244 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 19 13 



evergreen can withstand the salt spray, 

 unless the ground is completely covered 

 with low vegetation like sumach, bayberry, 

 and other low bushes which will protect the 

 evergreens. To prevent drifting sand 

 plant pitch pines as they have done at 

 Orleans, Mass. You will find them grow- 

 ing wild in the sand dunes. Nature has 

 adapted this species to this job by aeons of 

 experimentation. 



The pitch pines at Mr. Codman's, on Cape 

 Cod, are considered " tre- 

 mendously artistic" be- 

 cause they express the 

 genius loci better than 

 anything else. Those 

 weird, contorted trees are 

 eloquent of a long struggle 

 with wind, salt, and sand. 



Of course, like every 

 other plant, pitch pine 

 has its limitations and 

 these should be fully and 

 honestly stated. The 

 white pine has a nobler 

 beauty, and even among 

 the picturesque species, 

 pitch pine does not 

 achieve the impressive 

 magnitude of the red pine. 

 Again, the taste for 

 scraggy, seedy pines has 

 to be acquired, like a taste 

 for olives and oysters. 

 Again, its wood is worth- 

 less, except for fuel. Also, 

 it has a poor reputation 

 for transplanting, after 

 the trees are a foot high 

 or so. 



On the other hand my 

 enthusiastic friend de- 

 clares that all valuable, 

 long-lived trees are un- 

 justly accused of being 

 hard to transplant; that 

 the upland type of tree 

 has a genius for sending 

 its roots so far and wide 

 that it is independent of 

 drought ; and therefore 

 the feeding roots are cut 

 off by the ordinary, care- 

 less way of digging and 

 moving. But, he asserts, 

 that he has moved many 

 large pitch pines to get 

 the immediate effect of 

 windbreak or screen. He 

 declares that country 

 gentlemen can take off 

 the curse of newness and 

 get the effect of age 

 quickly by root-pruning 

 and moving to their 

 grounds the battle-scarred veterans of the 

 wilds. He even asserts that people who 

 have been to Italy and are crazy to get the 

 effect of stone pines in a formal garden can 

 do so by moving big pitch pines and 

 trimming them to tall stems and round 

 heads. 



While experiences and opinions will differ 

 on the points just named there can be no 

 question that pitch pine grows more 

 rapidly in poor soil than any other hardy 

 evergreen tree. A pound of seed costs 

 $3.50 and contains about 20,000 seeds. 

 Moreover, it is free from the great danger 

 by which all five-leaved pines are menaced, 

 viz. the white pine blister. Country gentle- 

 men in the East often have the problem of 

 covering naked hillsides to prevent soil 



The pitch pine (pinus regida) is a rapid growing evergreen that will thrive in the poorest of 

 soils. It has a rugged appearance even when young 



washing, hide ugliness, stop the wind, and 

 restore beauty. I would not advise them 

 to raise a forest of pitch pines alone, but 

 let the pitch pines shelter and nurse the 

 finer species. They need no care, save the 

 cost of top soil and manure, and thrive even 

 in Rockaway gravel, which is popularly 



considered about the most desperate propo- 

 sition on the Atlantic Coast. 



Nor can there be any doubt that pitch 

 pine has a peculiar winter beauty. While 

 the white pine is cheery because of the 

 silver in its foliage, the pitch pine cheers 

 because of its yellow green, which makes 

 it sunny, not dark and gloomy and mon- 

 otonous, like the ever-present Norway 

 spruce. 



For a noble Americanism, let us plant 

 more pitch pines and fewer 

 of the Scotch and Austrian. 

 Let us all help to make 

 our country look different 

 from — not a cheap imi- 

 tation of — Europe! 



Some Little Used 

 Vines 



II^OR verandas or shady 

 *- spots, producing 

 clusters of small, white, 

 star-shaped fl o w e r s in 

 profusion, the oak-leaved 

 climber (Melothria punc- 

 tata) is excellent. This 

 plant has small dark- 

 green leaves and is very 

 vigorous. It will run up 

 fifteen feet or more in a 

 season. The flowers are 

 followed by attractive 

 fruit, similar to gourds, 

 but of a brownish color. 

 It is a tender perennial, 

 but is usually treated as 

 an annual in New York 

 and similar latitudes, 

 where the seed is sown 

 not later than March 15. 

 If desired, the tops can 

 be cut and the root 

 stored for the winter, 

 then planted out the 

 following spring. 



The curious little, 

 cherry-shaped fruits of 

 Bryonopsis laciniosa are 

 very attractive in their 

 skins of pale green with 

 white markings. They 

 are very freely produced, 

 but only when the plant 

 is growing in a very hot, 

 sunny location. Another 

 variety, with red fruit 

 and white markings is 

 var. erytkrocarpa. In or- 

 der to make these heat- 

 loving plants fruit well, 

 the seed should be sown 

 in the greenhouse not 

 later than March 15, and 

 the young plants not set out before June 1. 

 A curious fruiting vine, also, for a very 

 hot, dry location, is the balsam pea (Mom- 

 ordica Charantia). The fruit is oblong, 

 very rough on the outer surface and of a 

 yellowish color. After maturity, the seed 

 pod bursts, showing the carmine centre. 



