184: 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
THE HOUGH BETTTZIA — (Deutzia scabra.') 
Some Beautiful White-Flowering Shrubs, 
While shrubs with gaily colored flowers 
excite our admiration, we believe that we derive 
more satisfaction from those the flowers of 
which are white. A Japan Quince, in a blaze 
of scarlet, or a Forsythia hung with its golden 
bells, is pleasant to look upon, but there is a 
tenderness and purity about aDeutzia or Silver- 
bell that call forth another sentiment than ad- 
miration. Pure white and green form a combina- 
tion, whether in plant or bouquet, that is always 
pleasing. Among the white-flowering shrubs, 
are the old Snow-ball, now but little grown, and 
its more dwarf, but more beautiful Japanese 
brother, Viburnum plicatum. Then we have 
the Fringe-tree, the two Silver-bells, any number 
of varieties of Spiraea, and Philadelphus, or Sy- 
ringa as it is often called. Besides these are the 
Double-flowering Plum and Cherry, that come 
early, and our native and beautiful Clethra that 
flowers late, and if it were not in every swamp, 
would be in every garden ; our fragrant White 
Azalea, and a host of others that we cannot now 
enumerate. Among the white flowering shrubs, 
well enough known to be in all good collections, 
but yet not sufficiently popularized to be grown 
every where, as are Lilacs and Snowballs, are 
the Deutzias. These shrubs have no common 
name, aside from their botanical one, which is 
fortunately one readily popularized. The species 
most common in cultivation are Deutzia scabra, 
D. crenata and D. gracilis, all natives of Japan. 
The first two grow six or eight feet high, and 
differ only in the shape of the leaves and some 
minute characters of the flowers. They are so 
much alike that one is frequently sold for the 
other. The leaves are rough, and when exam- 
ined by a strong magnifier, this roughness is 
found to be due to transparent star-shaped hairs, 
which are veiy pretty microscopic objects. 
Devtsia gracilis, grows about two feet high and 
forms a large tuft of slender arch- 
ing branches, and when these are 
loaded with pure white flowers, 
nothing can be more graceful. 
This is a most valuable shrub for 
cemetery decoration, and is valu- 
able for forcing. The florists around 
New- York force it in large quan- 
tities, and at this time (March) we 
find it freely used in bouquets and 
flower baskets. All these species 
are hardy as far north as Boston. 
The Deutzias are nearly related to 
the Sj'ringas, (PJiiladelpAus), but 
have smaller flowers, of a more 
delicate texture, and the plants 
are more graceful in habit. We 
give an engraving of a flowering- 
branch of D. scabra, much re- 
duced in size. The swamps of 
Virginia and southward furnish 
another white-flowered shrub that 
should be better known, the 
American Storax, Styrax Ameri- 
cana. It belongs to the same fam- 
ily with the popular Silver-bell 
(Halesia), has good foliage, and is 
in May covered with neat flowers 
that look much like small orange 
blossoms. The specimen from 
which our engraving is taken was 
from a large shrub in the grounds 
of that pioneer in horticulture, 
the late Thomas Hogg. The ad- 
vancing tide of "improvement" 
has gradually encroached upon 
these grounds, and this season will probably 
obliterate a spot dear to all horticulturists. We 
shall hereafter, when this collection is scattered, 
hardly know where to find many old favorites. 
thinning Out Ornamental Trees, 
This is one of the matters most likely to be 
overlooked, and yet most necessary to be done 
this spring. It has already been neglected sev- 
eral years, on account of the reluctance very 
naturally felt to destroy a work that nature has 
been twenty years in building up. As a rule, the 
shade trees on our streets and avenues are 
planted too near each other. The tree that 
wants fifty feet of space for its full development 
is scarcely allowed twenty. This would be of 
little consequence, if the planter only had the 
nerve to remove them when they began to wor- 
ry and devour each other. But he prizes his 
own handiwork ; he is a tender hearted man, and 
perhaps lacking in taste. How can he be ex- 
pected to destroy in a day what he has been so 
many years nursing and watching with pride. 
He can cut out dead limbs, and occasionally a 
live one if a straggler. But to put the grub ax 
to the root is more than he can bear. 
Tet this is just the severe remedy that is need- 
ed among the beautiful plantations of shade 
trees in our suburban towns and villages. The 
trees stand too thick, and are destroying one 
another. The fight is as real as that of the Kil- 
kenny cats, though less noisy. The top branch- 
es already interlock, and begin to die for want of 
light and air. The roots are meeting beneath 
the surface, and struggling for aliment. Nei- 
ther of the adjacent trees has aliment enough 
nor room enough to develop after its own law 
of growth. It can not do justice to itself, nor 
show forth the beauty and glory of its kind. 
Every dead branch and distorted limb cries out 
American stoeax— (Styrax Americana.) .. 
"make room," and room can only be had by 
the destruction of its neighbor. This must be 
had or the tree is spoiled of its beaut}'. Make 
this, and the gaps will soon be filled with more 
comely and healthful trees. "One handsome, 
well developed elm or maple is worth a whole 
row of decaying, distorted trees, struggling for 
the mastery. This is not the less important 
with evergreens than with deciduous trees. 
The perfection of an evergreen consists in its 
being a perfect pyramid, with its base resting 
on the ground, and care should be taken that 
they are never so crowded by close planting 
that they lose their lower branches. 
o i i t ft w » m 
Trouble with Seed. 
We expect to have every seedman of our 
acquaintance denounced as an imposter — that 
has been the way heretofore, and will probably 
be the case this year. Disappointment and vex- 
ation may be avoided by a little thought. Those 
who have had no experience in gardening, 
whether with flowers or vegetables, are gener- 
ally in too much of a hurry. They sow their 
seeds — of all kinds, the first fine day, a cold 
rain comes and soaks the ground for several 
clays, the seeds decay, and the seedsman is 
blamed. This is one way in which seeds fail. 
Another is, the directions to sow shallow are 
followed, the seeds start and a dry time comes 
on, and the germinating plants perish for want 
of sufficient moisture, when a watering at the 
proper time would have saved them. The 
smaller the seeds the more care they require, 
and it is much better to sow very small ones, 
such as Lobelia, in boxes with a pane of glass 
over them to prevent evaporation, than to risk 
them in the open border. It is well also to sow 
only a portion at one time ; if the first sown 
escapes accidents, the other portion may be sow 
to give a supply of plants for a later bloom. 
