246 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
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$ Selected Notes and Extracts. ® 
Dwarf Trees. 
One of the most remarkable features of 
Japanese gardening is the way in which 
every plant and tree in a famous garden 
will be reproduced in miniature, by a 
system of dwarfing which has been hand- 
ed down from many generations back. 
Eveiy characteristic of a large tree will be 
preserved, the foliage the color and the 
texture of the branches, and yet the min- 
iature copy will often be not more than 
from 1 to 3 feet high. Prof. C. E. Bessey 
of the University of Nebraska, tells of a 
case in this country in which nature has 
eclipsed the art of the Japanese. While 
climbing Green Mountain, near Boulder, 
Colo., Prof. Bessey found growing from a 
crevice in one of the rocks at the summit 
a small pine, about 5% inches high, and 
barely a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
It was unbranched and bore a single ter- 
minal tuft of leaves. The tiny tree had 
made a good fight for existence amid the 
inclemencies of its exposed situation, for 
when it was carefully examined twenty- 
five distinct annual rings were discovered 
Such a case of natural dwarfing is almost 
unprecedented. 
* * * 
T o Destroy Gophers and other Burrowing 
Animals. 
The best and most effective method of 
destroying pocket gophers and most 
burrowing animals is by the use of bisul- 
phide of carbon. This poison is cheap, 
easily obtained, and if applied thoroughly 
the results are usually satisfactory. A fresh 
hole should be selected or a burrow open- 
ed near a point where a fresh hill has been 
thrown up. A bunch of cotton waste, rags, 
or similar material, saturated with two 
tablespoonfuls of bisulphide should then 
be thrust well down into the hole and the 
opening closed. The gas which is formed 
soon fills the hole and will penetrate to the 
more distant parts of the burrow and suffo- 
cate the occupants. On sloping ground 
the poison should be introduced at the 
highest point since the gas being heavier 
than air flows, like water, to the lowest 
part of the hole. The main difficulty in 
using this poison is that the burrow may 
be long or may be filled with earth and 
the animal will be beyond the reach of 
the fumes. In this case the bisulphide 
should be introduced at several points 
and if necessary the operation should be 
repeated. Crude bisulphide specially pre- 
pared for this purpose can be obtained 
from some manufacturing chemist. It has 
a powerful odor, is inflammable and more 
or less explosive. Care should therefore be 
taken when handling it,nottoopen|it near 
a light, but otherwise no danger attends 
its use.— James Wilson, Sec’y of Agri- 
culture. — The American Florist. 
* * * 
Garden Fences. — Painting Tree Wounds. 
The old idea that a garden is a place 
in which to retire from the world and en- 
joy our pleasures was rather a selfish one. 
To enjoy a garden in the olden time was 
to retire between high walls or dense 
hedges, through which nopryingeyecould 
penetrate. The modern idea is to have 
everything exposed to public view, and 
this is probably as great an extravagance 
in one direction as the old prison wall sys- 
tem was in the other. In many of the sub- 
urbs of our cities, the idea of no hedges, 
fencesor other boundary marks to gardens 
has prevailed to a great extent. The lawns 
and gardens have no boundary marks be- 
tween them and the public streets; the 
driveway is made to appear as a portion 
of some great public park. Certainly this 
gives some advantage to the general trav- 
eller; but it does seem that one cannot 
abolish the idea of the “mine" and “thine’’ 
in human nature; and to give up one’s 
garden to the public as if it belonged act- 
ually to them is a violation of a proper 
sentiment in human nature. A low hedge 
or ornamental fence of some kind, which 
does not absolutely exclude our garden 
treasures from the public, but yet marks 
a distinction to that which is ours, and 
that which is everybodies, seems more in 
accord with the proper order of things. 
The total abolition of these line fencesor 
garden boundaries does not seem to be 
natural, and therefore not to be recom- 
mended. 
* * * 
Many a valuable tree is lost by the 
neglect to paint the scar left where a 
branch has been sawn off or broken by 
the wind. Insects and fungi will also des- 
troy patches of bark on the trunk of trees, 
and the wood will rapidly decay, and the 
trunk become hollow. To prevent this 
rotting, exposed wood should be painted, 
dead bark taken off and the wood beneath 
also painted. 
The object is to prevent decay till the 
new wood grows over it. — Meehatis 
Monthly for January . 
* * * 
Roses in the Cemetery. 
On the subject of roses in the Cemetery, 
the Florists Exchange strikes a note 
not usually heard, but which is of value; 
it says: “ Roses are undesirable subjects 
to plant alongside a Cemetery path where 
freshness is so much desired. No matter 
how careful or skillful the selection may 
be you will not be able to get 200 plants 
to flower all summer and give any degree 
of satisfaction. While there are certain 
roses for which continuous bloom is claim- 
ed, there can be no getting away from the 
fact that at mid-summer the plant looks 
cloudy and shows very little bloom. Such a 
condition is hardly desirable for a ceme- 
tery path. Take, for instance, that most 
popular of all cemetery roses, Mme. Plan- 
tier. In the spring this variety produces a 
gorgeous mass of bloom, and as an isolat- 
ed plant for grave work, gives much satis- 
faction in its one great effort. Place the 
same rose in a line along the path we ven- 
ture to say the result would be tiresome 
and objectionable to many. The favorite 
General Jacqueminot would also be attrac- 
tive only while in flower. Splendid results 
can be obtained for spring and early sum- 
mer by making lines of Crimson Rambler 
or any other trailing roses; but again 
there would be the same objection after 
the blooming season. Rosa Wichuriana 
has some advantage over many trailers, 
in as much as it is evergreen and also 
maintains its foliage during summer 
months better than some; but even this 
variety often becomes unsightly. It is far 
more advisable to make groups or beds of 
such roses as may be selected, always mak- 
ing sure that the beds will not be in too 
conspicuous a place where they will show 
when out of bloom. Climbing or trailing 
varieties show to advantage when cover- 
ing rocks, dead trunks of trees, or arches. 
The question is asked what is best to co- 
ver an arch or gateway that will always 
be green and bloom in summer. If roses 
are wished R. Wichuriana or some of the 
hybrids from this type are recommended. 
If so much value was not placed on the 
subject selected being evergreen, we 
should recommend Actinidia polygala. 
This plant makes the finest arch of any- 
thing we know. Lonicera Plalleana makes 
a good evergreen cover and has the advan- 
tage of flowering freely in the summer.” 
* * * 
Nature in Landscape Art. 
It is not always possible to save all the 
delightful parts of a natural landscape, in 
making a new home on a suburban lot, 
or, in the country proper; but, if the heart 
of the landscape gardener is right and he 
has sufficient skill, he can do much to 
preserve the.’ beautiful. It certainly be- 
comes him, and is worthy of his deepest 
study, to appropriate without destroying 
the gems of beauty which it has taken 
many years, if 'not ages, to create. Let 
those who may be entrusted with the 
planning of country places give more 
heed to_the inspiration of nature and less 
to those of art. Indeed, it is the truest and 
highest art that uses and does not abuse 
the beauties of nature. — FI. E. Van Dem- 
an , in Meehans Monthly, 
