13 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Notes of Trees and Shrubs. 
The ’Value of Shrubbery. 
The value of shrubbery, says Prof. L. 
H. Bailey in Country Life in America, 
really lies less in its bloom than in the 
foliage and the general character as to 
form and “habit.” Many shrubs have 
merit in both flowers and foliage. Of 
such is the Japanese quince. In spring 
the bush is on fire with flowers ; in 
summer, if the brush is not sheared, the 
habit and foliage are good. The for- 
sythia, however, while excelling in early 
spring bloom, has a thin and sparse 
summer effect that lacks both strength 
and individuality. Therefore, it is well 
to make the forsythia an integral part 
of a shrubbery-mass, in order that its 
summer aspect may be blended with 
other foliage. Roses are rarely good for 
shrubbery effects. They are essentially 
flower-garden subjects, valued for their 
bloom alone. They do not produce their 
best bloom when massed with other 
shrubbery. Therefore, it is best to grow 
them in a place by themselves, and in 
rows, where they may receive the best 
of care. There are some exceptions to 
these remarks in the case of the Jap- 
anese rugosa rose and some of the na- 
tives; these may be good shrubs as well 
as good flower-bearers ; but even in 
these the blooms are secondary. 
The whole subject of purple-leaved, 
yellow-leaved, variegated-leaved and cut- 
leaved shrubs may be considered in this 
connection. These objects should al- 
ways be mere incidents in a place. They 
are curiosities. When planted sparingly 
and near some shrubbery-mass, some of 
them give very pleasing effects, adding 
richness and emphasis to the group ; but 
it is always easy to use too many ex- 
clamation-points. 
* * * 
Air for Tree ’Roots. 
The roots of trees which are planted 
along the pavements of the streets in 
towns, says the Illustrated Scientific 
News, very frequently experience great 
difficulty in “breathing.” They are not 
sufficiently exposed. It is true a certain 
free space is left around the tree, but 
this is not enough to assure aeration of 
the soil. Endeavors were recently made 
to remedy this at Messina. A number 
of Phoenix palms are planted on the 
Hotel de Ville Square in holes filled 
with 2,824 cubic feet of vegetable mould. 
The soil is exposed to the air on an area 
of 3 square yards around the tree, the 
remaining portion of the ground being 
paved with a mosaic work of small 
stones particularly impenetrable to at- 
mospheric oxygen. To allow the air to 
reach the roots a ramification of drain 
pipes was adopted. At a distance of 
16 yards from each tree an ordinary 
stone pipe was placed in the soil, sur- 
rounded with broken stones, the larger 
the nearer they are to the pipe, with 
the object of preventing the latter from 
being obstructed. Smaller pipes run 
from the main along four sides around 
the tree, and the large pipe terminates 
in a ventilating shaft which opens out 
on the edge of the footpath. Very sim- 
ple arrangements prevent rain from en- 
tering these air pipes, which have their 
outlet well above the bottom of the 
shaft; as this bottom communicates with 
the sewers water cannot accumulate. 
The system is, perhaps, a little costly, 
but these precautions may save money 
for replacing trees which would per- 
ish for want of underground air. 
?)> 
Shrubbery in Highland Park, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
The view in the illustration on this 
page shows a corner in the interesting 
shrub collection of Highland Park, 
Rochester, N. Y. It is a clump of 
spiraeas, containing at least thirty vari- 
eties, and is typical of the well-grown 
shrubbery of this tract, which is under 
the care of Mr. John Dunbar, assistant 
superintendent of Rochester’s parks. 
* * * 
Oaks as Street Trees. 
So far as experiments have shown, 
oaks are the best shade trees for cities. 
They are strong, durable, and beautiful, 
and have few enemies. Owing to a pop- 
ular notion that oaks grow slowly, they 
have heretofore been little planted on 
streets, but several cities are now begin- 
ning to make use of them. The oldest 
oaks are to be seen in Hamburg, where 
the city has encroached upon the ancient 
forest. An avenue of this same species 
(Q. pedunculata) has been recently 
planted in Cologne, which, so far as I 
have observed, is the only city in Eu- 
rope that has made use of the oak for 
street planting. In this country the old- 
est oaks' may be seen in Washington, 
where the red oak and pin oak in par- 
ticular have been very successfully 
grown. Red oaks have also been re- - 
cently planted in Boston between Frank- 
lin Park and Huntington avenue. The 
best species of oak are probably the red 
oak, the pin oak, and the scarlet oak ; 
but there are several other species al- 
most as good as these, though none of 
quite so rapid growth as the red oak. 
The white oak is somewhat objection- 
able on account of its low growth, and 
because its leaves remain upon the tree 
after they are dead. The number of 
oaks given in the list might be much in- 
creased. Those selected are of various 
sizes, and have been given a trial. — W. 
A. Murrell, in Bulletin of Cornell Uni- 
versity. 
* :|c * 
Sequoia Giantea, Not Sempervireus. 
Mr. Joseph Meehan calls our attention 
to the error in naming the California 
big trees which were called Sequoia 
sempervirens in Mrs. Hall’s article in 
our last issue, instead of Y. gigantea. 
Sempervirens is also a redwood, but is 
not the “big tree.” Mr. Meehan writes 
SPIRAEAS IN HIGHLAND PARK, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
