern 

 winter is bleak and ugly and what better 

 Christmas idea is there than to make winter 

 comfortable and cheery? You can get 

 a Siberian dogwood or salmon barked willow- 

 three feet high for fifty cents. It will be a 

 good big bushy specimen and will give you 

 a bit of color every sunny day this winter. 



"But," you may object, "you cannot 

 plant holly, rhododendron, mountain laurel 

 and other broad-leaved evergreens at 

 Christmas." 



True, but you can always give your family 

 or friends an earnest of your gift. The 

 nurseryman can write a letter saying that 





See this devastation in the Christmas tree country! 

 Will you encourage it any longer? 



he will send the nursery stock at the proper 

 time — say April — and you can cut a pic- 

 ture out of his catalogue or get an extra 

 fine spray of holly as a token. 



Do not dig good sized evergreens from 

 the wild in winter. They will die. You 

 must get nursery-grown evergreens that 

 have been frequently transplanted and 

 have a large ball wrapped in burlap. 



But there are many other ramifications of 

 this idea; for instance, a windbreak to save 

 coal and make possible an outdoor play- 

 ground for the children; barberries and other 

 shrubs with red fruits that are attractive 

 all winter; a dozen species of holly, euon- 

 ymus or viburnum, and a five-dollar col- 

 lection of miscellaneous winter beauties. 



The idea is so new that nurserymen, in 

 general, are not prepared for it yet, but 

 by the time these words are printed we shall 

 know who are the progressive spirits and 

 if you do not know how to realize your idea 

 ask the editor for help. 



Why not plant a live tree at Christmas time and 

 see it grow like this ? 



