192 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SHRUBS AND TREES FOR PARKS. 
For fine winter effect nothing surpasses the 
berry-bearing shrubs and trees. There are native 
dogwoods, sumachs and alders that make bright 
the sunny autumn months with red and yellow 
foliage, and when the winds have swept bare the 
branches, the berries gleam like jewels. 
The fascination of berry-bearing shrubs and 
trees is enhanced by the twittering birds that feast 
upon them. The hawthorns are especial favorites 
of winter birds. The berries of pyracanthus Le- 
lande, in particular, are large and conspicuous, ox 
bright orange- red hue, and hardy enough to en- 
dure severe cold if the birds did not molest their.- 
Considered in an unselfish light, the city parks 
are the places to plant the beauiiful berry-bearing 
shrubs and trees. They form an object lesson free 
to all. 
Berries and birds and the otherwise charming 
effects of certain shrubs and trees can certainly be 
claimed as features of interest to our ]~arks, which 
are now a matter of national pride. The plants 
themselves are of prime consideration, and then 
the manner in which they are disposed, adds to or 
detracts from their appearance. As a rule our city 
parks are under skillful management, and tree 
planting is well understood. The admiring public 
sees and enjoys the effect, without appreciating the 
debt of obligation to the men who make a study 
of park planting, and who have elevated the science 
to a proud eminence. 
The berry-bearing shrubs are as ornamental in 
winter, by contrast with the wintry world, as the 
blooming plants of springtime when all around is 
green and fresh. 
The Japanese privet, with heavy panicles of 
purplish-black berries, is a beauty. Itishandsome 
as an isolated specimen, and effective in groups or 
otherwise. The ligustrums are all lovely bloomers, 
in white, during the spring, but ligustruin media, 
or Japanese privet, excels them, every one, in 
berry bearing. 
The Mountain Ash, Pyrus Americana, is a 
handsome tree with clusters of bright red berries. 
There is a fictitious value attached to this tree, on 
account of the supposed antipathy of snakes, for its 
leaves. Dead or alive, the leaves and branches of 
the Mountain Ash are said to be so much dreaded 
by snakes that the Indians have been known to 
make a circle, half of withered or fresh ash leaves 
and half of fire, and to escape from the ash the 
cobra or deadly rattlesnake will cross the fire. Dr. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes builds the romance of 
Elsie Venner on this old belief or superstition. 
The benign sunny weather of the American 
autumn is particularly favorable to the ripening of 
winter berries. The gradual process of maturing 
through Indian summer and the first falls frost, 
gives them strength and health. Many of them 
would adorn the shrubs and trees all winter but 
that nature seems to have and hold them for the 
feathered songsters of the air. 
English Ivy is universally admired, but not 
every one knows that it is berry-bearing. The 
evergreen foliage and its beautiful adaptability for 
ornamental growth, hardiness, and long life, have 
rendered it classic, and overshadowed the feature 
of berry bearing. 
From childhood I have loved the English Ivy, 
and for parks, believe it is not eclipsed by any 
vine that grows. In parks, in gardens, and even 
in deserted place r , where homes once were sheltered 
by the ivy vines, I have studied its beautiful pecul- 
iarities. And observation has shown that old, 
strong ivy blooms late in the autumn and the seed 
berries form in clusters, hard and round. These 
berries hang on with a persistency that is curious 
to note. While snow wreaths embroider the vines, 
and ice and sleet coat every glittering leaf, the 
berries are ripening slowly, and paradoxical though 
it may seem, in April, when other vines, shrubs 
and trees are ready to bloom, the ivy berries are 
black, ripe and mellow, a perfect feast to the sum- 
mer birds that come early. The berries finally cast 
tiny nut-like seeds upon the air, where the birds 
have failed to devour them. In parks, where in- 
tense cold prevails, the southern exposure of trees, 
rocks, arches, or any places offering support for 
the ivy, will foster its growth. When fully estab- 
lished, the aerial roots will feed upon-the elements 
of air, sunshine and moisture, and the branches will 
be as much at home in one point of the compass as 
another; but let the mother root stand onthew'arm, 
sunny, southern side of whatever the ivy spreads 
over and adorns. G. T. Drennan. 
FANCY LEAVED CALADIUMS. 
The great value of fancy leaved Caladiums has 
been w r ell shown in both the Lincoln and Washing- 
ton Parks, Chicago, conservatories this year. 
They fill a void in the summer decorations of 
conservatories by furnishing superb masses of color 
that admirably supplement the greensof thevarious 
tropical foliage plants that form the basis of sum- 
mer decoration under glass. The Brazilian Caladi- 
ums are especially useful for this purpose, because 
of their brilliant and varied hues that suggest gorg- 
eous South American insects. 
The cut shows a well developed Brazilian Cal- 
adium grown in the Lincoln Park conservatory. 
These tender bulbs are stored during their rest- 
ing season in dry sand, just as Dahlia tubers are 
