symmetrical shape, which it cannot do if 
crowded. 
The distance between the trees depends a 
good deal on the kind. The aim should be 
to secure inlerlapping of the longest branches 
and to leave free space below for the slant¬ 
ing beams of the winter sun to penetrate to 
the road. 
It is as easy to plant a useful tree as a use- 
leas one. It is best to plant those which will 
produce some kind of fruit, and eventually 
be valuable for timber. w. 
florintliur. 
anirscapt ffiarbtmng 
THE YUCCA —VARIETIES 
RURAL ADORNMENTS 
BY A. 8. FULLER 
BY J. WILKINSON 
TnE taste for coarse, tropical-looking 
plants is steadily increasing. The cannas, 
Bocconias, caladiums, and similar growing 
species are becoming quite common in our 
city and suburban gardens. And while it 
must be admitted that these plants often do 
produce a charming effect when arranged in 
groups upon a lawn, or as a background to 
the low growing varieties, still their flowers 
arc usually so small and insignilleant that 
they seem to fall short of what is promised, 
and disappoint us in the grand finale, as 
though the curtain had dropped when the 
play was hut half over. 
There are, however, a few stately growing 
plants that close their career with a display 
of bloom that will amply repay us for care¬ 
ful attention and patience in waiting. In 
this class we place the Yucca, and particu¬ 
larly our hardy native species and varieties. 
One oi the very best is the Yucca Jllmnmiom, 
which is a native of North Carolina, and 
further south and westward. The leaves are 
evergreen, long, and rather still', spreading 
occasionally, slightly recurved. The flowers 
are usually pure white, hut in some speci¬ 
mens they are slightly tinged with greenish 
yellow. They also vary in size from one to 
two inches long, ami nearly as broad. Flower 
stems four to eight feet high, branching, car¬ 
rying several hundred blooms, each of which 
?s succeeded by a largo, six-celled pod, tilled 
with smooth, flat, dark colored seeds. After 
the plant blooms, the center of the crown 
dies, numerous suckers spring up from be¬ 
low, and these will bloom as soon ns they 
are large and strong enough, which is 
usually in two or three years; hut if taken 
off and planted separately they will bloom 
the second season. 
The seeds grow very readily if planted 
in autumn or early spring, and transplanted 
at the end of the first season. Seedlings 
usually bloom when three years old. 
Although this species is a native of the 
Southern States, it is quite hardy even in the 
Northern border States, and we have known 
it to withstand a temperature of twenty-four 
degrees below zero uninjured. 
There are several varieties, but they are 
not very distinct. The Yucca Jilammtosa 
placcida has less rigid leaves, and the Yucca 
anf/ustifolia, found on the upper Missouri, 
may he only a variety of the Jilamcntoxa, al¬ 
though claimed to be a distinct species. 
When grown from seed, the Yuccas vary 
In locating the features of improvement 
and decoration of a rural residence, particu¬ 
larly if the place he a new one, the work is 
of sufficient importance to warrant the pro¬ 
prietor in calling to his aid the best artist 
obtainable. The most judicious mode of pro¬ 
cedure is to make a plot of the entire grounds 
to a considerable scale. On this, every ex¬ 
isting feature to be preserved is first located 
on the plat, then all to be supplied. Among 
the latter the dwelling is the most import¬ 
ant ; lienee its site should be located as the 
initiatory work, in which a proper carriage 
approach, to be constructed, should not be 
lost sight of, as the size for the dwelling, in¬ 
dependently considered, which would be 
most desirable, may be sueli as would not be 
accessible by a road of proper length and 
grade, without involving an unwarrantable 
expenditure in its construction. To avoid 
this and similar difficulties, the landscape 
gardener, if he is master of his profession, 
will carefully prospect the entire field of 
labor; and he will generally be able, without 
the use of an instrument, for taking grades or 
distances, quite definitely to determine the 
locality of everything to be supplied before 
he proceeds to plat the grounds. He should 
also carefully prospect and investigate the 
physical characteristics of the premises, for 
the quality of the natural material required in 
the execution of improvements may materi¬ 
ally modify the character of many features 
to be supplied, and their extent or magni¬ 
tude, for example: 
If there should he found on the surface or 
nearly so, a quarry of stone suitable for build¬ 
ing material, all the buildings may be con¬ 
structed of this mat erial, perhaps at less cost 
than of any other, be more desirable and 
produce a more desirable effect. The refuse 
WHEN TO CUT TIMBER. 
A writer in the Rural World says:—“I 
have worked in timber, and experimented as 
to the best t ime to cut it to make it last well; 
and by actual observation have come to the 
conclusion that from the 15th of August to the 
15th of Septcm her is the best time hi the year. 
Timber cut then worms will not enter. The 
bark will remain on for about twelve months, 
and then, when moved, fall off of itself, with¬ 
out any trouble. But my brother farmers will 
say the season then is too hot to labor in the 
timber. Admitted; but one tree cut then is 
worth three cut in the winter; and if a person 
can only cut his timber down at this time, lie 
is not necessitated to then work it up, but can 
let it lie till the winter following, and it will 
do as well as being worked at the time when 
cut—and at his leisure, if it is two years after, 
he can work it up. 
“ Hickory timber cut at this time makes 
good rails, that will last nearly as well as oak. 
But unfortunately for our farmers, they are 
under the necessity {or do it) of cutting all or 
most of their timber in the winter months; 
and timber will decay cut in those months, 
in this climate sooner than in any other 
month in the year.” 
Oanjf<‘ Orange for Hedge.—I would like to make 
inquiries through the Rciiai, In regard to tlm 
practicability of an Osago Orange hedge for a 
dividing fence on any place, which place 1 will 
endeavor to describe sufficiently for the pur¬ 
pose. Jt Is situated In Northwestern Pennsyl¬ 
vania. The soil is u sandy loam. A sharp rise 
in the ground of about fifteen foot naturally di¬ 
vides It In two parts. 1 wish some kind of a 
fence to divide the upper and lower fields, to be 
placed on the upper hill side as near the point of 
descent as convenient. I am favorably inclined 
to a hedge. Will some one who has had experi¬ 
ence tell me It' I oun. by preparing the ground 
this fall, sow the seed early next spring Just 
where 1 want.them to growl 1 Is there uny ne¬ 
cessity of sowing the seed m drills and taking 
the plants up to re-set them? How should I pre¬ 
pare the ground for the hedge? How near the 
brow of the hill can 1 safely set them so ns to al¬ 
low cultivation on each side? llow thickly 
should I sow the seed, if I sow Just where I want 
the hedge? to grow? Where can I obtain good 
seed? and at what expense? How much wed 
would I need for otto hundred rods of hedge? 
Will some one answer soon ?—A Hkoinngu in 
IIeugk Raising. 
A-WAvAtx tv— 
£ Scans, Sc 
to which they are to be used. In the absence 
of stones on the premises, there may be an 
abundance of suitable brick material, which 
may be economically manufactured for build¬ 
ing all, or a portion of, the structures to be 
erected. 
If in the absence of both of these, timber and 
lumber are to be used, its whereabouts and 
cost is to be estimated. 
Sand for building, and gravel for roads 
and walks are also vc-ry important items, and 
if they are to be obtained remote from the 
premises, and at great cost, the extent of 
roads and walks to be constructed may be 
materially reduced in consequence of the 
expense necessary in such construction, unci 
the extent of each be curtailed or increased, 
according to circumstances. 
The area of the lawn, also of the fruits 
and vegetable grounds, may be increased or 
reduced by the nature of the soil. If it is 
generally fertile and adapted to the culture 
and growth of grass, without an expensive 
application In the way of fertilizers, and 
grass from the lawn may he obtained by 
seeding, it may be admissible to extend its 
area to double or more what would be war¬ 
rantable if the surface was to be sodded. 
Sodding is a very expensive branch of the 
work of rural decoration, lienee it should be 
curtailed as much as practicable, and liberal 
manuring and seeding substituted. It is, 
however, desirable to lay a belt of sod as a 
margin to all roads and walks, if it be but 
eight or ten inches in width, as it is very dif¬ 
ficult to produce and maintain distinct mar¬ 
ginal lineB of gravel and grass by seeding. 
When a lawn is to be seeded it should be re¬ 
membered that, in case of a failure in setting 
with grass, the labor and expense of re-set¬ 
ting with it will lie infinitely greater after 
the grade of the surface? is completed, the 
margins of the roads and walks established 
and trees and shrubbery planted ; hence, no 
effort, skill or pains should be spared in this 
work of lawrn seeding. 
The preparation of the soil is by a skillful 
use of the subsoil plow in the breaking up 
process, fallowing for tin entire seasou, plow¬ 
ing and re-plowing, harrowing and harrow¬ 
ing again, and the use of the grading 
machine, by which mechanical means the 
surface can be well prepared for seeding. 
The fertilizing process, which is to be per¬ 
formed in conjunction with the tillage after 
the grade has been established, is equally 
important, and requires equal skill and 
judgment to insure success. The most satis¬ 
factory results in fertilizing a new lawn, in 
the experience of the w r riter, were realized 
from the use. of cattle manure thoroughly de¬ 
composed by placing it in a heap, not more 
than eighteen inches in depth, and turning 
it thoroughly as often as the seeds in the 
the only course I have for developing an ex¬ 
periment in seed crossing and growing, and, 
nine times out of ten, tread upon some rare 
and small plant which I have just set out. I 
don’t wonder at Commercial Gardeners 
putting up signs forbidding visitors from 
going over certain portions of their grounds; 
and unless we publicly ridicule and expose 
t he practice of the grown up race and edu¬ 
cate the children correctly, no man can safe¬ 
ly grmv a rare flower or fruit in his open 
ground, but will have to enclose it. with a 
tight and Itiglt board fence. It’s the same 
with fruit as with flowers. J have now 
several trees on which there are two or three 
specimens of new varieties growing; but, 
while T shall watch them to the best of my 
ability, 1 have little hope of seeing them 
when mature, for in all probability some 
visitor will heedlessly—of course not crimin¬ 
ally—pick them.” Alger. 
.tWnniltwrt 
HEDGE SCREEN OF SCOTCH PINES 
My neighbor, S., has been planting a row 
of Scotch pines, six to eight, feet apart in 
the row, with a view to break t he wind from 
his vineyard. He found a nurseryman with 
a large stock on hand, five to eight leet. high, 
that he was going to destroy because lie 
found no sale, and thought it would not pay 
to transplant than. My neighbor took than, 
cut off the whole top, nuiin stem one-half or 
more, then, with small clippers, cut in the 
remaining low branches. In four years he 
will have a good hedge screen, not of course 
to turn cattle, hut a perfect wind-break. 
Would it not have been good common 
sense for the nurseryman, instead of giving 
these plants away, or destroying them be¬ 
cause they had become too large and thick 
to stand longer, as they were uninjured, to 
have sheared them himself, and with a sharp 
cutter on a plow gone through the rows and 
out the roots freely and deeply. I have seen 
that thing done, and a supposed valueless 
patch of evergreens, in a nursery, rendered 
one of the most valuable in three years 
thereafter. 
Few T know how much cutting an ever¬ 
green will bear, and I have seen many an 
old tree grower astounded at what he con¬ 
sidered the rashness of another who advised 
cutting or moving trees, by the inexperi¬ 
enced considered ns past all value, except as 
tho stems would make grape poles. 
Alger. 
Art* H|>onglole« Roots?—The New England 
Parmer discusses this question and says:—"If 
you examine the roots of trees In the spring, es¬ 
pecially roots of last years' growth, you will And 
no sponjfioles attached to them, but in their 
place, innumerable little excrescences, each 
composed of many cells. Prom these cells new 
rootlets are produced, and to t hese new rootlets 
the spongioles are attached. These gpongl- 
olea are not true roots, any more than 
leaves are true branches, and they never 
become roots, tiny more than leaves become 
branches. As tho leaves extract nutriment 
from the atmosphere, so the sponglolea absorb 
it from tho soli during the growing season. 
When their work for tho season is done, they 
separate from the roots and decay in the soil, 
just as the leaves fall from t he brunchesuod de¬ 
cay on the surface. Could we see the entire tree, 
root and brunch, the parts below the surface and 
t he parts above, during the growing season, we 
should sec the roots and rootlets clothed with 
hairy spongiolcs like a coat of fur, while the 
branches are clothed with leaves woven into tis¬ 
sues of various forms and degrees of thickness 
and firmness. When the growth for the year is 
over, and the season of rest, the winter comes 
on, both leaves and spongioles are thrown off, 
and the tree, divested of all its clothing, remains 
naked and unprotected through the frosts and 
bleak winds of winter. 
THE EVENING PRIMROSE 
A whiter in the Rural World says: 
“Missouri can boast of one species of the 
Evening Primrose (Enothera Afmmrusnm) 
that is regularly taken into the brotherhood 
of cultivated flowers; and doubtless most of 
our garden sorts are only improved varieties 
of our own indigenous kinds. 
“They are all herbaceous plants, mostly 
perennial, and all have yellow flowers of dif¬ 
ferent shades, opening in the evening as the 
sum goes down, remaining open till late in 
the morning, sometimes till noon, then drop¬ 
ping and dying, to be succeeded by other 
flowers each evening. 
“ But we have one kind of Evening Prim¬ 
rose in our garden that, is a perfect beauty: 
it is Enothera maorocurpa, or large flowering. 
It is a perennial; hardy; lias lived over 
winter uncovered and unharmed; it. is of 
low, dwarf, spreading, compact habit, not 
growing over oue foot high, and is perhaps 
two feet broad, with a dozen or more shoots 
or stems, each stem prepared to furnish, 
each evening, one of its large, most beauti¬ 
ful, brightest of sulphur-yellow flowers—a 
charming yellow Indeed. The flowers are 
nearly live inches across, and it is quite 
amusing to watch them and see them ex¬ 
pand, which they do by jerks that are very 
perceptible. A neat, hardy plant, with 
showy, beautiful, long-continued and most 
interesting flowers—we all think it is.” 
Arboriculturenml Irrigation.— A Ban Francisco 
paper is responsible for this story:—A sugar 
planter at the Hawaiian Islands adopted, lit 18d0, 
anew way to raise the wind and to make the 
Clouds drop rain. Having a largo quantity of 
arid land and tto streams Of water wttliln reach, 
he set his wits to work to bring the moisture 
from the mountain down on to his plantation. 
For this purpose be planted SO,(XX) forest trees, 
which, under his care, grew rapidly. Soon the 
clouds bung over the new forest and tho min 
came down abundantly- Cisterns was? built 
which held about 110,000 barrels of water; and 
this resource insures the planter against destruc¬ 
tive drouths. He has now a very flourishing 
sugar plantation. But he has made it out of 
a dry plain, which, without water, would have 
very little value. It Is the most economical 
theory of Irrigation which has yet boon brought 
forward. There are no better hydraulic pipes 
than groups of forest trees. 
ABOUT ROADSIDE TREES 
I have cedars on the south side of the 
road iu front of my house. They are not. 
tall, but are quite thick. The result is that 
they give little shade from the nearly verti¬ 
cal rays of the sun in hot weather, and as 
they exclude the more oblique rays of the 
winter, they cause the road to be muddy and 
to lie covered with snow or ice long after 
more exposed places are comparatively dry 
or clear. Low, thick evergreens, with long 
branches, are preferable for the north side; 
they will protect from cold in winter and 
shelter from the sun in summer. On other 
sides, east, west or south, it is best for all 
seasons to plant trees that, grow tall, with 
deciduous foliage, with thick branches and 
leaves on the upper half, to be trimmed if 
they have limbs on the lower half. These 
should not be planted too thick. Room 
should be given for the tree to develop into 
RESPECT FOR VESTED RIGHTS 
Talking of fruits and flowers, P. said lie 
wished one item of educat ion could be intro¬ 
duced into our schools, ami that was to in¬ 
culcate in every child a recognizance of 
ownership and value of fruits and flowers. 
“As it is now,” says P. /‘those who call 
themselves ladies and gentlemen come freely 
to visit me as soon as my flowers are in 
bloom and my fruits begin to ripen; but 
many of them no sooner get upon my grounds 
titan seeing a choice flower and something 
new on the back of my border, they step 
right on and pick it without any leave or 
license; ‘ it’s only a flower and ain’t it sweet! ’ 
“ They at one fell sw T oop destroy perhaps 
Hanking l |i Around Dwarf Peura. — In a report 
of a meeting of the Dayton, Ohio, ITort ieultural 
Society we see it stated that one member prac¬ 
ticed "banking earth up around dwarf pear 
trees several feet.” Will Mr. Ohmkii or Mr. 
Stbhlk please give us statement of tho course? 
how long ft hits been practiced? and what tho 
benefit gained, if any? 
Loltelin PnrdinnlU,—A recent writer calls this 
"one of the most Charming indigenous plants, 
which grows well in every garden, and la worth 
every care." 
Cutting Swamp Will own. — Whon is tho best 
time to out swamp willows and prevent them 
from sprouting again ?—a. w. o. 
After t he leaves begin to full iu the autumn. 
Akelda quinntn is highly recommended by one 
of our correspondents as “a hardy, beautiful 
climbing plant, giving a glory of bloom.” 
