PARK AND CEMETERY 
67 
and those grown from seed by the people, and the an- 
nual output represents a large increase above the num 
ber stated. 
That we have thus become transformed from a na- 
tion of tree-destroyers, to a nation of tree-planters, is an 
inspiring thought. Do you, reader, belong to this new 
army of tree planters? If not, we urge you to join ranks 
and plant a tree or many trees in this month of April. 
What the aggregate of this work means to our nation, for 
ages to come, will be to see our homes, highways and 
landscapes beautified by noble trees; shade and fruit- 
foods in summer; shelter from the blasts of winter; im- 
parting increased comfort to every living thing, and last 
but not least, a more equable climate and rainfall. 
There is inspiration in the knowledge that jud cious 
tree-planting is work done for the ages. The man who 
leaves this world, having beautified it with trees to bless 
those coming after, surely -has not lived in vain. Not 
many of us may be privileged to build enduring monu- 
ments of stone, but it is the privilege of each reader of 
these words to plant a tree or trees, which shall bestow 
blessing for generations after he has gone. — Vicks Maga- 
zine Jor April. 
* * * 
SUMMER PRUNING OF TREES AND SHRUBS. 
With the approach of the spring season, it is well to re- 
mind our readers of former reasons given regarding the 
advantage of summer pruning. If plants could be prop- 
erly pruned in the summer, they would need but very 
little pruning in the winter time. In many cases, they 
would need no pruning at all in winter. All we have to 
remember is, that by pinching and cutting out very strong 
and undesirable growths, extra strength is given to the 
weaker ones. Every observer must have noticed that 
the strongest growth is always at the top of the plant. 
The lower branches are always the weakest ones. If we 
check this strong upper growth, the lower branches gain 
a strength which \yould otherwise go to the top. This is 
the great secret in trimming hedges. This is the great 
secret in trimming hedges. The general evil in the hedge 
is, that in the course of time, all the growth is at the top, 
while the lower portion of the hedge is naked; and thus 
it ceases to be a pleasure. If such a hedge had been 
cut at the top early in the season, soon after the young 
growth was made, the lower portion would be as thick 
as the upper. Nothing shows better the intelligent skill 
of the gardener than a hedge which has the lower 
branches just as densely thick and healthy as the upper 
ones. 
In evergreens, grown as specimen trees on lawns, 
we find excellent illustrations of this lack of pruning, 
with ' all the strong branches at the top, and at the bot- 
tom a very few weak ones. The great beauty of ever- 
greens consists in having a good healthy foliage to the 
ground. The nakedness referred to could have easily 
been avoided by checking the strong growth at the ends 
of the branches. The finger and thumb are the only 
pruning implements required in these cases. Pinching 
out the ends of the very strong shoots towards the top, 
when these young growths are from three to four inches 
long, is ali that is required. Even a leading shoot in a 
Pine tree may be pinched back at this period, as a new 
leading bud will be formed at the point where the pinch- 
ing occurs. A check to the upward flow of the sap is all 
that is necessary. This lesson may be carried to the * 
orchard, as well as practiced in the flower-garden. No 
one shoot should be allowed to become more vigorous 
than another; and pinching back or even taken out en- 
tirely, the strong growths, will accomplish this. One 
must not forget that the phrase “early in the season” 
means a great deal. Nothing is gained if the work is de- 
ferred until the young growth is matured. — Meehans' 
Monthly for May. 
* * * 
Mr. Westwood has been connected with the garden- 
ing department of Forest Hill cemetery for a number of 
years and his paper was a plain and simple presentation 
of the results of his experience in cemetery adornment. 
He referred to the decadence of the ribbon bed, the car- 
pet bed and the foliage bed, and the return of the mixed 
herbaceous bed to popular favor. He said that the suc- 
cessful modern gardener goes to nature for his ideas and 
referred to the Arnold Arboretum as a prominent exam- 
ple of the tendencies of the day in garden and park 
planting. Speaking of the effectiveness of beds of spring 
flowering bulbs he mentioned Silene pendula as the best 
ground work to show off the brilliancy of tulips. Gan- 
nas, salvias, antirrhinum, ageratum, heliotrope, feverfew, 
geraniums, stocks and asters, were listed indispensable 
plants in cemetery work and many of the half hardy 
shrubs requiring cold frame or pit protection in winter 
were also recommended as valuable in the composition 
of ornamental groups. Among the latter were yews, cu- 
pressus, sweet bays and aucuba japonica, which may be 
grouped effectively and if uniformly interspersed with 
crotons and tuberous begonias, calculated to afford a 
quiet dignity which contrasts favorably with the old 
fashioned glaring beds of brilliant flowers or foliage. He 
mentioned peristrophe as an effective plant to use in 
combination with crotons. Sub tropical bedding was 
highly commended and a more general use of musas, 
colocasias, Dracaena indivisa, eulalias, acalyphas and 
cannas advocated, with Begonia Vernon and semper- 
florens for borders or ground work. — Thos. H. West- 
wood in The American Florist. 
Mr. Lewis Collins, secretary of the Tree Planting 
and Fountain Society of Brooklyn, recently addressed a 
communication to the Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, on the subject of the effect of electric light on 
trees, especially in regard to a maple of the variety 
acer pseudo-platanus. In the course of his reply, Mr. 
B. T. Galloway, Chief of Division of Vegetable Physi- 
ology and Pathology, says: Experiments have shown 
that unprotected arc lights — that is, lights without a 
globe around them — are injurious to foliage. This is 
especially so near the lights, but a simple glass globe has 
been shown to be sufficient to cut off the injurious rays. 
I am not aware of any authentic cases of injury from 
lights so protected. 
