PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SELECTED NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 
A Word of Caution. 
A writer in an exchange advises the 
cutting down of ornamental shrubbery 
around the house and replacing them 
with fruit trees. Don’t do it. We must 
not give over our lives altogether to the 
practical and useful. Utilit’^ is all right 
and it is very necessary to have it in 
mind, but the home without the presence 
of things beautiful is not what it should 
be. The lilacs, the syringas, the flower- 
ing almonds and the rose bushes can 
never be fully replaced by the apple, the 
cherry, the plum or the pear. Grape 
vines are all right in their place but they 
can never take the place of the trumpet 
flower, the wisteria, the clematis or the 
ivy. The Giver of all Good gave us the 
beautiful as well as the useful and one is 
as valuable as the other. — Garden and 
Farm. 
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The Rock Garden. 
In “Notes from Kew,” given in The 
Garden, of London, appear the following 
on plants for the Rock Garden; 
Gentiana asclcpiadea is one of the best 
late summer-flowering gentians that we 
have. Its flowers are of an intense blue 
and are very freely produced. The plant 
grows to a height of two feet, and thrives 
exceedingly well in a shady position. 
The best method of propagation is by 
seed; it does not, as a rule, transplant 
successfully. 
Anemone Japonica, var. Lady Gilmour 
is a remarkable variety of the w’ell-known 
Japanese anemone. The leaves have a 
most peculiar appearance, the edges be- 
ing curiously curled, reminding one not 
a little of a parsley leaf. 
Allium caHnaium, a European species, 
is an exceedingly bright little plant. It 
bears light pink flow'ers, that are abund- 
antly produced on long, stiff stalks, and 
are especially welcome at this season of 
the year, when the bulk of outdoor flow- 
ers are on the wane. It may be easily 
raised from seed. 
Shortia galacijolia. This charming 
introduction from North Carolina is 
thriving remarkably well in a sunny 
nook of the rock garden at Kew. It de- 
lights in plenty of water, and is occasion- 
ally top-dressed with the curious compost 
of decayed pine needles. The leaves are 
at present beautifully tinted a deep bron- 
zy » 
Winter Protection of Half Hardy Plants. 
It should be well-known to advanced 
gardeners, by this time, that light is as 
great an agent in destruction by frost as 
frost alone. But little practical advan- 
tage has been taken of this knowledge, 
except by gardening folk generally, of 
what the advanced gardeners know. The 
latter shades his greenhouse, when he 
finds the plants frozen, — and he plants 
rhododendrons and similar plants where 
the sun does not strike them in frosty 
weather, if he should have any choice in 
the selection of a site. In the extra cold 
regions of the northwest, the advanced 
gardener shades the trunks of his fruit 
trees by placing boards, fastened together 
like tree boxes, up against them. And 
thus the trees escape sun scald arising 
from being under the sunlight, and simi- 
lar troubles. Surely orange growers in 
Florida might profit by this experience 
of their northern brethren. It would not 
be a very expensive thing to make an 
arbor of lath over an orange grove — the 
lath being an inch or so apart. With 
such a partial shade the plants wou'd 
probably endure ten or twelve spasmodic 
degrees of frost without injury, — and the 
shade in summer would doubtless be all 
the better for the trees, — at least the 
trunks of the trees might be boxed, and 
even filled with earth if the weight could 
be supported. If the tops should suffer 
from frost, the strong trunks would sooner 
recover, than when the whole tree was 
killed to the ground. — Meehan's Monthly 
for September. 
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Avenga Saccharifera. 
This magnificent palm, known as the 
“Gomuti Palm’’ of the East Indies, is 
often cultivated as a source of palm sugar 
and useful fibre. The black fibres of the 
leaf stalks are adapted for cables and 
ropes, which are intended to resist wet for 
a long lime. The juice is converted into 
toddy or sugar; the young kernels of the 
fruit can be made into preserve with 
syrup. The tr( e dies off as soon as it has 
produced its fruit, when the stem be- 
comes hollow, and is used by the natives 
for spouts and troughs of great durability. 
The pith yields sago at the rate of 150 
pounds from each tree. The alove are 
some of the economic uses to which this 
palm is put. I am. however, chiefly con- 
cerned with its crnamental aspect in the 
garden, where it is such a striking object. 
It grows to about 40 feet high, but in. its 
young sta'e is a most ornamental pot 
plant. It yields seed freely, and in such 
abundance, that thousands of plants can 
be rais'd from the product of one tree. It 
I7I 
is one of the easiest palms to cultivate, 
needing very little care or attention once 
it has established itself. The seed should 
be sown in the rainy season. — Quisqualis 
Indica, in Indian Ga'-dening and Flant- 
itn;. 
* * * 
Exochorda Grandiflora. 
Exochorda grandiflora, sometimes 
called “pearl bush’’ for an easy name, is 
one of the most showy and satisfactory of 
the white early flowering shrubs of large 
growth, and its more extensive use should 
be encouraged. 
It blooms just before the spireas, weig- 
elias, etc., and is almost universal!}' ad- 
mired. The only objection is that it does 
not transplant as readily as desired. 
Many dealers and planters are shj of it 
for this reason and for no other. It 
starts growth very early in spring and its 
long, coarse roots are slow to become re- 
established after transplanting, conse- 
quently it won’t endure exposure as 
many other shrubs do, and unless the 
weather is moist and conditions very fav- 
orable for growth the plants die at once 
or struggle along in a feeble condition 
for one or two years before they develop 
properly. 
For these reasons it is particularly de- 
sirable that the plants should be frequent- 
ly transplanted in the nursery. One year 
seedlings moved into nursery rows or 
beds grow very readily their second year 
and if these plants are transplanted every 
year and cut back they will make good 
plants that will grow readily without dis- 
appointment. Of course this kind of 
treatment increases the expense of rais- 
ing and it cannot stand in the list of 
“cheap’’ shrubs; but it don’t need to. It 
is a shrub well worth all it costs to raise 
good plants and should be recognized as 
and grown and sold accordingly, and 
planters should be cautioned to give it 
good care. 
By good care I mean plant it in autumn 
or very early spiing; don’t allow the 
roots to be exposed and dried; plant in 
rich soil or mulch with manure; water if 
necessary, during the first season; large 
plants should be cut back when trans- 
planted. When treated as suggested it 
flourishes in almost any kind of soil or 
situation and may be profitably intro- 
duced into many localities where it is 
unknown or seldom seen. — Samuel C. 
M.on in The National Nurseryman. 
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Horticulture and in erests allied there- 
to will be a strong feature of the Pan- 
American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. 
The Society of American Florists will 
hold its annual meeting next year in 
Buffalo. 
