GIRDLED ELMS THAT WOULD NO 7 DIE. 



209 



its substance. But if some condition threatens a suspen- 

 sion of the vital activity or tends to shorten it, as indi- 

 cated by retarded growth, the plant exerts itself to do its 

 allotted work in a shorter time, and often surprises us by 

 the prolificacy of its flowering. 



This makes plain the reason for keeping callas some- 

 what cramped at the root when they are grown for winter 

 flowers. Some florists accomplish the end in view by 

 placing a number of the rhizomes or roots in a box to- 

 gether, so that when they have attained some size they 

 crowd each other. 



Our treatment has been to use small pots and to turn the 

 pots on their sides about June i, in some shady place, and 

 let them rest until September. Some growers set out cal- 

 las like other plants and keep them growing all summer ; 

 but the period of absolute rest is an important factor in 

 securing flowers in winter. Having rested during the 

 summer, they are repotted and left unwatered for two 

 ■weeks. Then a generous watering is given, and no more 

 until they have started up briskly. 



The calla is not particular as to soil, provided it is rich. 

 The most satisfactory is composed of good loam, four 



parts ; rotted cow-manure, free from sawdust or litter, 

 three parts ; sharp sand, one part. As for pots, a six or 

 seven-inch will accommodate a pretty large root-stalk. 



Under this treatment the plants in a temperature of 60° 

 at night begin blooming in November, and continue until 

 the hot weather of the following season. Lovers of this 

 beautiful flower have reason to congratulate themselves 

 upon the discovery and adoption by Professor L. H. 

 Bailey of a plan to start up the plants without repotting 

 and depend on liquid manure to make up any deficiency 

 in fertility. 



Last fall our plants were given this treatment. Owing 

 to the pressure of other matters they were not attended to 

 until about the middle of October ; but we lost nothing 

 by the delay, as they came into bloom fully as soon as 

 they would if started a month earlier with repotting. 

 The blooms came with the first leaf, and in two weeks 

 after starting most of the plants were showing flower-buds. 

 By November 15 many had flowers ready to cut, and the 

 blooming has continued with unwonted freedom and con- 

 stancy ever since. 



Indiana. Ernest Walker. 



GIRDLED ELMS THAT WOULD NOT DIE. 



ECENT paragraphs in this magazine, 

 which have noted the remarkable 

 tenacity of tree life under the most 

 abnormal conditions, lead me to 

 make this record of similar cases 

 which have come under my obser- 

 vation. The venerable Thomas 

 Meehan, in speaking of the girdled 

 Austrian pine on his grounds which 

 so surprised his friend George Thurber by its continued 

 growth and vigor, said ; "It seems incredible that a tree 

 can possibly live when the bark and underlying wood are 

 separated." Alluding to another pine in Nevada, which 

 had been girdled by porcupines, he inferred from the 

 cases cited that these species of pine were specially en- 

 dowed with power to draw moisture and other supplies 

 for life and growth through the old wood, which other 

 trees could not do. In the light of the evidence I shall 

 present, this belief will need modification. 



Secretary Ragan, of the Indiana Horticultural Society 

 (page 758, 1891), cites certain pine trees, similar in char- 

 acter to those mentioned by Mr. Meehan. In all these 

 instances the tree above the point girdled is said to have 

 kept on growing and increasing in diameter of trunk as 

 if nothing had happened to its organic structure, while 

 below the girdling all was apparently still and practi- 

 cally dead, so far as any development was concerned. 

 Another point to be remembered in connection with these 

 girdled pines is, that only a few inches, or at most a foot 

 of the bark had been removed. 



About a mile and a half from my home in Kingston, 

 N. Y., and on a leading city street, stood three years ago 

 three fine, thrifty elm trees ( Ulmus Americana), in front 



of a small cottage. They had been planted many years 

 before for street shade-trees, and were thoroughly estab- 

 lished. For some strange reason unknown to me, the new 

 owner of the cottage, who moved there in the spring of 

 1889, deliberately peeled the bark from the trunks from 

 a point within a few inches of the ground for about three 

 feet upwards, completely girdling each tree and denuding 

 the wood of every vestige of bark for that space. Chanc- 

 ing to pass by some time afterward, I stopped to note the 

 unusual proceeding : first, because I always regret the de- 

 struction of any large and beautiful tree without apparent 

 reason ; and next, in this case because the trees seemed in 

 full growth with fresh leafage, although the girdling had 

 evidently been done some weeks before. Questioning the 

 owner, an illiterate foreigner, he said : "Too much shade ; 

 too many trees, big and hard to cut ; kill 'em this way." 

 But he didn't succeed. The graceful sweeping elms went 

 right on about their business, breathing and pumping up 

 sap as though no vandal hand had tried to sever their 

 connection with the base of supply. All that summer 

 they grew and the twigs lengthened, to my utter astonish- 

 ment and pleasure, and the owner's consternation. In 

 the spring of 1890 the elms started to grow at every end 

 just like their ungirdied neighbors, and all that summer 

 they were green and beautiful. I examined the wood of 

 the girdled spaces, and found it apparently dead on the 

 surface but alive and sappy inside. The owner rather 

 began to admire the grit of the trees ; at least he did not 

 cut them down. Last spring and summer the green 

 banners of life came out as before, and waved defiantly 

 in the breeze. 



But now the cottage got a new tenant. Two of the 

 elms were felled during the summer. The other was left 



