BUDS. BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



687 



filled up around a tree without killing the tree. A 

 handsome, large elm on our place originally stood in a 

 little hollow, with a small bog at its base. A few years 

 this place was filled up, the depth of earth put in 



A Sprig of Tansy. 



around the trunk of the tree being about 2,'< feet. The 

 elm is now thriving even better than before the low 

 place was filled. — Dora Lawrence. 



Plant-Labels. — (Page 575.) I often see questions as 

 to what kind of tags are best for marking plants, I 

 have lound maps of flower-beds or orchards better than 



labels of any kind. For beds containing spring-tlower- 

 ing bulbs, lilies, etc., ray map is on the scale of one inch 

 to a foot ; for larger plants, one inch to a yard. Then 

 each bulb or perennial plant is marled on the map, and 

 when spring comes and a lily delays its appearance 

 above ground, there is no danger of digging it up by 

 mistake if one only looks at the map before spading. My 

 are in a hedge, and the map here is simply a list of 

 names beginning with that of the left-hand rose. These 

 names are always to be found, and are never buried 

 under dirt or washed off by rains. — D. L. 



Garden Exiles. — (Page 467.) Miss Bergen's pretty 

 and appreciative paper will, no doubt, help to restore a 

 number of worthy flower and herb-exiles to their old 

 homes in gardens, but these outcasts brighten our way- 

 sides so much that we hope they will continue to grow 

 lere also. The accompanying graceful drawing of a 

 sprig of tansy was unintention- 

 ally omitted from the article 

 on "Bouncing Bet and Her 

 Friends," in the August issue. 



Fay Currant. — (Page 447.) 

 I do not consider " the down- 

 ward sprawling tendency of 

 the Fay currant a decided ob- 

 jection to it." One might as 

 well complain of the tendency 

 of grapes to climb, and need 

 a trellis, or of the Champion 

 of England pea to need bush- 

 ing. I have a row of Fay currant-bushes, and on either 

 side of the row, stakes about three feet long driven six 

 feet apart. Strips are nailed to the stakes high enough 

 up to hold the currant-branches off the ground. Treated 

 in this way they do finely. My bushes are badly affected 

 with lice this year ; can anyone give me a remedy for 

 them ?— E. W. L., N. Y. 



Pedigree Trees. — (Page 570.) I fully agree with R. 

 M. Kellogg, of the Michigan Horticultural Society, 

 about pedigree trees, I have seen here apple trees that 

 were probably worked with stock from trees in nursery 

 rows, and compared them with trees that I knew to be 

 top-worked with stock from thrifty fruiting trees. The 

 latter bore heavier, and in some cases, earlier crops of 

 fruit than the first named, whose parentage was uncer- 

 tain. The gardener selects thrifty, well-matured vege- 

 tables for seed purposes, and either keeps up the variety 

 or improves it. Why not take grafting or budding stock 

 from trees of like qualities ? — Chas. C. Lindley, North 

 Carolina . 



Umbrella China-Trees. — (Page 561.) Among the 

 ornaments of our Raleigh lawns none are more attractive 

 than umbrella China-trees. Not far from my residence 

 is one about 15 feet high. Its umbrella-shaped head, 

 fully 30 feet in diameter, makes a perfect arbor. I think 

 these trees will stand more frost than Mr. Falconer sup- 

 poses, for one morning last winter the mercury ran as 

 low as 16" above zero, yet there was no sign of any in- 

 jury to the trees. Though apparently the same species 



