The Garden Magazine, October, 1920 
107 
nevertheless apparently free from any pest or disease. I have culti- 
vated conscientiously after each rain. At the present writing (about six 
weeks after setting out the plants) during which time the single-stem 
ones have had the axillary shoots nipped out perhaps thrice — the leaves 
of every pruned plant show a distinct tendency to curl, while the plants 
that have not been touched have rich, healthy-looking, widespread 
foliage. There is no sign of blight, wilt, or other disease in the curled 
leaves, simply a tendency to curl up from the sides. Now my question 
is: Can this be due to the pruningwhich has reduced the leaf area, caused 
in the last few weeks a corresponding reduction in root development (as 
noted by Professor Chandler in his fruit trees) and thus, with the ap- 
proach of hot, summer weather, made necessary a reduction of the 
transpiration of the plant to balance the reduced moisture supply sent 
up by the reduced root system? In other words, has the plant, finding 
its roots unable to pump up enough water (on account of their having 
become smaller as a result of the pruning) taken to curling up its leaves 
so that they will not give off as much moisture as they otherwise 
would? Or did the handling of the pruned plants shock them? Or 
the treading down of the earth around them, hasten evaporation from it 
and lessen the moisture supply in the soil? Or what? I pause for 
reply. — E. L. D. Seymour. 
A Good 
Raspberry 
Indeed ! 
I WAS greatly interested in E. I. F.’s state- 
ment concerning Latham No. 4 Raspberry 
as related in the August issue of the Garden 
Magazine. It is a great pleasure indeed to 
cooperate with E. I. F.’s opinion. In my very extensive trials em- 
bracing all known varieties of Raspberries 1 found that Latham No. 4 
tops them all, with the exception of La France which is its superior in 
that it is everbearing and has larger individual berries. — John 
Scheepers, New York. 
A Tree /^\NE of the oddest of freak tree forms ever 
produced is a four-legged tree standing 
Four Lees at entrance to a home at Bridgewater, 
° Mass. This has all the appearance of a single 
trunk with four spreading legs, but as a matter of fact is the com- 
bined trunks of four White Elm saplings planted in a group and bound 
closely together about twelve feet from the ground a good many years 
ago. In time the trunks grew into one, and this strange arboreal 
quadruped is now a large and sturdy tree. It is known locally as the 
“wishing tree.” — R. H. Moulton, III. 
WHEN MAN LENDS NATURE A HAND 
Four Elms tied together in youth make this four- 
post gateway. They have completely united 
TYPICALLY ORIENTAL IN BEAUTY 
The Roof- Iris of Japan, comes to ground as a 
practical garden plant in Pacific Coast gardens 
1 HAVE found this Iris very easy to grow 
and have by the side of a pond a well- 
in California established little group w'hich has grown and 
prospered for five years with no more attention 
than an occasional weeding and one division of the roots. The group 
forms a wonderfully beautiful picture for about three weeks. — Leila 
B. Stapleton, Oroville, Calif. 
Crnwimr I ^^D this spring about five hundred 
Tilling ° ^ Tulips in bloom at the same time or 
from Offsets nearly so. At least ninety per cent, of them 
were select named Darwins and a great many 
people came to see them, and many were amazed at their gorgeous 
beauty. Amongst them was a visiting lady of great wealth from a 
large city. After looking them over for some time she approached 
me and said: “I have at home a professional gardener, and he has a 
bed of Tulips. But when 1 go home I shall tell him he knows nothing 
about Tulips.” This is certainly a compliment to the Darwins. 
That gardener was like most other people who have at most a few 
dozen Tulips, and think a Tulip is a Tulip and that that tells the whole 
story. What a mistake! I have not been in the habit of disturbing 
my Tulips for several years, but circumstances have compelled me to 
take up all this fall. On June 18th, 1 sorted them over and found a 
great many small bulbs which I wish to grow into blooming bulbs. 
My ground is good Illinois black soil such as would in good seasons 
produce seventy-five bushels of corn per acre. But what fertilizer can 
1 use, and how much, in order to develop those small bulbs into large 
blooming bulbs in the shortest time? I want to make the soil still 
better.— A. W. Foreman, III. 
— Plant the offsets in a normally fertile well-drained soil (not too sandy) 
early this month, if not already done, so as to give them all possible 
opportunity to grow naturally. We do not believe you can help mat- 
ters by forcing growth. Give lime, and perhaps bone-meal if the soil is 
evidently poor. Plant about two to three inches deep and give a 
winter mulch. Remember the foremost purpose is to develop a good 
solid bulb, mere size is nothing. A good bulb will in its due season 
produce a good flower. On a sandy soil put a layer of cow manure a 
few inches below the bulblets; to a very heavy soil add something like 
leaf mold, or spent manure from an old hot -bed. Be sure to have the 
soil dug deep. The following season lift with the other bulbs, select 
out any that have attained flowering size that season, replanting 
the rest and growing them on in the same way. — E d. 
