168 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[November, 



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PREPARING SHKUBS FOR WINTER. 



We generally neglect the lawn and flower- 

 garden in the fall. In fact, we are quite apt 

 to neglect them all summer. We dig about 

 among our shrubs in spring, and cut away 

 dead branches, and try to make them a little 

 more symmetrical; but after the period of 

 blooming is ovev we forget about them. They 

 are quite sure to get into straggling shapes : 

 here will be a branch of robust growth, and 

 on the other side there will be more of cor- 

 responding vigor to balance it. This should 

 be seen to during the summer, when the plant 

 is growing. If you see a tendency to one- 

 sidedness, cut back the vigorous branches, 

 and keejp them cut back until new branches 

 are forced to start on the other side of the 

 plant. By a little attention to this matter 

 during the growing season, which comes 

 immediately after the period of blossoming 

 with most shrubs, you can keep them in 

 good shape. 



It does not require the skill of the profes- 

 sional gardener, as many persons imagine, 

 to grow shrubs well and keep them healthy. 

 In the first place, they must be planted in 

 good soil. Then they must be kept out of 

 the grass, or, rather, the grass must be kept 

 away from them. You cannot expect a shrub 

 to do well if you allow the earth about it to 

 get swarded over, as it soon will if you do 

 not keep fighting the grass back. It is a 

 persistent and aggressive enemy, but you 

 can keep it down, and the price of the vic- 

 tory is always eternal vigilance. If you do 

 not let it get the start of you, the labor of 

 keeping it away from the roots of shrubs is 

 not much. 



We may have much finer shrubs than we 

 usually see in lawns if we give them proper 

 care in autumn. Those which are hardy 

 enough to stand the severe winters of our 

 northern climate without protection will do 

 enough better with protection to pay for 

 all the trouble we are giving them. I have 

 laid down my hardy Roses for the last five 

 years, and covered the branches with coarse 

 litter in November, and I find that they give 

 me a much greater satisfaction in quantity 

 and quality of bloom than was the case before 

 I began protecting them. Our long winters 

 injure them if left standing, though they may 

 not seem to, to the ordinary observer. 



I always cut back my shrubs well when I 

 give them their fall "going over." That is, 

 most shrubs. Such as bear flowers early in 

 the spring, on wood of this year's growth, it 

 will not do to trim, because in doing that 

 you destroy the buds which will produce 

 flowers next season. Roses, Honeysuckles, 

 Wistarias, and such plants, will produce 

 flowers on next spring's growth ; but the 

 Hydrangea panieulata grandiflora — one of 

 our very best new shrubs — the Lilac, and 

 similar plants, make their preparations for 

 next season's campaign now, and you must 

 wait until after they have blossomed before 

 pruning them. 



Before I lay my plants down for their win- 

 ter sleep I spread some coarse litter from the 

 barn-yard about their roots ; then I bend the 

 branches over carefully, and fasten them 

 down with little pegs, or a forked limb. 

 Over them I throw more of the litter. In 



spring, when I lift them, this litter is dug 

 into the soil about their roots. If there is 

 much straw in it cover it up, and do not 

 leave unsightly bunches of it on the surface 

 of the soil. November is early enough to 

 lay down most plants, and most kinds should 

 not be lifted before April, unless we have an 

 unusually warm and early spring. Let the 

 air get rid of its winter chill before waking 

 up the plants, and telling them it is time to 

 grow. They will know when to do that 

 better than you do. 



Eben E. Rexfoed. 



CARE 01 HONEY LOCUST HEDGES. 



In the northern sections of the United 

 States, where the Osage Orange is more or 

 less injured by the winter, the Honey Lo- 

 cust is undoubtedly the most valuable plant 

 for hedging purposes. There is no special 

 culture necessary for it more than is re- 

 quired for other species, but it needs atten- 

 tion for the first two or three years to form 

 a thick base. The young hedge should be 

 frequently cultivated, and kept clear of 

 grass and weeds all summer, otherwise mice 

 will harbor therein and bark the young 

 plants. In trimming, cut well back for the 

 first two or three years, bearing in mind 

 there is no difficulty in quickly obtaining the 

 desired height, but it is far more trouble- 

 some to induce it to become dense and 

 twiggy. 



The best results are obtained from run- 

 ning one strand, or, better still, two strands, 

 of barbed wire along the middle of the 

 hedge, thus preventing the inroads of un- 

 ruly animals, and that bane of the honest 

 orchardist, boys with thieving propensities. 



To start at the commencement, Honey 

 Locust seeds should be collected in the pods 

 as they fall from the trees in autumn, and 

 placed in a cold, exposed position until hard, 

 freezing weather, when they can readily be 

 threshed like beans. After cleaning the 

 seeds from the fragments of pods, etc., 

 place in bags and preserve dry until spring. 

 At planting-time soak the seeds in warm 

 water until they show signs of germination, 

 when they should be sown in drills like 

 peas, in good, thoroughly pulverized soil. 



Like the larger portion of our native trees, 

 this species forms more root than top the 

 first year, consequently one-year seedlings 

 are usually rather small for planting in the 

 hedge-row ; but they should not remain 

 longer than two years, else they will be on 

 the other extreme. — Josiah Hoopes, in N. Y. 

 Tribune. 



SKELETON LEAVES, 



Now that the lawns are strewn with gayly 

 colored leaves and the trees will soon be en- 

 tirely defoliated, the directions for preparing 

 Skeleton Leaves, given in Knowledge, may 

 be interesting to many of our readers : 



" Take a large saucepan of cold water, and 

 a piece of scrubbing-soap about four inches 

 square, cut into small slices. Gather mature 

 leaves, seed-vessels, etc.; put some soap into 

 the water, then a layer of leaves one by one, 

 then more soap, then leaves, and so on. Put 

 on a lid, set the pan by the side of a fire, and 

 let it simmer. After an hour take out a few 

 leaves, and try them between the thumb and 

 finger ; if the pulp separates readily from the 



fibre, remove them from the fire ; if not, let 

 the pan remain. Some leaves, sucli as Ivy, 

 Orange, etc., are done in an hour or two; 

 others of a tougher fibre take half a day. 

 Seed-vessels of Mallow or Campanula take a 

 short time. Large Poppy or Stramonium 

 requires, perhaps, two days. Now lay a leaf 

 upon a plate, under a tap of running water, 

 and beat it with sharp strokes with a hard 

 brush — say a' tooth-brush ; the green matter 

 will run off with the water. When the skele- 

 ton is quite clean, dry it upon blotting-paper. 



"To bleach the specimens put a quarter 

 of a pound of chloride of lime into a large 

 bottle of water, cork it, and let it stand 

 some days. Strain it, and mix with more 

 water in a basin ; immerse the leaves, etc. 

 Again carefully watch and remove them as 

 soon as they are white, for the lime soon 

 renders them brittle and rotten. Wash again 

 in pure water, and dry as before. As the 

 stems usually come away from most leaves, 

 it is well to boil several stalks separately, 

 and, after bleaching, to mount the leaves by 

 gumming them to the stems." 



THE VIRGINIA FRINGE-TREE. 



( Chionan th xs Virgin ica. ) 



To any one in search of a beautiful and 

 not commonly seen shrub, or small tree, for 

 the lawn, we earnestly commend the Fringe- 

 Tree, or White Fringe, under which name it 

 is also known. It grows wild in Virginia 

 and southward, and succeeds well in cultiva- 

 tion throughout the Northern States. Yet, 

 although it requires not more care than other 

 lawn shrubs, and is much prettier than many 

 whose place it might occupy, it is but seldom 

 seen in northern gardens. 



It grows from a bushy shrub to a small 

 tree of twenty or more feet in height ; its 

 leaves are large, oval oblong, dark green, 

 somewhat downy, resembling Magnolia- 

 leaves ; its delicate, snowy-white flowers 

 hang in loose- and gracefully drooping pan- 

 icles. A Fringe-Tree in spring, when in 

 full bloom, covered with a profuse mass of 

 long, graceful fringes of pure white flowers 

 swaying in the breeze, partly hidden by the 

 large, deep green, glossy foliage, is a beauti- 

 ful sight indeed. 



The shrub is of rather slow growth at first, 

 but in a rich, loamy, rather moist soil, it 

 thrives pretty well, especially when shel- 

 tered from the bleak west and north-west 

 winds by a group of Evergreens. It may be 

 propagated from cuttings, but it becomes 

 hardier and more vigorous when grafted on 

 the common Ash. 



PRUNING EVERGREENS. 



Evergreens should never be pruned in 

 the fall or winter. The cutting off of the 

 summer's growth during this season exposes 

 the inner parts of the tree or hedge to the 

 snow and cold winds of winter, to their seri- 

 ous injury. Thousands of hedges are annu- 

 ally destroyed by such unseasonable pruning. 

 Spring is the time for pruning Evergreens, 

 especially when large limbs are to be re- 

 moved. Hedges which are to be kept as 

 even and neat as possible may be pruned the 

 latter part of June or first week in July. At 

 this time the new growth is still soft, there 

 is no danger from cold injuring exposed 

 parts, and there is sufficient time for the 

 ripening of the new wood before winter. 



