96 



ORNAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



We can imagine nothing finer among cultivated plants, 

 whether hardy or exotic, than the forms of foliage here 

 illustrated. Besides the kinds named, our beds contain 

 four species of rhus or sumac, three of aralias, several 

 of catalpas, including the golden, several each of mag- 

 nolias, elders, barberries and palm-leaved spiraeas, be- 

 sides perennial sunflowers, including the graceful Hcl- 

 ianthus orgyalis and //. Maximilianits , three species of 

 polygonatum, several eulalias, rheums, etc., all of which 

 possess most charming foliage, together affording a large 

 variety. In the collection as a whole, our eye finds as 



season, by averaging the first and the subsequent cost 

 over a long period, the outlay is almost too insignificant 

 to be mentioned. 



One matter remains to be stated in connection with 

 managing ailantus, aralias, etc., in this way. It is that 

 they should be cut down to near the ground every year 

 or alternate year, early spring being the preferable time 

 for the pruning. 



The Lawns at " Woodbanks. " — Time but confirms 

 our conclusions earlier reported, that the claim of supe- 

 riority for the mixed lawn grasses offered by seedsmen 



Clump of Ailantus. 



much to feed upon as in any ordinary collection of sub- 

 tropical plants grown in the summer garden which 

 we now recall. And the best point about these beds is 

 their cheapness and ease of management. The plants 

 were purchased mainly at Rochester and Flushing nur- 

 series, at a cost averaging not more than a dollar each. 

 They were planted in the spring of 1889 and produced 

 the effects here shown by the second season after. The 

 plants are good for an indefinite period ; and, as no 

 expense is required in managing them beyond a little 

 manure annually and the stirring of thesoil through the 



is wide of the mark. Our sample plats of 18 different 

 kinds of lawn grasses include the highly extolled "mix- 

 tures. " While nearly every one of the 18 plats is a fairly 

 presentable lawn, that occupied by Kentucky blue-grass 

 {^Poa pratensis) alone, and those in which this kind forms 

 a large proportion, are so superior to those sown with 

 the average mixture sold by seedsmen, and to those sown 

 with other kinds separately, that we have no hesitation 

 in saying that, to go far beyond the blue-grass for 

 small lawns, on oiiv clay soil, is a grave mistake. All 

 things considered, we must place the mixture of half-and- 



