PARK AND CEMETERY. 
some distance beyond, but they are 
unsightly. 
Figure IV shows a tree properly 
bolted, as in this instance the washer 
and nut are countersunk into the bark 
and imbedded in elastic cement. A 
section of a limb showing this meth- 
od of bolting is illustrated in figure 
V. 63^ means of an extension bit a 
hole is bored through the bark into 
the wood and the washer and nut are 
placed in this depression, the whole 
being securely imbedded in thick paint 
and covered with elastic cement to the 
■otfter edge of the wood. In this case 
the tissues readily heal over, and in a 
short time leave no trace of the bolt. 
It is necessary that the washer and 
nut should be well imbedded in thick 
paint or tar, and either elastic or Port- 
land cement should be used to cover 
them. By this method the end of the 
bolt, together with the washer and 
nut, are covered and the exposed 
wood treated antiseptically, no fur- 
Fig'. 1. Girdling by Fig. 4. Tree Prop- 
Chain Placed erly Bolted — Wash- 
Around Tree. er counter-sunk in 
the Tree and Em- 
bedded in Cement. 
ther injury to the tree taking place. 
It is also well to cover the bolt with 
thick paint and seal all portions which 
come into contact with the air. 
George E. Stone. 
LILACS FOR SEMI-ARID WEST 
The people of the West have spent 
millions of dollars in planting things 
which cannot grow. The seductive 
eastern catalogs will give glowing 
descriptions of beautiful and attrac- 
tive trees • and shrubs which cannot 
be made to live west of the Missouri 
river. The writer has spent thou- 
sands of dollars finding out what he 
could not do, and his failures are 
among his most valuable assets. For 
instance, azaleas, rhododendrons and 
kalmias are complete failures. You 
might as well try to transplant a 
Boston bred lady to a sod house out 
in the semi-arid regions. These choice 
plants will have nothing to do with 
the wild west. They will all die first. 
One year I was determined to show 
people that it could be done. I 
bought 1,000 of the hardiest kinds of 
forementioned plants and put them 
under a screen. I thought the hot sun 
was the trouble. It was the soil as 
well. They bloomed the first year, 
and were all dead with sheer home- 
sickness in a few months. 
It is so -with beeches. I got Riv- 
ers crimson or purple-leaved. These 
will live at Chicago. I also bought 
500 common beech to breed them on, 
and these, though planted under a 
screen, absolutely refused to live. 
With all these failures, however, I 
fohnd some remarkable successes. 
I have now fifty kinds of lilacs. 
There are over 140 in cultivation and 
the number is increasing. With one 
exception all prove very hardy. This 
is the delicate persian cut-leaved, and 
even this is not tender enough to be 
discarded. 
One of the finest is the villosa from 
Japan. It is a prolific June bloomer. 
At first it does not impress you. but 
some summer the whole bush will 
turn to bloom, and you will be sur- 
prised by the prodigality of the flow- 
ers — great spikes of beauty covering 
the whole plant. I supposed this, 
coming from Japan, would be tender 
and so was much surprised to find it 
SYRINGA .J.4PONK'A. 
1 50 
thriving in Manitoba. This large 
family then we can depend on for our 
western parks and private grounds. 
One of the attractions of .the Ar- 
nold Arboretum of Boston is its col- 
lection of 130 kinds of lilacs. In col- 
or they range from snowy white to 
blue. 
The leaves of the Dr. Bretschneider 
are almost- as large as your hand. 
Those of the oblata are large heart- 
shaped, and of a brilliant varnished 
green. While the Chinese and cut- 
leaved are small and delicate. 
Lilacs are not difficult to propa- 
gate. The Emodi villosa, Bretschnei- 
deri and the large leaved family can 
be increased readily by layering like 
the snowball. The vulgaris famil3a 
with leaves akin to our common sorts, 
can be grafted on the roots of the 
Persian. Grafted on the common 
sorts, the sprouts would mix with the 
others. Many use the privet, but this 
is worthless in the northwest. 
Lilacs can be readily raised from 
seed, and here you have the charm of 
new discovery. I keep several kinds 
in groups and have the bees help me. 
By planting the seeds, I am sure of 
something new. The Rothomagensis 
or Rowen lilac, is a cross between the 
Persian and vulgaris. Mr. Bedford, at 
one of the experiment stations in 
Alanitoba — Brandon, — has a hedge 
from seedlings of Chas. X. I was 
much interested in the striking vari- 
ations among several hundred plants. 
There was certainl3^ a wide diver- 
gence in size and in habit of growth 
and foliage and he told me there was 
also a remarkable diversity of bloom. 
The illustration shows a tree 
blooming on my own grounds. It is 
S3'ringa JaponiCa. There is one in the 
.•\rnold Arboretum which three feet 
from the ground was 30 inches in cir- 
cumference and about 30 feet high, 
and in June it was one great bou- 
cpiet of bloom. It grows on my 
grounds about as fast as our native 
green ash. This has rather large 
leaves to match it. 
We have Syringa Pekinensis from 
China which is taller, more slender 
in form, and often assumes a weep- 
ing habit. Both bloom in June, and 
often the flowers are seen in July. 
These two trees are a great aid to 
western planters. I planted the Chi- 
nese tree lilac under the 100th merid- 
ian in Nebraska some 16 years ago. 
It went through entire neglect and 
there were three years of consecutive 
drouth with mercury varying from 
112 in the shade to 35 below. 
York, Neb. C. S. Harrison. 
