32 



tranches have started. Rubber plants and ficus responded readily 

 to this treatment, and the vaseline gave the best results, rootlets 

 often starting with the water, making fine cuttings if one wishes to 

 start slips. Many attempts at grafting proved unsuccessful but 

 most florists have fruit bearing orange trees and they will graft from 

 them quite willingly, as orange grafts on any other citrus plant will 

 take well, and the character of the original plant, on to which the 

 graft is placed, will determine the nature of the fruit. [Then why 

 graft? — Ed.] The tiny trees are quite ornamental, each family 

 having a little different leaf formation. They seem to be in- 

 clined to have scale but spraying or washing often with strong 

 soap suds will destroy the condition and keep the leaves glossy. 

 — Mrs. J. G. Monsarret, Bennington, Vt. 



The Garden Magazine, August, 1919 



The Bun- 

 Oak 



THE Burr Oak is perhaps the humblest 

 of all the Oaks; its very humility, how- 

 ever, commends it to the planter of limited 

 space or one who has to contend with poor 

 soil. None of the Oaks and in fact few other trees will adapt them- 

 selves with the same facility to both rich and very poor soil. It has 

 great drought resisting qualities yet will endure with its roots in 

 water soaked soil for months at a time. Where the soil is very heavy 

 or very poor it simply remains a small tree without losing any of that 

 ruggedness of trunk and limb so characteristic of all theOaks. Other 

 Oaks would not grow where the Burr Oak persists and this no doubt 

 accounts for the greater individuality of growth among the Burr 

 Oaks than is to be found among the members of any of the other 

 species of Oaks. Quite frequently a burr oak resembles a gnarled 



PROPAGATION 

 BY LEAF CUT- 

 TINGS 

 This is a recog- 

 nized method with 

 certain groups of 

 plants and is easily 

 handled 





apple tree when growing on heavy soil. While it spreads if given 

 the freedom to do so, it endures excessive crowding cheerfully. This 

 commends it to the planter who would establish a grove or who 

 seeks to approximate forest conditions on an area no larger than 

 fifty feet by fifty feet. I have trimmed up a Burr Oak to a mere pole 

 only to see it clothed in foliage the next spring without any evidence 

 of the struggle that other trees would show under similiar conditions. 

 — C. L. Meller, Fargo, N. D. 



Leaf Cuttings 



ONE of the most satisfactory ways of 

 propagating such plants as Begonias, 

 Gloxinias, Streptocarpus and many Gesneras 

 is by means of leaf cuttings. The best 

 time to carry out this plan is in the late summer when the leaves are 

 fully developed and yet have not started their fall fading. The pro- 

 cess should be started in a box or pan of sandy soil. The stalks of 

 the leaves may be inserted and, if the cuttings are kept covered with 

 a bell glass or a similar appliance, little plants are soon the result. 

 In the case of large leaves a considerable number of plants may be 

 secured by cutting little "nicks" in the leading ribs and then peg- 

 ging the whole thing downward on to the soil. At the left of the 

 photograph is shown a Gloxinia leaf that has formed a bulbil 

 at the stalk end, and also a number of small ones on the ribs. — 5. 

 Leonard Bastin Bournemouth, Eng. 



A Convenient 

 Row Marker 



THE OAK HAS COSMOPOLITAN HABITS 

 The Burr Oak is not fanciful as to soil. It has an individuality in 

 ,. winter and is adaptable to various kinds of landscape planting 



IT HAD always been a problem with me 

 to mark the rows in sowing flower and 

 vegetable seeds but at last I have struck 

 upon a solution. For some time now I have 



been using a little home made marker and it has proved a great 



success. It may be of interest to 



other neighbors and help them 



with the same problem that I 



had. I took a piece of eight inch 



board and nailed wooden guides 



spaced twelve inches apart on the 



bottom as the sketch shows and 



put a handle on the top. The 



marker can be drawn along the 



top of the ground or lifted and 



pressed down lightly to mark the rows, whichever seems to be the 



easiest for the one operating it. — Anthony De Young, South 



Holland, III. 



