200 
PARK AND ce:me:te:ry 
blue is not difficult to transplant. With nursery grown 
trees, once or twice transplanted, there is but little 
risk. The Piceas, to which this belongs, do not make 
a lot of small roots unless transplanted a few times, 
and when trees are of some size care must be exercised 
in planting. Planters here think late summer a good 
time for planting it, and so it is, if the weather suits, 
that is, if the soil is damp and the heat not over strong. 
I would prefer this time to any other; but very early 
in spring, just as soon as the frost is out of the ground 
is also a good time. A sandy soil to fill in about the 
roots when transplanting is to be advised. This packs 
close to the roots, which almost ensures success in 
transplanting anything. When trees are set in stiff 
soil, or when the soil is too wet to break up easily, it 
cannot be got around the roots well, and unless it does 
embrace the roots closely the planting will not be a 
success. I am sure much greater success would result 
from all plantings if very fine, sandy soil were used in 
the filling in about the roots. 
Joseph Meehan. 
MARRING THE LANDSCAPE. 
The increased demand for planting trees and 
shrubbery on the city lot has called into activity every- 
body, from the basement excavator to the dealer in 
trees and shrubs, and the different types posing as 
landscapers can be seen at work everywhere in the 
fashionable residence district. And what a parody on 
landscape art! The barren lawns would do more 
credit to these imposing thoroughfares. Not only is 
the sense for artistic effect entirely lacking, but in 
many instances the ignorance of the proper size of 
trees and shrubs at mature age is one of the main 
causes of this deplorable planting. Or perhaps the de- 
sire has been to sell as many plants as possible? Some 
planters are not entirely color-blind, but are seem- 
ingly confused about the habits of plants when massed 
for color effect. 
In one place a beautiful vase that formed a part of 
the general design of a pretty Moorish house, had 
been entirely covered with a clump of shrubs. Why 
an owner who had taste enough to demand a building 
of rare artistic design should permit one of its best 
features to be covered up with shrubbery, is hard to 
understand. Within a stone’s throw, the owner of a 
pretty home had been fortunate (?) enough to have 
his entire lot surrounded by a border of shrubbery, 
which had been varied from a straight line by means 
of a few widenings, not unlike the swellings of a boa- 
constrictor after swallowing its prey. The general 
effect of such planting reminds one of a piece of 
ground from which the snow has been cleared off and 
piled up all around the edge. The old adage, “Plant 
thick and thin quick,” is very good if strictly followed, 
but in the majority of places where no gardener is 
employed the thinning out is rarely done, and the out- 
come is a deplorable mass of crippled growth. 
Perhaps sometime in the future the average lot 
owner will, through experience dearly bought, learn 
a lesson and appreciate good work. The new landscaper 
has very much in common with the well-known tree- 
butcher, and the sooner both disappear the better for 
the community. J. J. 
* * * 
The foregoing comment is reinforced by a glance 
at the following advertisement, which was clipped 
from a Philadelphia paper, and sent us by a landscape 
gardener of that city as an example of the “base uses” 
to which the much-abused professional title may be 
put. The advertisers, after announcing themselves in 
large type as “Landscape Gardeners,” proceed to state 
their qualifications as follows : “Sodding, Grading, 
Tree Trimming, Whitewashing and Cellar Cleaning in 
the most thorough manner. Heaters attended to for 
the season by contract or day.” 
There may be some difference of opinion as to 
whether a man is a landscape “gardener,” “engineer,” 
or “architect,” but there can be no denying that either 
of the titles is often used to cover a multitude of sin» 
in the way of marring the landscape. 
SAN JOSE SCALE, 
Bulletin No. 17 of the New England Association 
of Park Superintendents is devoted entirely to the San 
Jo.se scale and the methods of destroying the insect, 
since January and February are the most propitious 
months for spraying. The following are some of the 
remedies advocated by different members of the asso- 
ciation : 
Gustave X. Amrhyn, Supt. of Parks, New Haven, 
Conn., recommends a spray of water and ten or fifteen 
per cent of Kerosene Emulsion. He applied it in 
early spring or fall, and found that it destroyed 75 per 
cent of the scale. 
A. P. Capen, Supt. of Parks, Holyoke, Mass., uses 
Whale Oil Soap, two pounds to one gallon of water, 
dissolved by heat, as recommended by Dr. L. O. How- 
ard, Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture, 
in “Some Scale Insects of the Orchard,” a reprint 
from the year book of that department for 1894, a pub- 
lication which should be read by all who are inter- 
ested in the extermination of scale. J. A. Pettigrew, 
of Boston, Mass., also makes use of this remedy. 
J. W. Duncan, Asst. Supt. of Parks, Boston, ob- 
serves that “the different varieties of Prunus and 
Pyrus have always been the worst affected. I con- 
si. I er the best time to destroy the pest is during the 
late winter months, for then all trees and shrubs may 
be thoroughly sprayed without injury to buds, but 
summer treatment is also necessary if the pest is to be 
thoroughly kept in check. The best remedy I ever 
