435 
PARK AND CE-MEXE-RY 
The teacher was herself an amateur, but possessing 
untold energy, set to work with her boys, snatching 
information as they went along, with astonishing re- 
sults. This summer the rows of carrots and beets 
looked as thrifty as if cared for by an expert and 
the boys guarded each crop as jealously as if they de- 
]:)ended upon the production for an actual livelihood. 
One lad of twelve refused stubbornly to leave his gar- 
den and take his usual summer trip with his mother. 
He was to be found, rain or shine, hoeing, raking and 
weeding his patch, and one of the sights of the town 
was to see these boys in anxious consultation with their 
teacher over some new pest which menaced the per- 
fection of the crop. 
Taste for horticulture is latent in every foreigner, 
as one who travels readily observes. All they need is 
the material ; the energy will not be lacking. Says 
A'atts : “The taste for art should be sown, not 
planted." Therefore, all honor to those who are sow- 
ing the seed for a higher standard of taste among 
Americans, whether they be native or foreign-born, 
and for beginning with design and color out of doors. 
VARIETY THROUGH DIVERSE CONDITIONS) 
In the large park, especially if there is diversity in 
slope and shade, the season of many plants may be 
prolonged as well as numerous variations secured. 
W'e have all learned to go to the sunny slopes for the 
first hepaticas and spring beauties. Yet in the more 
secluded nooks richer tints are found. Even the 
skunk cabbage, sturdy as it is, may be found from 
Februarv until April, according to surrounding con- 
ditions. 
In transplanting wild flowers it will repay one to 
study their requirements and supply as great a vari- 
ety of such conditions as circumstances will allow. 
Of course the seasons themselves vary, but in many 
instances this simple plan will materially lengthen 
their blooming period. 
Character of the soil also has a direct bearing on 
the subject. Thus the native columbine, Aquilegia 
Canadensis, has grown for a number of years in the 
garden of the writer, flowering freely about the last 
of May, and producing seed as freely as in its native 
haunts. During the present year straggling bowers 
were found on a wild plant past the middle of July. 
In the wild flower bed they were partly shaded by a 
bush cranberry, and got no direct morning sun, while 
that of midday and evening was greatly impaired by 
surrounding plants. Yet despite the shade they blos- 
somed and bore fruit freely ere the roadside specimens 
had fairly commenced their display. The latter lined 
the north side of a rail fence, yet as there were no 
shade trees the light was not materially cut out. Evi- 
dently in this instance the soil holds the key to the se- 
cret, a rich soil hastening the general growth. 
A similar behavior was noted in the meadow lily, 
Liliitni Canadcnsc. In the wild flower bed it grew in 
a tangle of moonseed vine, wild indigo, and other tall 
growing plants. Not only were the blossoms earlier 
than those of a meadow forty rods away, but the 
plants were of more robust growth. As the latter 
quality has been noticed from year to year, it seems 
clear that this lily rejoices in rich soil. The difiference 
in time of flowering may or may not have existed in 
former years. I have never noticed or thought of this 
point until the present season. 
The most striking variation that has come to the 
observation of the writer is that of the syringa, which 
on an eastern exposure shaded by mountain ash is 
frequently in bloom for Memorial Day. More than 
once we have noticed on this day a specimen in the 
yard of a neighbor which is shaded in the forenoon, 
but receives the full benefit of the afternoon sun, that 
is just about a fortnight in advance of our own in time 
of blooming; and this season a fine specimen on the 
north side of a house and shaded with noble pines 
was another two weeks later than our own in bloom- 
ing. Both specimens were of large size and equally 
robust growth ; while the character of the soil may 
have entered slightly into the modifications which de- 
layed the blooming season in the one instance about a 
month, sunlight or lack of it seemed to be the ma- 
jor factor in the solution of the question. 
Again, form, especially in trees, is determined 
largely by surroundings. Those accustomed to the 
tulip tree as grown in the forest, recall its tall, straight, 
branchless trunk and towering verdure in the sum- 
mit, being quite aggravating to the botanist, who sees 
the beautiful blossoms with their orange crescents 
many feet beyond his reach. Yet a young tree grown 
by the roadside is not only symmetrical but comely in 
form, the branches being within easy reach of the 
pedestrian. 
The same is true of the cucumber tree, the magno- 
lia of the north ; of the maple, chestnut, and other for- 
est trees. Given room for free development, it is not 
only symmetrical, but the branches are not forced sky- 
ward. 
Individual trees, maple, elm, oak and others vary 
quite a little in time of flowering, and this variation 
seems more or less uniform from year to year. Some- 
times the difference in conditions is so manifest that 
it is at once accounted for ; at others it will bear study. 
This fact is sure : by supplying diverse surroundings 
and nourishment one may secure pleasing results, be 
the experiments with herb, shrub or tree ; besides the 
study afforded in life’s history may be one of not a lit- 
tle value. Rapidity and form of growth, color, size 
and season of blooming, autumn ripening of foliage 
are but a few of the topics thereby suggested. 
Bessie L. Putnam. 
