291 
PARK AND CEMBTERY 
•Seasonable 
The Yellow Rambler rose is a good thing. It is 
yellow in the bud, but white when expanded. It is a 
good climber and flowers freely. 
Alagnolias root readily from layers. Cut down an 
old plant or two, that a lot of strong shoots may re- 
sult, which may be layered in June or July. 
Skimmia Japonica, so much prized in European 
plantings of dwarf broad leaved evergreens, has 
passed through several successive winters in Philadel- 
phia without a particle of injury. The shrub is prized 
for its pretty berries, as well as for its foliage. 
Were it not for the green fly troubling it so badly, 
the Belgian honeysuckle would be in great demand, 
owing to its frequent flowering. The fly is a most 
troublesome pest to it. 
Wood ashes should be applied to lawns upon a dry 
day. Should the grass be wet its leaves may be 
“scorched” by the caustic properties of the ashes. 
Young plants of Hydrangea Hortensia grown in 
pots, the pots plunged to their rims in soil, make ex- 
cellent plants for forcing in winter. 
A Southern writer says the Japan Medlar Erio- 
botrya Japonica, is a more useful decorative plant than 
the rubber. It is, certainly, a grand plant, though it 
has not the smooth, shining leaves which so many ad- 
mire in the rubber. 
IMagnolia glauca will grow in ground too wet 
for many things, yet it thrives in any situation where 
the soil is deep. 
Remembering that these notes are written near 
Philadelphia, the English laurel has proved hardy 
when in a partly sheltered place. 
Trees and shrubs just transplanted and showing 
but little sign of growing freely, should have the soil 
pounded firmly about their roots, and their branches 
shortened in a little. But if a few leaves have been 
made, do not cut these off. Let them remain by all 
means. 
Shrubs in pots, for flowering indoors in winter, are 
in some demand. It is better to pot them in spring, as 
they become established in pots by the time they are 
required for forcing. Evergreens for winter use do 
very well potted in late summer. 
The Chili pine. Araucaria imbricata, a quite com- 
mon evergreen in the south of England and on the 
continent adjacent, is hardier than is perhaps imag- 
ined. It survives in the Pacific States and in British 
Columbia, and would, doubtless, do well in many of 
our Southern States. 
To give Yucca aloifolia a fair test for hardiness, 
some strong plants were obtained from North Caro- 
lina last spring and planted outdoors. They grew well 
through the summer, but this winter, mild though it 
•Sxig'gfestions. 
was, has killed them. The Y. gloriosa is perfectly 
hardy. 
Among the many water plants available for the 
base of fountains and ponds, the native pickerel used 
is greatly overlooked. Its spikes of blue flowers, borne 
well above the water, are beautiful. It is the Ponte- 
deria cordata. * 
IMany of the large growing cactuses are quite or- 
namental on lawns in summer, and one especially, the. 
Phyllocactus latifrons, is not as well known as it 
should be. It is of the night blooming class ; and in 
common use its name is the Queen cactus. 
Magnolia grandiflora should be grown in pots by 
nurserymen, as it does not transplant well from the 
open ground, and, besides this, it sells in pots as a dec- 
orative lawn plant. When so grown it flowers earlier 
than when planted out. 
Lilacs are easily raised from seeds, and in this way 
many new colors are obtained. Sow the seeds in early 
spring, in the open ground. Gather the ripe seed pods 
when ready, preserving them in a cool place till early 
spring. 
Following the suggestions in a previous number, 
there must be many nice things that will live out all 
winter yet untried. The writer has had pass through 
the last winter the lovely evergreen. Photenia serru- 
lata, from Japan, with no covering save a few ever- 
green boughs. It is quite unhurt. 
It is claimed that oranges and lemons, grafted on 
the “hardy orange,” Citrus trifoliata, may be grown 
much further North than they have been. The hardy 
orange is a beautiful bush by itself ; and is quite hardy 
in Eastern Pennsylvania, at least. 
There is but little can be done to keep down scale in- 
sects when trees are in leaf, but Bordeaux mixture and 
Paris green should be made ready for fungus and 
winged insects. Fruit trees need spraying as soon 
as flowering is over. 
IMorus alba is the favorite mulberry for silkworms. 
Morus, Downing’s Everbearing, is often classed as a 
variety of alba, but this must be an error. The Down- 
ing’s mulberry in nurseries appears a variety of rubra, 
our native wild mulberry. 
Clerodendron trichotomum is the only one of the 
genus so far proved hardy for using as a shrub in the 
North. It is quite hardy ; and its rose and white flow- 
ers make a grand display in late summer. Another 
species, Bungei, gets killed to the ground, but comes 
up strong from the root, and flowers nicely in autumn. 
Those who have not tried the growing outdoors of 
the Azalea Indica alba should do so. As a guide to its 
hardiness, it may be said that it is a hardy shrub in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia ; and the display it makes 
when in bloom attracts great attention. 
Joseph Meehan. 
