16 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
of the year, but between the Daisy and the Rose are 
crowds of flowers, and none can count them all. 
It is Christmas now : the Holy Thorn prepares to open 
its pale buds at the Epiphany, and a West Country girl 
always expects to find a Rose in the garden to wear on 
Christmas Day. — S. Hope Evans in The Garden (Eng- 
lish). 
I 
ADORNMENT OF HOME GROUNDS. 
X all the world no country surpasses America in in- 
spiring scenery. Nature has been very lavish in this 
respect, but with many Americans there seems to be a 
great lack of appreciation, as shown in the way in which 
the natural beauty of our scenery is frequently defaced or 
entirely destroyed. 
The most attractive and inspiring element in any land- 
scape is its trees. A denuded mountain-side or hill-slope 
is comjiaratively devoid of beauty or interest ; a river 
winding through a land stripped of trees has lost its 
greatest charm. Hill and valley and far-reaching plain 
are largely dependent on the trees for their scenic effects. 
And yet we in this country have hacked away at our 
forests, once the finest in the world, leaving mountains, 
hills and plains almost treeless, and only in recent times 
iiave we begun to realize that in our haste to gain wealth, 
build cities, lay out highways and construct railroads, we 
have neglected or destroyed that which is quite as neces- 
sary for right living — inspiring scenery and beautiful 
surroundings. 
We ourselves may not be able to replace the trees on 
the bare hill-slopes or in the valleys about us ; that, in 
most cases, is a task which calls for state or national 
effort, but individually we can improve our home sur- 
roundings by providing a proper setting of trees and 
shrubs in the yard and along the roadway. If every 
home-owner in town or country would do this the result 
would be a remarkable improvement in appearance, a 
greater degree of comfort and healthfulness and a marked 
appreciation in the value of his own and adjacent prop- 
erty. 
The embellishment of home grounds is not an ex- 
pensive or difficult operation. In the case of extensive 
grounds it is advisable to consult a landscape artist be- 
fore undertaking the work of planting, but with the 
])lot a little careful planning on the part of the owner 
will enable him to make a pleasing arrangement. 
One thing amateur planters are apt to lose sight of — 
that little trees grow to be big ones — and they often 
make the mistake of setting too thickly or too near build- 
ings. When planting such varieties as elms, oaks and 
maples, forty or fifty feet apart is about right unless 
one expects to cut out alternate trees in after years. 
Shrubbery and the smaller evergreens are more orna- 
mental and pleasing if planted in groups about the 
grounds, and are excellent for the purpose of hiding un- 
desirable views or objects on the premises. "Best re- 
sults are obtained with nothing individually conspicuous. 
The beauty of the whole is greater than the beauty of 
any part," says an authority on landscape art. 
The Winter months afford an excellent opportunity for 
all who contemplate tree planting to make suitable plans 
and to prepare lists of stock required. A study of books 
on the subject and of the catalogues of leading nursery- 
men will be helpful, and there are many works on land- 
scape architecture that give all the needed information 
regarding proper arrangement, etc. A little time spent 
during this period of comparative leisure will put any- 
one in a position to plant the right kinds at the proper 
time and in the most suitable location. — Tree Talk. 
THE COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE. 
A T one time or another every conifer which had any 
chance of surviving has been tried in the Arnold 
.Krboretum, and some useful information on the value of 
the different exotic and .'\merican species, with the excep- 
tion of a few of the new introductions from China as orna- 
mental trees in this climate, has been obtained from the 
Arboretum experiments. Considering how generally un- 
favorable the New England climate is for trees of this 
class, the large number that succeed here is surprising, 
although it must be remembered that in this climate manv 
conifers, especially spruces and firs, are often at their best 
when not more than forty or fifty years old, and that as 
they grow older they gradually fail and lose their value 
as ornamental trees. This is true of the so-called Colo- 
rado Blue Spruce (Picca puHs:ens), which is still one of 
the most popular conifers in the Northern United States, 
where it is propagated and planted in immense numbers, 
in spite of the fact that it early loses its value as an orna- 
mental tree. The blue spruce is very hardy, is easily 
raised and grows rapidly ; young plants are of good shape 
and dense habit with their lower branches resting on the 
ground. There are two forms, one with dull green and 
tlie other with blue leaves, and the latter especially ap- 
peals to persons who are fond of unusual looking and 
sensational plants. For the nurseryman the blue spruce 
has everything to recommend it, easy germination of the 
seed, quick growth and unusual beauty in the young 
plants, and therefore a certainty of a quick sale. For the 
planter looking for something more important than a 
plant for a city garden or a small suburban yard this 
tree has proved a failure. It is not surprising, for Picea 
piiugois growing in small groves near streams in the 
valleys of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, long before 
it attains its full size is a thin, scrawny, miserable look- 
ing tree with a few short branches only near the top of 
the stem. This tree was discovered in 1862 ; seed was 
planted the following year in the Harvard Botanic 
Garden, and one of the plants raised at that time is still 
alive in the Arboretum on the southern slope of Bussey 
Hill where it is kept as a warning for planters who are 
deceived by the beauty of young plants of the blue 
spruce. — Arnold Arboretum Bulletin. 
BURNING OF LEAVES WASTEFUL 
M^ 
ANY tons of valuable fertilizer are wasted every 
year through our practice of raking the fallen 
leaves from lawns and parks into the street and burning 
them. We destroy one of the best of nature's fertilizers, 
that on which she relies for the renewal of the vegetable 
humus in the soil. 
All nature's protection is removed in the interest of 
tidiness ; then we wonder why lawns must be so fre- 
quently resodded a^d why grass seed "won't catch." The 
fallen leaves protect the roots of grass and shrubs from 
the freezing and thawing of Winter, and deposited in a 
corner of the back yard with a little earth thrown over to 
prevent them from blowing away, in a year or two are 
converted into what the forester calls "duff," an organic 
material which makes the loam that grows the farmer's 
best crops. It is an excellent top dressing for the lawn, 
and enrichment for flowers and shrubs, and, mixed with 
a little ordinary earth, a most desirable soil for filling 
the window boxes and repotting plants — something hard 
to get in town. It is invaluable to the amateur gardener 
who utilizes his back yard, and yet it is almost invariably 
wasted. We pay thousands of dollars every year for 
phosphates and nitrates, and overlook this valuable 
product of nature's laboratory. — Detroit Free Press. 
