28 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
perhaps a fact that the botanical knowledge of these 
gentlemen has been but poorly developed, yet they 
will find in almost every country Britons or other 
Europeans who have had greater advantages. In 
the British Empire particularly the curators of the 
botanic gardens are excellent men to apply to- — -in 
fact, many of them keep seeds for exchange, and it 
is a pleasure to them to find anyone interested in 
fostering the cultivation of plants They can al- 
ways give information which will prevent the send- 
ing of seeds already common in cultivation. 
But the best of our nurseries have hundreds of 
species that are rarely seen, and no more satisfactory 
method presents itself than visiting them. You will 
not find them in every part of the country, however, 
and catalogues must be depended upon. At pres- 
ent the greatest herbaceous development is in the 
Northern States. The south and California have, 
however, a few exceptionally good nurseries for 
trees and shrubs adapted to those sections. 
In mapping out a scheme for improving the 
planting of a village don’t copy one another. 
You may mix things, and the same mixtures from 
one end of the country to the other will be monot- 
ony. Aim to give your villages some distinctive 
character in playgrounds, gardens, fine avenues, 
good and uniform sidewalks and toads, and rather 
make a feature of a particular alliance of plants than 
monotonous mixtures. 
If you confine your efforts to a majority of the 
plants of one alliance your planting will be distinct. 
If you mix up one or two hundred plants drawn 
from all the alliances and repeat them throughout 
the country your planting will differ but little from 
the rest of the landscape. It will be a monotonous 
mixture, and lack individuality and character. 
Then there is much to be effected in concentrat- 
ing your display of flowering plants, so that they 
will be effective in one or more seasons, say in the 
spring and autumn for the gardens of those who 
leave home in the summer, and in the months of 
July and August for the gardens of the seaside and 
mountain resorts. It is a wasting of fragrance on 
the desert air to have plants blooming at a season 
when they are but little seen. 
It is quite feasible to combine all of these things 
or any of them with such a disposition as will afford 
at least a primary knowledge of the scheme of sci- 
entific classification, and thus facilitate knowledge 
by the best of all object lessons, the gardens and 
plantations themselves. 
As an illustration of what may be done in these 
directions let it be supposed that a village desires 
to have their principal display in the spring (chiefly 
during May north), and among a generous plant- 
ing of the conifers select the early bloom- 
ing Magnolias, the Akebia, Berberis in variety, 
Calycanthus, Tree Paeonia and Xanthorhiza. The 
spring flowering Tamarix parviflora; Acer rubrum, 
for its flowers, which are often yellow, however, or 
yellowish; the Horse Chestnut; Xantho- 
ceras sorbifolia, and Rhus aromatica. The red buds 
Cercis Canadensis and C. sinensis; Amelan- 
chiers; Caraganas; Cydonias; Hawthorns; 
Deutzia gracilis and parviflora; Exochorda; Ker- 
ria Japonica in vars.; Prunus Davidiana, Ameri- 
cana, Mume, Persica, Padus, Japonica, pendula 
and several others; Pyrus coronaria and its variety 
angustifolia with semi-double flowers, Parkmanni, 
spectabilis, Maulei and others; Rhodotypus kerri- 
odes; Rosa alpina and Austrian briers towards the 
end of the month in the Middle States; Ribes; 
Spirea prunifolia, Van Houttei, Cantonense, and 
Thunbergi. Cornus florida and its rose-colored 
form, and the variegated and other varieties of 
Cornus mas. Diervillea Stelzneriana and others 
towards the end of the month south of the New York 
latitude; several Bush honeysuckles; Sambucus 
racemosa; snowberries; Viburnum opulus towards 
the end of the month. Rhodora Canadensis, a few 
of the early Rhododendrons, although these are not 
to be depended upon north of Philadelphia until the 
end of the month, and not at all on the prairies, for 
they are mountain and hill plants; a few vaccini- 
niums, and Erica carnea also bloom very well dur- 
ing May in some localities. Epigoea repens is a dif- 
ficult subject sometimes, but the sweet little thing 
is worth buying in pot-grown plants. It is queer 
that this should prove so difficult in its own climate, 
for the older British gardeners deemed it as easy to 
increase as Heather — in moist soils at any rate — 
but they moved them in the autmnn, not in the 
spring. Suppose gardeners try this? Halesia tet- 
raptera and its varieties are the snowdrop trees. Jas- 
minum nudiflorum and the Forsythias are too early 
if anything, and have scarcely anything to accom- 
pany them among shrubs. 
Fraxinus ornusand several Syringas (lilacs) flower 
towards the end of May. So also does Paulownia 
Imperialis from Central New Jersey southwards. 
Then there is the Sassafras, the Lindera, and two or 
three Daphnes. A few of the Alders, Birches and 
Willows are also interesting, and even pretty. This 
is quite a list of spring flowering trees and shrubs 
of various sizes, which may be grouped splendidly 
in Alliance as I have written them, or mixed accord- 
ing to fancy. They would be far better accompanied 
by massesof the flowering herbs, however, of which 
there is a large number flowering during May. It 
would make this paper too long to indicate them, 
and hints as to arrangement must be alto- 
gether postponed to a future time. 
