188 



[October, 



J»i mil 



HARDY SHRUBS, 



Among the multitude of shrubs which are 

 enumerated in catalogues, those who have 

 not made a special study of them find con- 

 siderable difficulty in selecting a small num- 

 ber suited for their climate, producing at the 

 same time best effects and as much varia- 

 tion as possible. 



After an experience of fifteen years with 

 a great number of shrubs, Editor E. S. Car- 

 Diaii recommends, in the Rural New-YorAer, 

 the following as the best for the average 

 country home : 



Viburnum plicdtum should be mentioned 

 among the first as one of the most valuable 

 and beautiful flowering shrubs, far surpass- 

 ing the older varieties of Snowball. 



Chionanthus Virginica, White Fringe, is a 

 native shrub or small tree, notable for its 

 large leaves and graceful, drooping panicles 

 of slender-petaled flowers that seem almost 

 to float in the air, so slight are the pedicels 

 which hold them to stems. 



Pyrus Japonica, the Japan Quince, should 

 find a place in every garden. The leaves are 

 ever bright and glossy, while the blossoms 

 are almost unequaled for brilliancy by those 

 of any hardy, early blooming shrub. The 

 range of colors is from white through rose to 

 dark red. In clumps or small clusters com- 

 posed of several or all of the different colors, 

 we have during May a brilliant effect indeed. I 



Forsyth in viridissima and F. Fortuneii, 

 Golden Bell, are the finest of the golden ' 

 blooming shrubs. They begin to bloom about 

 the middle of April, before the green leaves 

 appear, and by May first are a mass of bright 

 yellow. These plants are very effective 

 trained to a single stem. Fortune's Golden 

 Bell bears flowers rather larger in size and a 

 few days earlier than viridissima. 



Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, the Great 

 Panicled Hydrangea has proven very hardy. 

 Its panicles of sterile flowers are often a foot 

 or more in length, changing from a greenish 

 white to pink as the nights grow cold. It is 

 a coarse but showy shrub. 



Spirted prunifolia, the Double Spiraea com- 

 monly called Bridal Wreath. The little 

 double white flowers appear in late May, 

 and soon the shrub becomes a mass of white, 

 which lasts until June. 



Spircea Thunbergii is one of the first of all 

 hardy shrubs to bloom. It is a small bush, 

 bearing white blossoms in great profusion. 



Deutzias and Weigelias in variety may be 

 selected from nurserymen's catalogues, since 

 there is no great choice between them. All 

 are pretty and floriferous. 



Exoelwrda grandiflora bears white flowers 

 resembling those of Crab Apples. The leaves 

 keep green until after frost ; the shrub grows 

 to the height of ten feet, and is entirely hardy 

 in this climate. 



Cercis Japonica, the Japan Iudas tree, 

 wreathes its naked branches in late spring 

 with rosy purple flowers, and later clothes 

 itself with shiny, thick leaves of a heart 

 shape. 



Halesia tetraptcra, the Silver Bell, is a 

 well shaped little tree, found wild in Ohio 

 and southward. The white bell flowers 

 droop from the stems in small racemes, 

 leaving a winged seed, from which the ' 



specific name is derived. The stems of this 

 little tree are clean and shapely, the wood 

 very hard, the bark prettily striated with 

 gray and dark brown. 



These, says Mr. Carman, were we again 

 laying out grounds, we should choose if eon- 

 fined to a few. For the rest, we may men- 

 tion Pavia macrostachya, Stuartia penagyna, 

 Hypericum Edlmianum, the Golden Nine 

 bark, Rose of Sharon, Standard Honey- 

 suckles, Smoke Tree, the improved kinds 

 of Lilacs, and Purple Bai'berry. 



TOP-DRESSING OF LAWNS. 



The grass on lawns that are cut close and 

 often, says A. S. Fuller, in the N. Y. Weekly 

 Sun, should have frequent top-dressings of 

 some stimulating manure, in order to keep 

 them in good condition and of a rich green 

 color. If the blades of grass are kept cut 

 short, they cannot assimilate as much sap as 

 I those that are left long or to grow to full 

 size : hence the roots as well as the leaves 

 are restricted in growth, and cannot spread 

 as far in search of nutriment. 



In preparing the land for a lawn, some 

 persons go to a great expense in making the 

 soil very rich and deep, expecting by doing 

 this to avoid all expenses for future applica- 

 tions of fertilizers ; and while every one will 

 admit that thorough preparation is essential 

 to success, still, where the grass is kept cut 

 short as on a well-shaded lawn, the roots do 

 not penetrate to any considerable depth, 

 and therefore do not reach fertilizers buried 

 very deep, and all such materials are there- 

 fore wasted. Depth of soil and plenty of 

 enriching materials may be essential in pre- 

 paring for a good lawn ; but in a few years 

 frequent top-dressings with some stimulat- 

 ing fertilizers will be required to keep the 

 grass in good condition. 



Top-dressings in late fall may be made 

 with well decomposed barn-yard manure ; 

 but unless it is very fine, there will be much 

 of it to be raked off in spring, or the lawn 

 will not have a clean and bright look. It is 

 quite often the ease that lawns have a dull 

 brown appearance during the months of July 

 and August, which is the very season that 

 one desires to have them look best ; and, if 

 the weather is dry at this time, there is no 

 way of restoring the grass to its normal 

 color, except by the application of water, 

 which is seldom to be obtained at this season 

 in sufficient quantities to do much good. 



But the better way to keep lawns in good 

 condition is to apply top-dressings occasion- 

 ally during the summer whenever the weather 

 is favorable. Almost any of the standard 

 commercial fertilizers are excellent for this 

 purpose, and if the requisite quantity is ob- 

 tained early in the season, so as to have it 

 on hand when wanted, it can be applied just 

 before or after a shower, at which time it 

 will do more good. A very light dressing 

 will answer each time, and it is better to 

 apply a small quantity, or just as much as 

 will be dissolved and carried down to the 

 roots, than more. A few weeks later, or 

 when another shower comes, put on a little 

 more if the first application does not suffice 

 to give the grass a vigorous start or growth. 

 An application of plaster will sometimes 

 prove very beneficial in a dry season, and 

 even a light dressing of common salt will 

 sometimes produce a great change for the 

 better in a fading lawn. 



AND GREENHOUSE. 



THE WAX PLANT. 



(Hoya carnosa.) 

 Next to the English Ivy, I know of no 

 climbing plant better adapted to culture in 

 ordinary living rooms than the Hoya, or 

 1 Wax Plant, as it is more popularly known. It 

 gi-ows rapidly, has fine foliage, blooms pro- 

 fusely, and has beautiful flowers, and is 

 easily kept clean, because its thick, leathery 

 leaves can be washed as well as so many 

 pieces of china, with much less danger of 

 breaking them, and its stems are very tough, 

 so that there is but little danger of damag- 

 ing them in taking down the plant and put- 

 ing it up again whenever a bath is given it. 

 If it is trained where it is convenient to get 

 at the leaves, it will not be necessary to take 

 it down in order to give it a washing. The 

 only insect that has ever troubled my Hoya 

 is the mealy bug, and I exterminated him by 

 persevering warfare and a hair-pin, ruth- 

 lessly dislodging the little pest as fast as he 

 found a new location, and not hesitating to 

 commit murder in the interests of flori- 

 culture. 



You will often see inquiries in papers to 

 this effect : My Wax Plant is a year or two 



I years old, and doesn't grow. Can you tell me 

 why? Perhaps Hoyas take to growing only 

 when they become well rooted, and perhaps 

 it takes most of them a year or two to get in 



■ that condition. I don't know how that is, 

 but I know that I have owned three, and I 

 have never had one make much growth be- 

 fore the second year. I have always raised 

 my plants from cuttings, taken from half 

 ripened wood. Each cutting generally has 

 three or four leaves attached. These cut- 

 tings I have struck by inserting them in 

 sand kept wet and warm. The roots will 



; make their appearance in two or three weeks, 



| and in a month or six weeks I pot the plants 

 in a soil composed of one-third leaf-mold, 

 one-third garden soil, and one-third turfy 

 matter from under old sods, with a handful 

 of sand added to each six-inch pot. Usually, 

 the Hoya plant will put out a few new leaves, 

 just enough to show you that it is alive, but 

 I have never had my young plants send up 

 any stems until the second year. When they 

 do begin to grow, they grow very rapidly. 

 My last plant began growing when it was 

 about eighteen months old, and sent up 

 eight stems which averaged eight feet in 

 length in less than five months. 



One peculiarity of the plant is, it sends 

 out stems which seem to have only the germs 

 of leaves at first. The stem looks like an 

 exaggerated, uncurled grape-tendril, with 

 here and there little tags attached. By and 

 by these "tags" begin to develop, and 

 ultimately become leaves, usually of a red- 

 dish-brown at first, gradually changing to a 

 rich, shining green as they reach maturity. 

 The stems will twine about a string or wire, 

 and need but little training. Whatever sup- 

 port you give them must be quite stout, for 

 a branch with a good many leaves on it is 

 heavy. I had my plant trained on wires, 

 stretched from rafter to rafter in the con- 

 servatory; but I would advise stout cords, 

 instead of wires, for convenience in taking 

 down the plant. 



