3i8 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1908 



A Home Shrubbery 



By E. P. Powel! 



VERY small country place, even if there be 

 not more than ten acres, can afford a small 

 shrubbery, and ought to have it. There is 

 nothing that refines and charms more than 

 these blossoming bushes, and at the same 

 time they purify the air. Nature gives over 

 the month of May and a part of June to a 

 succession of flowering displays; beginning with the forsythia 

 and ending with the spireas. Perhaps the Judas tree should 

 be classed with these, for as generally grown it is hardly 

 more than a bush. Many other small trees will blossom as 

 well in the bush form, such as the magnolias, the catalpa and 

 the basswood. All of these make fine shrubs. Then there is 

 the Siberian maple, the cork-barked maple, the wild cherries, 

 and the thorn trees — all making handsome bushes, and 

 flowering superbly. Indeed I think that most of these are 

 more attractive in the bush form. 



Any very humble home can create a shrubbery of a quar- 

 ter of an acre or half an acre by collecting those bushes that 

 grow wild in the neighborhood. There is not a section in 

 the United States that is not rich with nature's gifts of this 

 sort. To these you can easily add, without cost, some of 

 the spireas, lilacs, and probably two or three of the old- 

 fashioned bushes like snowball and flowering almond. I 

 wilT name about a dozen shrubs somewhat more rare, but 

 not costly. Beginning with early May, forsythia makes a 

 noble show with golden flowers. It is a little tender north 

 of New York City, and liable to lose its blossom buds, unless 

 bent over and covered through winters. The Japan quince 

 makes a superb show in scarlet and in white flowers, but that 

 also occasionally loses buds. A third noble shrub, which be- 

 comes a small tree in the South, is the Prunus triloba. This 

 is covered with rose-like flowers very double. Of the lilacs 

 the old-fashioned sorts are easily obtained and are good 

 enough, but if one can afford it he should have a collection 

 of the newer sorts, some of which are double, and of all 

 shades of blue, purple, white and red. Nothing is finer in 

 early May than a big bush of Mahonia, a native evergreen 

 shrub. The blossoms are huge balls of gold. The stems 

 are fine for cutting in winter. It is best to throw autumn 

 leaves over the Mahonia during the winter, as the foliage is 



sometimes browned by frost. The Tartarian or bush honey- 

 suckle, in white, in pink and in red, is one of the finest bushes 

 we have. It grows with great rapidity and blossoms pro- 

 fusely. There is no bush that makes a finer hedge than this 

 honeysuckle. All the deutzias are fine, especially gracilis. 

 Some of these will kill back without covering. The way to 

 grow the old-fashioned snowball is to let it stand out fully 

 exposed to sun and air, otherwise it gets very much infested 

 with lice. The Japan variety is finer than our native. In- 

 dulge as freely as you can in mock oranges. There are at 

 least a dozen sorts, and you can grow as many more as you 

 please from seed. I have varieties that cover nearly two 

 months in bloom. Be sure and get the elder that grows by 

 the brooks, and the wild barberry — there are few things 

 finer than these. The dogwoods can be got almost every- 

 where, and for winter there is nothing nicer than a huge 

 bush of the red-barked. The weigelias can be easily gotten 

 nowadays, and they have but one fault, the wood must be 

 renewed frequently, for as it gets old it dies out. The best 

 spirea is prunifolia, unless it be a Van Houtti. I find around 

 the farmers' yards occasionally the strawberry bush, and not 

 seldom the Euonymus, or as they call it, the fire-bush. The 

 first of these is excellent for early spring, and nothing is 

 better than the latter for late fall. The altheas and the 

 hydrangeas are getting into common use, and well deserve 

 it. I do not know when I have seen a dwarf horsechestnut, 

 but it deserves a place everywhere. It is simply a creeping 

 horsechestnut, profuse in bloom and covered with tiny fruit 

 later in the season. One of the virburnums, of the same 

 stock as the snowball, deserves special attention, because it 

 is not only pretty in flower, but superb in fruitage. It gives 

 a lot of golden berries through the autumn, and these turn 

 scarlet for winter. They will draw the beautiful pine gross- 

 beaks and the cedar-birds in January. 



I have given more than my promised dozen, but I hope 

 it will incite the lover of flowers to plant a shrubbery. Those 

 who work hard on flower beds, where they plant annuals 

 and biennials and costly plants from greenhouses, do not 

 know what they are losing, or rather how much more comfort 

 they would get, with less work, if they would pay more atten- 

 tion to the common bushes. 



Economic Methods in Mushroom Growing 



HE most important economic problem con- 

 fronting the grower at this time is that of 

 increasing the yield and "life" of the mush- 

 room bed by fertilization. Ordinarily a 

 mushroom bed produces from two to four 

 months, and the average yield is approxi- 

 mately one pound per square foot of sur- 

 face. After a careful study of the nutrition of the mushroom 

 it has been possible to supply the essential food elements to 

 the bed in the form of an artificial fertilizer with exceed- 

 ingly satisfactory results. Fertilized beds begin bearing a 

 week to ten days earlier after the latter cease to bear. The 

 yield per square foot of surface has been increased to two 

 pounds (an increase of one hundred per cent.). It is ex- 

 pected that in the near future we shall have entirely elimi- 

 nated manure as a factor in mushroom culture, and that any 

 good soil, to which food elements are applied in correct 



proportion, may be used for making a mushroom bed. It is 

 a well-known fact that the flavor of the mushroom is much 

 improved where the plant is propagated on soil instead of 

 manure. 



The introduction of the pure culture method has revolu- 

 tionized the mushroom industry. From a meager occupation 

 of a few gardeners, shrouded in mystery, it has risen during 

 the past four years to an industry of first importance to all 

 who are interested in horticulture. It has become a staple 

 crop with truck growers and farmers near large cities. Even 

 in the remotest districts the progressive farmer has a bed of 

 mushrooms in his garden, barn or cellar from which to sup- 

 ply his own table. Abandoning the old "chance method," 

 still adhered to by the English grower, Americans have called 

 in the aid of science in producing "tissue-culture pure spawn," 

 and the element of risk or the possibility of failure in mush- 

 room growing is now as nearly eliminated as can be possible. 



