28o 



ORNAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



The illustration at the bottom of this page shows two 

 cases of branch strangulation by labels discovered on 

 our young trees. The one to the right need cause no 

 surprise, for this is the ordinary nursery label, the re- 



WiLD Sprouts OiS FLowhRiNO Alaiond 



(See page 279.) 



moving of which had been overlooked. The result is 

 that the wire is completely buried in the bark, causing a 

 defect that will be quite sure to make a weak spot in the 

 branch here. The figure to the left shows a zinc label, 

 designed to be permanent — a style long recommended for 

 its safety, because being simply coiled around the branch 

 it was assumed that it would open with the growth. And 

 so it would had it been put on rightly. After breaking 

 off the branch at the label the cause of the trouble was 

 revealed ; the label had been coiled around the twig four 

 times instead of two as is usual. It could not "give" 

 with the growth, hence it was as injurious as a tight wire 

 would have been. 



The most satisfactory label we have used up to date, 

 and we have tried numbers of them, is a substantial pine 

 label with a wire almost the size of a light knitting-needle . 

 It is attached to the branch by a loop so large that half a 

 dozen years of rapid growth do not fill it. 



Be.iuty Easily Acquired. — The engraving of a piece 

 of water-edged lawn at Woodbanks, shown on opposite 

 page, was made from a photograph taken last summer. 

 It is presented for the purpose of showing how easily, 

 now and then, " art doth mend nature " and secure to us 

 lovely landscape effects with little trouble and expense. 

 Where smooth green turf now slopes downward to the 

 water's edge, there was, two years ago, a medley of under- 

 brush, choke-cherry trees and decayed stumps. The fine 

 old red oak just beyond could not be reached. A few 



days work in spading and grading and sowing giass was 

 all that was required to extend the lawn to the oak and 

 to the water's edge. The former owner last summer ex- 

 pressed much surprise at the change wrought at this 

 point. Although he had lived here for years, he never 

 dreamed of its being anything else than a rough bramble- 

 patch. 



Are Copper Salts Injurious to Plant-Growth ? — 

 Trials are being made to set this matter definitely at 

 rest, so far as we are concerned. We have in some cases 

 been extremely lavish in the application of both sulphate of 

 iron and copper directly to the soil around the house, but 

 the grass and other plants seem to flourish just the same as 

 ever. How the Bordeaux mixture or any of the spraying 

 solutions, applied to foliage in the usual dilutions and 

 quantities, can have the least influence upon root-growth 

 we cannot understand. Tests made at the Iowa Agricul- 

 tural College, as reported elsewhere, only show that the 

 ammoniacal solution of carbonate of copper, mixed di- 

 rectly and intimately with the soil in large quantities, 

 may for a while retard the germination of seeds, or have 

 an unfavorable influence upon root-growth. But even 

 this effect is lost after a time. The smallest amount of 

 carbonate of copper mixed with the soil in these tests was 

 probably not less than nine pounds per acre, while a 

 single spraying with the solution would require not more 

 than a few ounces of the copper salt per acre, and a 

 whole season's persistent spraying would probably not 

 distribute more than a very few pounds over that area. 

 Growers have every reason for depending upon nature's 

 ability to render harmless by chemical combinations or 

 by other means all dangerous or injurious substances put 

 upon or into the soil. Our own tests thus far indicate 

 that the presence of carbonate of copper in the soil does 

 not prevent germination or healthy root-growth. 



Points in Preparation of Spraying Mixtures. — 

 With considerable regret we come to the conclusion that 



Damage from Coiled and Wired Labels. 



for this season at least we will not be able to dispense 

 with the Bordeaux mixture. Fortunately, however, we 

 feel authorized to use and recommend a much milder 

 dilution than last year's formula demanded. For 6 lbs. 



