74 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SELECTED NOTES AND EXTRACTS. 
Thj Care of Trees. 
A properly managed tree is at all times 
able to take care of itself in supporting 
its crown, but to do this it must be trained 
while young. Long lateral growth and 
wild shoots must be prevented by judici- 
ous pruning, thereby stimulating its back, 
bone, the trunk, to become of sufficient 
strength and dimensions to be able to 
carry the branches and leaves of its top. 
A top-heavy tree will become an early 
windfall. Shade trees on city streets re- 
quire more attention in pruning than 
other trees planted in open spaces. The 
artificial surroujidings will always check 
the natural condition for growth and de- 
velopment, and if not under the guiding 
hand of the cultivator it will often 
grow one sided and crippled. But under 
no condition should a tree be trimmed 
into any form or shape. A truly perfect^ 
beautiful tree is not the one that shows 
man’s handiwork; therefore the art of 
tree trimming is a knowledge of true sim- 
plicity in nature. It is a knowledge of 
how to assist nature in bringing out the 
vigorous beauty and supreme adornment 
of God’s creation, the tree, given to man 
for enjoyment and pleasure . — Fred Nuss^ 
baumer, in The Minnesota Horticnltur. 
ist. 
* * 
Propagation of Mistletoe, 
In the old world mistletoe is said to be 
propagated by birds. They eat the sticky 
berries and then clean their bills on the 
branches of the trees. The sticky .seeds, 
thus fastened to the branches, sprout and 
grow. As good authority as Meehan does 
not know of any attempt to propagate the 
mistletoe in America.— AorM American 
Hortiiiiltnnst. 
An Early Flowering Shrub. 
Primus triloba is a handsome, early 
flowering shrub which might be oftener 
planted to advantage. In fact it seems to 
be but little known, though my observa- 
tion may be at fault on this point. As I 
have seen it, it is a prettier shrub than 
the much commoner flowering almond, 
Prunus Japonica (P. nana. ) The flowers 
are large, double and a beautiful ro.se pink. 
They appear early in the spring, along 
with the wild violets. The shrub is neat, 
clean, six feet high and healthy and hardy 
so far as I have observed. — F. A. Wan^h 
in Gardening. 
* * * 
The Tree Lilac. 
The rear of the grand procession of li- 
lacs is now brought up by the giant tree 
lilacs of China and Japan, says S. C. Har- 
rison of York, Neb. They have a glory 
of splendid white flowers the last of June. 
They get to be six inches through and 
thirty feet high. While going through 
one of the Boston parks, the superinten- 
dent said: ‘ This is a Japan lilac tree I 
raised from seed twenty }"ears ago.” It 
was one mass of bloom. Said I; ‘‘That 
tree would measure two feet around.” 
He thought not. I measured it three feet 
from the ground and it was two feet and 
one-half in circumference. I raised 
the Chinese lilac in Western Nebraska, 
the mo.st trying place on earth for a tree, 
which has to brace against a sirocco with 
1 10 in the shade, and then against 40 be- 
low zero, with four years of consecutive 
drouth thrown in. But the Chinaman 
never winced, but grew’ and bloomed amid 
drouth and neglect. With this tremend- 
ous reinforcement to our flowering shrubs, 
we can add beauty to our homes. I now 
graft all my choice kinds of lilacs on the 
root of the Chinese to make them more 
thrifty and to keep them from sprouting. 
Prof. Budd adds: We can fully endorse 
this high estimate of the tree lilac, but to 
give China and Japan the credit of devel- 
oping such hardy trees is not right. Be- 
yond all doubt the lilac famil}' originated 
in the dry interior climate of North Cen- 
tral Asia. The tree type that does not 
sprout w’e found as a cultivated tree in 
most parts of Russia, in Europe and in 
Asia. Mr. Harrison speaks of grafting 
the lilac. If seedlings are grown they 
graft as readily as those of the apple. Li- 
'ac seed grows readily if stratified as we 
treat pits of the stone fruits. The Na- 
tional Nurseryman. 
» * » 
Speaking of shade trees in the vicinity 
of Honolulu, American Gardening in 
some notes on the Hawaiian Islands, says 
the best is the monke3'-pod, Albizzia bi- 
color; a tree of very dense and spreading 
habit and bearing beautiful purplish lilac 
flowers, which remind one of Giant Sweet 
Sultans. The tamarind thrives here, at- 
taining a greater height than the monkey- 
pod, and although the foliage is much 
finer, it is dense and gives ample shade. 
Splendid specimens of banjan are also 
met with, one of the best being in the 
grounds of the late Princess Kaiulani, and 
nearU' overgrowing her beautiful resi- 
dence. There are .several trees bearing 
remarkably shewv flowers; among them 
Cae.salpinia regia, becomes w’hen in bloom 
a mass of flaming scarlet, and a varietj’ of 
Cassia commonly called Golden Show’er, 
bears enorniou '> golden-yellow flower clus- 
ters. The seed pods of these two trees 
are usually from fifteen to eighteen inches 
in length. 
Plant Curiosities. 
Many plants in common cultivation 
show some striking peculiarities and when 
we know where to look for these odd 
features and how to exhibit them they 
never fail to be exceedingly interesting. 
Schinus rnolle, the ‘‘Peruvian pepper,” 
used as a shade tree in California, and 
often grow’ti in the Eastern States for 
temporarv effects in Summer, shows 
peculiar antics when pieces of the leaves 
are thrown on the surface of w’ater. The 
pieces will immediately start along the 
surface in short jerks, sometimes varj’ing 
the performance bj’ spinning around 
rapid!)-. The.se motions are caused by 
the exudation of the resin from the bruis- 
ed parts of the leaf. 
When the seed vessels of Oxalistropeo- 
lioides are ripe a little disturbance with 
the hand will cause myriads of the seeds 
to fly in all directions. 
Desmodium gyrans, known as the ‘‘In- 
dian telegraph plant,” is the only one 
with which I am acquainted that keeps 
up a very perceptible motion of the lateral 
leaflets without interference in any wa\’. 
The leaves are formed of one large 
terminal leaflet and two small ones. It 
is the smaller ones which are continually 
on the move. The upward movement is 
slow and jerkj’, but the downward motion 
is rapid. The circuit is completed in 
about tw’o minutes. Sensitive plants are 
numerous in cultivation; the two genera, 
mimosa and oxalis, supply most of them. 
The leaves are sensitive to the touch, and 
thej' either close the leaflets with the 
superior surfaces together, or the reverse. 
Oxalis sensitiva, O. Ortgiesii and O. 
bupleurifolia close downwards. In Mimosa 
pudica the leaflets close up and the leaf 
stems fall down. In a very warm house, 
if the end leaflets are touched very gentl\-, 
those on the remaining part of the leaf 
division will close in pairs with great 
precision. In M. sensitiva the joints or 
hinges at the bases of the leaf divisions 
are almost white in color, but when the 
leaf is in the act of closing this color 
changes to greenish yellow. 
The ‘‘squirting cucumber,” Ecbaliuni 
elaterium, belonging to the squa.sh fatnih’, 
gets its name from the singular manner 
in which the seeds are ejected from the 
fruit. When ripe a slight touch causes 
the fruit to become separated from the 
stem, and ow’ing to the violent contrac- 
tion of the rind, camsed b)’ this separation, 
the seeds are ejected with great force. 
They are, of course, mixed with the pulp, 
and if the mass comes in the direction of 
the investigator the consequences are not 
altogether pleasant. — G. IV. O. in Flor- 
ists Exchange. 
