PARK AND CEMETERY, 
219 
SELECTED NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 
Berberis Thunbergi for Its Foliage in 
Autumn, 
No more brilliant autumn feature 
among deciduous shrubs is to be found 
than a mass of the barberry, whose leaves 
before they drop change in tint to a rich 
fiery red that quite glows in the sunshine, 
while it possesses one great advantage 
over many shrubs remarkable for the 
brightness of their decaying leaves, for 
when at their best most of them quickly 
become bare, whereas those of the bar- 
berry are retained for some time. Taken 
altogether it is a very desirable shrub, 
for though of somewhat dense growth 
and usually assuming the character of a 
spreading bush about three feet high, yet 
its growth is very graceful. Next, the 
leaves when partially unfolded, forming 
as they then do little rosettes of tender 
green along the shoots, are particularly 
pleasing and directly after this the flow- 
ers appear. They hang down in consid- 
erable numbers from the undersides of 
the branches and in color are sulphur 
yellow inside and brownish on the exte- 
rior. As a rule it does not berry freely, 
yet sometimes the berries are borne in 
quantity. When such is the case they 
form quite an additioral feature, as the 
oblong shaped berries, though rather 
small, are of a bright sealing-wax red 
and frequently remain attached to the 
plant throughout the greater part of the 
winter, thus rendering the specimen an 
object of beauty long after the leaves 
have fallen. The barberry, which is also 
known by the specific name of Sinensis, 
was introduced about a century ago, but 
it is only within the last twenty years 
that its merits have been generally recog- 
nized. Like most deciduous barberries 
this will hold its own in dry sandy soil 
and seen in a mass or clump it is most 
brilliant, and in this way it appeals more 
strongly to one than isolated examples. 
— The Garden, London. 
The American Lotus, 
In your late number you quote from 
Longfellow’s Evangeline, “And resplen- 
dent in beauty the lotus lifted her golden 
crown above the heads of the boatmen.” 
I have seen the blooms four feet above 
the water level in the “patch” at Grass 
Lake. This patch now covers about 100 
acres. When I began shooting there 
about twenty-five years ago, there was 
not over one-half acre. I have heard 
Robert Douglas describe a bed south of 
St. Louis, Mo., that he and Prof. Sargent 
drove through, the flower heads being on 
a line with their shoulders w-hen sitting 
in the wagon. Ducks are reported to be 
fond of the lotus seed, and I think that, 
in order to reproduce themselves. Nature 
gave the plant the strong flower stock, 
sending the seed pod above the reach of 
the ducks. A very little frost kills it, 
and the seed-stem topples over with the 
apertures downward and under the sur- 
face of the water, thus scattering the 
seed. 1 have gathered the flowers by the 
boatload and a very few only were float- 
ing on the surface of the water. I have 
tried to get the “sweet potato-like” root 
with a six-foot garden rake tied on the 
end of an oar, but without success. 
experience has been with this one bed; 
possibly in other beds the flowers float on 
the water, which is decidedly against the 
rule in this one. — Th vnas H. Douglas, 
Waukegan, 111., in Meehan's Monthly for 
November . 
Forest Leaves* 
In many parts of the country forest 
leaves are plentiful and easily gathered. 
There is nothing that is better for a soil 
that is inclined to bake and settle solidly 
than to work in forest leaves. Gather 
these and cover the garden with them 
and plow them under and after this has 
been repeated for two or three years the 
soil will become mellow and friable as 
well as much richer, as forest leaves are 
a very good fertilizer. — Gardm and 
Farm. 
A Fern Bed. 
A much shaded corner in an otherwise 
sunny lawn had long been an objection- 
able spot because there was an ugly 
rough wall to be hidden and the place 
was too damp for any vines or shrubs to 
do well in. Time and again various 
varieties had been set out there only to 
lose their beauty and health. Finally, 
during a woodland drive, a large bed of 
the tall, heavy-fronded “Brakes” was 
seeir and at once an idea came with re- 
gard to that shady corner. So irext the 
wall was set out a row of these “growir 
up” ferns, next them a quantity of the 
small swamp fern, a row or two of the 
finer summer fenrs harmonized well with 
these, and a wide border of the very 
delicate little wood ferns completed the 
collection. \ quantity of leaf mold was 
dug into the soil and with no other prep- 
aration those ferns throve fiuel}', filling 
the corner full of graceful waving plumes 
and hiding the wall completely. — K. IV. 
Lawson, N. J., in The Mayflower . 
Scotch Heather — Erica Vulgaris. 
In reply to a correspondent in the New 
York Tribune, Mr. Frederick W. Kelsey 
expresses the opinion “that as the plants 
are so comparatively cheap there would 
seem no occasion for hesitancy in their 
use or in experimenting with them in 
this country, unless in situations where 
there are unfavorable conditions of soil 
and climate — where drouth in summer is 
frequently tr} ing for any of the evergreen 
shrubs.” From seeing the Scotch heather 
growing in its native habitat in Scotland 
and northern Europe one would con- 
clude that the plants should succeed with 
ordinarc' treatmeut here. 
What Shrubs Flower Memorial Day. 
Noticing what several florists have 
said in regard to flowers found in most 
demand on Memoiial Dayj it leads me to 
give the experience of many years in the 
way of shrub flow'ers useful for the same 
purpose. My experience is not only 
that of a grower, but I have “detailed” 
myself for many years to overlook the 
filling with flowers of the wagon which 
our local G. A. R. Post sends for them. 
There are but two or three sorts available 
and desirable, and these are snowballs 
and weigelas, principally, with, perhaps, 
a little spirma and exochorda. But snow- 
ball and weigela are the old reliables. 
Let me add, how’ever, unless one has the 
old snowball as well as the Japanese, the 
“snowball” supply may fail. Having in 
mind the vicinity of Philadelphia, the 
snowballs are usually a little ahead of 
time; rarely behind it. The old sort. 
Viburnum opulus sterilis, precedes the 
other by nearly a week, and it is nearly 
always out of flower at the period named, 
as was the case last May. The Japanese, 
Viburuum plicatum, is usually just in 
time, though I have known it, too, to be 
too early on one or two occasions in the 
last ten years. Thus, the Japanese is 
much to be preferred to the other, both 
as a beautifully-shaped shrub and for its 
flowers. Weigelas rarely entirely fail 
and where two or three varieties are 
grown, there need be but little fear of 
lack of flowers, as there are a few days’ 
difference in their time of blooming. Be- 
cause of the long branches of flowers 
which may be cut from them, they are 
just what are wanted by the ladies who 
make up the boueiuets for the Posts, and 
the same is true of the Japanese .‘^now- 
ball. The early spirteas, Reevesii and 
VanHouteii, prunifolia and Thunbergi, 
are nearly always past flowering; some- 
times the double Reevesii is still avail- 
able. May I call attention to the error 
of so many who write “Decoration Day.” 
The G. A. R. authorities have often 
called attention to this. It is “Memorial 
Day.” — The Florists' Fxchange. 
