BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



365 



for either hothouse or greenhouse varieties, is a mixture of 

 fibrous turfy loam, leaf-mold, and plenty of sand. The 

 following are a few good free-growing greenhouse ferns 

 that may be easily managed by anyone : Adiantnm cii- 

 tieattim, Alsophila aus/ralis (a fine tree fern of rapid 

 growth) Asplenhim bulbiferum, Nephrodium Sieboldii, 

 Lomaria g-ibba, Lygodium scandcus (climbing fern), 

 Ncphrodium mode, iVcphrolcpsis cxcdtata, Pteris ai - 

 gyrtva, P. hastata and Ircmula, Woodzuardia 

 7'adicaus and some of the lycopodiums With the hardy 

 wood-ferns you could make a splendid outdoor fernery 

 in some dark shady nook where nothing else will grow. 

 —Mrs. L. H. Gale. 



Tree Protectors.— The great objection to most of 

 the tree-protectors, such as woven lath, wire screens, etc., 

 is that they cost too much. We want something cheap. 

 We use the veneer protector, cut from poplar 9x13 inches 

 and 1-12 inch thick, which cost only $3 per 1,000. By 

 wetting them a little they can be easily wrapped around 

 a tree and wired, and will last two or three years. We 

 could not buy wire screen for less than $20 per 1,000. 

 With the commercial orchardist this cost makes a great 

 difference. In putting on these protectors the wires 

 should be fastened in some 

 way, so that they will not slip 

 down when the wood gets 

 dry and shrinks. The top 

 wire can be hooked over the 

 upper edge of the veneer, as 

 shown in the illustration 

 (fig. b), or if the edge of the 

 veneer, which comes on the 

 outside, be notched as in fig. 

 a, the wires will stay in place. 

 The protector should be sunk 

 in the ground a little at the 

 bottom and will then serve 

 as protection against borers 

 and rabbits. Some orchard, 

 ists seem to be afraid to use 

 use this protector, thinking 

 that it will injure the tree. 

 We have seen it used, however, for several years, and 

 in every case with the very best results. — E. L. Pol- 

 lard, Mo. 



Veneer Protectors for 

 Trees, Showing Two W.'W 

 OF Wiring. 



Monuments in Garden Cemeteries. — Along with 

 the growing appreciation for the modern garden cemetery, 

 there arises a feeling that the custom of erecting monu- 

 ments and marking-stones is too generally followed, even 

 in some otherwise tine landscape burial places. In the 

 annual report of J. M. Curtiss, concerning the beautiful 

 Riverside Cemetery, of Cleveland, Ohio, advanced views 

 are expressed on this subject, but we doubt not that they 

 are views that will more and more widely prevail as the 

 years pass. He says : ' ' And now indulge me in a few 

 words upon the utter uselessness of disfiguring our lawns 

 with slabs, shafts and grave-stones to mark the resting 

 place of the departed. You ask, Would you then dis- 

 courage these marks of affection and remembrance ? I 

 answer freely, that the sole object of placing these ob- 

 structions to the natural beauty of the landscape is to 

 mark permanently the spot where our loved ones are 

 laid to rest. Have you ever stopped to consider how 

 futile this puny effort is in the light of the history of the 

 past ages? All must have noticed the unsightly and 

 often disgraceful appearance of old and neglected ceme- 

 teries, with their broken, tottering and crumbling grave- 

 stones. Do they accomplish the one practical object ? 

 Do they afford a permanent and lasting guide to the spot 

 where their forefathers sleep, for the descendants of future 

 generations ? All that tread the globe are but a hand- 

 ful to the tribes that slumber in its bosom: Where are 

 the graves of the departed millions since time began ? 

 Where are headstones of past generations ? Disintegra- 

 tion and final decay is the certain fate of every trapping 

 and adornment of this nature. The great Daniel 

 O'Connor is said to have made this last request : ' What- 

 ever mausoleum or monument may be erected above my 

 grave, I desire my body to be deposited below the sur- 

 face, in touch with mother earth.' Nature's green 

 mantle which renews and beautifies itself is the most 

 permanent — the most appropriate, as well as the most 

 beautiful covering for the dead. A block of solid granite 

 sunk to the level of the earth, with a simple inscription, is 

 all that is required of loving and willing hands. These 

 thoughts are set down, not so much with a view of work- 

 ing a radical change at once, as to direct thought in the 

 right direction. The beauty of our grounds is being 

 marred by a mistaken conception of the requirements of 

 love and duty." 



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Destroying the White Grub. — (Page 190.) The wild 

 sunflower is plentiful here. Every plant of it that we 

 carelessly leave standing, when pulled the latter part 

 of June, has among its roots from 5 to 25 May beetles ; 

 of course they are there for the purpose of depositing 

 eggs. I never find them in the roots of other weeds, and 



I do not see that the grub injures anything on my 

 grounds except strawberry-plants. If the beetles select 

 the sunflower, in preference to any other plant, around 

 which to deposit their eggs, by leaving plants enough, say 

 one to every square rod, I think we could easily capture 

 every beetle, and destroy every egg deposited. A few 



