MOORS’S  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
J'lorirultural 
THE  WILD  GARDEN  IN  AMERICA. 
B)'  William  Robinson,  Founder  and  Editor  of  the 
London  G-arden. 
You  have  done  me  the  great  honor  to  I 
request  that  I  should  write  an  article  for  tho 
Rurai..  I  do  HO  with  pleasure,  tho  more  so  be¬ 
cause  1  have  for  a  long  time  past  found  much 
prooiotiH  matter  in  its  pages  and  an  aim  as  re-  ^ 
gards  taste  and  stylo  in  gardening  with  which  I 
heartily  sympathise.  It  has  occurred  to  me,  iu 
thinking  over  subjects  likely  to  interest  your 
readers,  that  a  short  article  on  the  “  Wild  Gar¬ 
den,”  from  an  American  point  of  view,  would  he 
as  useful  as  any,  mainly  because  I  know  some¬ 
thing  about  the  subject.  Probably  many  of  youn' 
readers  will  ask,  “  What  is  a  wild  garden?”  and 
with  your  permission  I  will  try  to  explain  it. 
When  I  came  to  London,  about  fifteen  years 
ago,  “  llowcr-gardoning”  had  but  one  mode  of  ex¬ 
pression  only,  -viz :  '*  bedding  out.,”  and  tliat  in  its 
harshest  form,  ribbons,  borders  and  solid  masses 
of  flowers  of  one  color  and  one  bight.  The  old 
hardy  flowers  had  been  completely  swept  away; 
tho  various  and  once  popular  race  of  so-called 
florist’s  flowers  were  rarely  or  never  soon.  As  a 
oonsequonce,  gardens  wore  indoscxibahly  monot¬ 
onous  to  any  person  with  the  faintest  notion  of 
tho  inexhaustible  charms  of  the  flower  world. 
This  kind  of  flowi.w-gardening  has  the  same  ro- 
hation  to  true  art  in  a  garden  which  tho  daubs  of 
color  oti  an  Indian’s  robe  have  to  tho  best  pict¬ 
ures.  In  fighting  some  years  later,  in  tho  vari¬ 
ous  journals  ojstn.  to  mo,  tho  battle  of  nature 
and  variety  against  this  t.en-iblo  daubing.  1  was 
occasionally  met  by  a  scorn  and  a  ridicule  of  the 
old-fasliionod  mix4jd  border  which  the  bivlding 
plants  had  supplanted.  Now,  awell-aiTangod  and 
varied  mixed  bonier  may  be  made  one  of  the 
most  charming  features  in  a  garden;  but  to  so 
form  it  requires  some  knowledge  of  plants,  as 
well  as  good  taste.  Nevertheless,  the  objeetion 
was  just  as  concerned  the  great  majority  of 
mixed  borders;  they  wore  ragged,  unmeaning, 
and  even  monotonous. 
I  next  began  to  consider  tho  various  ways  in 
which  liM’dy  plants  might  bo  grown  wholly 
apart  from  either  the  region  of  the  bedding 
plants  or  that  of  the  mixed  border,  and  the 
wild  garden,  or  garden  formed  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness,  grove,  shnibbcry,  copse  or  ronglier  parts 
of  the  pleasiu'o  garden,  was  a  pot  idea  which 
I  afterward  threw  into  tho  form  of  a  book 
with  this  name.  In  nearly  all  our  gardens  wo 
have  a  groat  deal  of  surfaco  wholly  wasted  — 
spaces  in  the  shnibbory  frequently  dug  over  in 
the  winter,  plantations,  gi-ass-walks,  hedge-rows, 
rougli  banks,  slopes,  etc.,  -whioh  hitherto  have 
grown  only  grass  and  weeds,  and  on  these  a  rich 
garden  flora  may  bo  grown.  Ilundreds  of  the 
more  vigorous  and  handsome  herbaceous  plants 
that  exist  will  thrive  in  these  places  and  do  fiu’- 
ther  good  in  exterminating  weeds  and  preventing 
the  nood  of  digging.  Every  kind  of  surface  may 
be  embellished  by  a  person  witli  any  slight  knowl¬ 
edge  of  hardy  plants— ditoh-banks,  gravel-pits, 
old  trees,  hedge-banks,  rough,  grassy  places  tliat 
are  never  mown,  copses,  woods,  lanes,  rocky  or 
stony  ground. 
The  tendency  of  gardeners  has  always  been  to 
suppose  that  a  plant  from  another  country  than 
their  own  was  a  subject  requiring  their  at¬ 
tention,  not  thinking  that  the  conditions  that 
occur  in  such  places  as  I  mention  are,  as  a  rule, 
quite  as  favorable  as  those  that  obtain  in  nature 
throughout  the  groat  northern  regions  of  Europe, 
Asia  aud  America.  Here  yolu-  common  plants  of 
the  woods  of  the  Eastern  States  are  considered 
rariflties  and  coddled  accordingly  to  their  destnio- 
tion.  It  is  quite  a  phenomenon  t«  see  a  flower 
on  the  little  Yellow  Dog’s  Tooth  Yiolet,  which  I 
remember  seeing  iu  quantity  among  the  grass  in 
your  noble  Central  Park.  When  one  has  but  a 
few  specimens  of  a  plant,  it  is  best  to  carefully 
watch  them.  But  I  have  no  doubt  whatever 
that  an  e.xpoaed  and  carefully  dug  garden  border 
is  the  worst  place  to  grow  many  wood  and  copse 
plants  (1  mean  plants  that  grow  naturally  in 
such  places),  and  that  iu  many  cultivated  situa¬ 
tions  hero  the  American  Dog’s  Tooth  Violet 
w’ould  flower  quite  as  freely  as  at  home.  Your 
beautiful  little  Mayflower Epigiearopens  we  have 
never  succeeded  La  growing  in  our  best  American 
nm-serios,  as  they  are  called,  which  grow  your 
Rhododendron  B  aud  other  flowering  shrubs  so 
well.  1  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  if  a  num¬ 
ber  of  young  plants  of  this  ware  put  out  in 
a  sandy  fir-wood,  under  the  shrubs  and  pines,  as 
I  have  seen  them  iu  Now  Jersey,  we  should  suc¬ 
ceed  at  once.  Your  beautiful  Trilhum  grandi- 
flonun  is  usually  seen  here  in  an  open  border,  and 
it  is  always  beautiful ;  but  1  once  saw  a  plant  in 
a  shady  position  in  a  sliruhbery,  in  rich,  moist 
soil,  quite  two  feet  through  and  two  feet  high ! 
I  mention  these  things  to  show  that  the  wild 
garden  may  even  have  advantages  from  the 
’i  point  of  view  of  cultivation.  The  advantages 
and  charms,  however,  are  far  more  than  I  can 
allude  to  in  this  article.  One,  however,  I  must 
point  out,  and  that  is  the  facilities  it  affords  us 
for  enjoying  reprosontations  of  the  vegetation  of 
other  countries.  Here,  for  example,  the  poorest 
soil  in  tho  most  neglected  copse  will  grow  a  mix¬ 
ture  of  golden  rods  and  asters,  which  will  give 
ns  an  aspect  of  vegetation  everywhere  seen  in 
American  wcsjds  iu  autumn.  This  to  you  may 
appear  a  very  conimoriplace  delight ;  but  as  we 
have  nothing  at  all  like  it,  it  is  welcome.  Be¬ 
sides,  we  in  this  way  get  the  golden  rods  and 
asters  out  of  tho  gai-den  proper,  in  which  they 
used  to  overrun  the  choicer  plants  and  where 
they  did  much  to  disgrace  the  varied  border.  8o 
in  like  manner  you  may  in  New  England  or  New 
Jersey  make  wild  gardens  of  such  of  our  English 
flowers  as  you  fancy.  For  example,  the  now  nu¬ 
merous  and  very  handsome  varieties  of  our  Prim¬ 
roses,  Polyanthuses  and  Oxlips  would  probably 
Bucooed  better  with  you  in  moist  places  in  woods 
or  partially  shaded  positions  tlian  in  the  0)>ea 
g.arden  ;  hut  I  naturally  bate  no  experience  on  I 
this  point.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  In 
which  position  they  would  look  l>est.  Jtut  let  us 
fliqipiM!  for  a  moment  that  there  was  no  other 
object  for  tho  wild  garden  in  .Vmcrica  than 
growing  the  many  lovely  wild  flowers  that  in¬ 
habit  the  land,  it  is  suffleient.  Here  some  of 
your  wildlings  are  the  darlings  of  our  rock- 
growers.  though  we  are  far  from  possessing  all 
tho  bright  flowers  and  graceful  trailers  that 
adorn  tlio  bogs  and  woods  and  heaths  of  Eastern 
America.  It  would  be  most  wise,  iu  case  of  pos- 
icBsing  a  little  bit  of  wood  or  copse  adorned 
naturally  with  the  trailing  Partridge  Berry  and 
tho  rosy  Lady’s  Slipper)  (^Cypripedium  acaule), 
wlflch  I  noticed  so  plentiful  in  some  places,  to 
preserve  the  si^ot  as  a  wild  garden  and  add  to  it 
such  home  aud  foreign  beautios  as  one  could 
obtain. 
It  is  impossible  in  this  letter  to  speak  of  the 
various  tyTies  of  wild  gardens,  but  the  opportu¬ 
nity  which  tho  system  offers  for  embelUshiug 
cool,  shady  places  is  one  which  should  make  it 
interestiug  to  the  people  to  whose  language  be- 
loHgs  the  term  “  shade  trees.”  Usually  flower 
beds  and  borders  are  iu  the  full  sun — a  very 
proper  arrangement  in  a  cool  country.  But  even 
in  our  climate  there  are  in  the  warm  mouths 
many  days  in  which  the  wixslland  shade  is  sought 
in  preference  to  the  open  lawn  and  when  the 
fully-exposed  garden  is  deserted.  Jlany  plants, 
too,  love  the  shade,  and  we  only  reejuiro  to  plant 
the  most  suitable  of  Uiese  to  enjoy  a  charming 
wild  garden.  It  need  not  be  pointed  out  to 
Americans  that  a  vast  number  of  herbaceous 
plants  uaturally  uiliabit  woods.  In  America, 
where  shade  is  such  a  necessity,  the  wild  garden 
in  the  shade  will  be  tho  most  refreshing  retreat 
near  tlic  country  house.  In  it  many  of  tho 
plants  commou  in  the  gardens  of  all  northern 
countries  will  flower  in  tlie  spring.  For  the 
early  summer  mouths  flowers  of  a  somewhat 
later  iwrlod  will  bo  selected,  as,  for  example, 
tho  later  Irises — lovely  hardy  flowers,  not,  I  fan¬ 
cy,  Bulficiently  appreciated  in  America  as  yet, 
the  tall  Asphodel  A.  ramosus,  tho  Day  J^ilies 
{IlcifierocaUl-i),  the  Solomon’s  Seal  and  some  of 
its  allies,  tho  Yoronicas,  tall  Phloxes,  the 
great  Scarlet  Poppy  (J'apaxKr  hradcatum), 
Symphj-tums  in  variety these  are  are  aU  f roo- 
giowing  and  aduiii’ablo  plants  for  the  wild  wood- 
garden.  Mulleins  ( rer7>a.sc»m),  Salvias,  Hare¬ 
bells  (^Cami)anulii),  Willow  herbs,  tali  Lupines, 
Baptisias,  Geraniums,  Galegas,  Euphorbias, 
Meadow  Rues,  Columbines,  Delphiniums,  and 
the  latest  wind  flowers  {Aiuimw),  Later  still 
and  in  the  sunny  days  would  come  the  -v  arious 
beautiful,  cvcrlastiug  peas,  various  tine  plants 
of  the  Mallow  tribe,  tho  Phytolaccas,  Statico 
latifoha  and  other  -vigorous  kinds,  the  Globe 
Thistles,  Acanthuses,  the  free-flowering  Yuccas, 
such  as  Y.  floocida  aud  Y.  filamento.sa,  the  com¬ 
mon  Artichoke,  with  its  noble  flowers ;  and  hi 
autumn,  a  host  of  the  Golden  Rods  and  Michael¬ 
mas  Daisies. 
These  are  so  commou  in  America  that  adding 
them  to  the  wild  gai-deu  would  probably  be  con¬ 
sidered  a  needless  labor ;  but  tho  substitution  of 
the  various  really  beautiful  species  of  aster  for 
those  commonly  found  and  of  inferior  beauty 
would  weU  repay  the  “  wild  gardener,”  if  1  may 
use  the  term.  In  case  it  were  thought  desirable 
in  making  a  wild  garden  in  a  shady  position  to 
grow  plants  that  do  not  attaiu  perfection  in  such 
positions,  they  might  be  grown  iu  the  more  open 
parts  at  hand  and  sufliciently  near  to  be  seen  in 
the  picture.  The  effects  afforded  by  the  bolder 
types  wiU  BUffloe  in  many  oftaes.— [Conclusion 
next  week. 
- ♦  ♦  »  . — 
FLORICTJLTURAL  NOTES. 
Another  Bmndle. — A  friend  writes  : — “  I  saw 
in  Fulton  Market  last  week  a  huge  pile  of  bulbs 
marked  “  Spauish  lillies  five  and  ten  cents  eacli 
— ^wiU  blossom  in  about  three  weeks”— in  the 
midst  of  which  was  a  splendid  specimen  of 
Amarylis  Johnsoni  labeled  Spanish  Lily  in 
bloom." 
There  are  people  so  wanting  in  knowledge  of 
plants  as  to  bo  unable  to  detect  this  fraud  at  a 
glance,  and  I  have  no  doubt  mauy  who  invested 
their  dimes  are  now  waiting  impatiently  for  the 
appearance  of  the  splendid  flower  they  pict-ureiu 
thoir  imagination  ;  aud  when  the  flower  appears 
(if  any  do  appear)  wo  hope  they  will  restrain  ^ 
their  indignation  as  well  as  did  the  Pennsylvania 
farmer  who  in  view  of  the  devastation  of  his 
fields  by  tho  potato  beello.  feelingly  remarked ; 
“  the  spirit  almost  moveth  me  to  eject  vehe¬ 
mently  sundry  phrases  somotiraes  used  by  tlie 
profane  when  under  nudue  oxdtement." 
[Years  ago  when  they  were  first  offered  in  th# 
Btroets,  -we  purchased  one  of  these  Spanish 
Lillies.  It  bore  a  mean,  narrow,  white-petaled 
little  flower  not  worth  a  cent.  Many  people 
have  to  learn  by  disappointment  Uiat  it  is  best 
not  to  purchase  plants  (especially  bulbs)  thus 
offered.  Hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  these 
wortldoHS  things  are  sold  every  season,  and  if 
this  lesson  of  disappointment  can  bo  learned  for 
ton  cents,  perhaps  it  is  a  pity  to  expose  tho 
fraud.] 
JYiormfwms.— In  the  transactions  of  tho  M. 
JI,  S.  it  is  mentioned  that  Phnrmium  ienax.  var. 
(Now  Zealand  Flax)  was  exhibited  in  flower  for 
tho  first  time  by  Mr.  Saroent.  A  mat  was 
shown  made  from  the  fiber  of  this  plant  by  the 
native  Maoris  of  New  Zealand  prepared  and 
woven  with  no  other  apparatus  hut  water  and 
stone. 
The  chairman  doomed  the  variegated  form  one 
of  tho  jno«t  beautiful  of  all  variegated  plants. 
Mr,  Hovry  said  the  common  green  variety  did 
not  seem  to  he  very  generally  known.  It  <  an  he 
grown  without  protection  as  far  north  as 
Charleston.  H.  C.,  and  also  in  Ii-eland  whore  it 
was  grown  by  a  nurseryman  for  strings  which 
wore  made  by  merely  learing  tho  loaves  into 
strips.  Mr.  H.  has  used  it  in  this  way  himself  in 
a  half  green  state  and  found  it  very  strong. 
It  might  be  grown  all  through  tho  Southern 
States.  It  does  not  require  tho  protection  of  a 
greenhouse,  but  may  lie  kept  over  winter  in  a 
collar  or  cold  frame.  The  roots  are  fibrous,  so 
that  it  need  not  be  potted.  It  has  a  fine  effect 
ou  the  lawn,  where  it  should  be  associated  with 
j-necas,  agaves  and  similar  plants.  Although 
the  variegated  form  is  very  beautiful,  it  was  a 
question  whether,  if  all  plants  were  variegated, 
tho  green  form  would  not  be  censidcred  quite  as 
beautiful.  It  is  novelty  which  gives  value  to 
many  plants.  The  iflain  green  l‘h/jnninm,  with 
its  tall,  erect,  sword-liko  loaves,  is  a  grand  sub¬ 
tropical  plant. 
Mr.  BuswEiiL,  believed  tho  public  taste  was 
running  wild  on  variegation.  While  some  plants, 
from  the  breadth  of  their  foliage  and  distinct¬ 
ness  of  variegation,  wore  objects  of  beauty, 
others  were  so  variegated  as  to  appear  at  a  little 
distance  as  if  they  were  dying. 
'Gold  in  ils  Jlelation  to  Jlight  — Accor dius  to 
the  Belgique  Iloriicolo,  the  intensity  of  cold  at 
night  diminislios  up  to  a  certain  hight.  This 
pbenoiuenoii  was  tested  by  M.  Martins  by  plac¬ 
ing  thermometei’B  in  tlic  Bolauio  Garden,  and  at 
various  bights  on  the  cathedral  tower.  In  clear 
nights  the  iueroasod  warmth  at  a  higher  eleva¬ 
tion  is  tho  most  perceptible;  in  dull  nights 
there  is  httlo  or  no  diffeionco.  I'he  reason  of 
tho  groat  injury  inflicted  ou  tho  lower  branches 
of  shrubs  cto.,  is  thus  accounted  for.  [We  had 
thought  it  was  tho  lower  portions  of  shrubs  that 
suffered  least.  I'he  ground  becomes  heated 
during  sunshine  and  the  thermometer  after  snii- 
down  would  show  a  higher  temperature  near  the 
ground.  Later  by  radiation  the  ground  will 
become  cooler  tlian  the  air— a  circumstance  to 
which  is  ascribed  the  deposition  of  dew  and 
frost.  Mr.  Martin's  tower  experimenlB  were 
not  needed  to  prove  that  cold  air  is  heavier 
than  wanii  air.  But  it  is  a  question  whether 
the  mutual  radiation  of  the  earth  and  the  lower  j 
branches  of  trees  and  shrubs  does  not  preserve 
a  higher  temperatm'e  within  the  radius  of  action, 
than  the  difference  in  temperature  between 
lower  and  higher  strata  of  air  where  there  are 
no  shrubs  or  trees.] 
A  Pisguised  PkH/eian. — As  an  instance  of  how 
we  are  prone  to  prize  tho  most  common  plants  if 
grown  iu  a  manner  to  disguiso  them,  wo  give 
the  following  from  an  old  periodical : — Many 
years  ago  I  had  my  office  in  Chambers  Street, 
and  having  one  day  a  good,  large  potato,  I  put 
it  in  a  pot  filled  \vith  eai’th,  and  then  placed  it  in 
the  window.  It  soon  started  into  growth  and 
kept  on  until  the  vine  reached  the  top  of  the 
window  and  ran  across  to  tho  other  side.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  people  in  the  course  of  a  week  would 
stop  and  look  at  that  vine;  occasionally  one 
would  venture  in  and  ask  for  a  cutting  of  that 
handsome  vine,  and  act  which  added  greatly  to 
my  amusement ;  for  the  idea  that  any  one 
should  he  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  a  iwtato 
riue  was  certainly  an  ammsing  commentary  on 
the  intelligence  of  our  citizens.  It  was  a  fact, 
nevertheless,  and  but  one  jierson  over  came  near 
guessing  the  name  of  my  i>otato  and  he  called  it 
a  tomato  vine. 
Plrm  Cotinus.  -Tliere  is  no  shrub  more  pleas¬ 
ing  dui'ing  its  flow'ering  and  fruiting  period  than 
the  Rmoke  Tree.  Tlie  clouds  which  almost 
envelop  it  at  this  time  pass  through  several 
changes  of  color,  and  this  varies  in  different 
plants  and,  we  think,  is  influenced  by  different 
soils  and  situations.  Side  by  side,  th©  *'  smoke" 
of  one  tree  is  the  most  tender  pink  ;  in  another 
gray :  in  another  tho  freshest,  softest  green, 
shaded  with  deeper  tinte  as  tho  growth  is  more 
matured.  Tho  green  changes  to  rose  and  the 
rose  to  green,  and  all  finally  to  gray  its  last  tint 
AS  it  is  ofttimos  its  first.  It  is  but  here  and 
there  a  fruit,  rosemhling  a  pouch  like  the 
Shepherd’s  Parse,  is  formed— and  these  are  en- 
sluouded  in  the  light  foatlicry  bracts  that  con¬ 
stitute  tlie  “smoke”  from  wUch  the  tree  de¬ 
rives  its  familiar  and  highly  appropriate  name. 
These  bracts,  which  botanists  regard  as  abortive 
flowers,  exist  in  compound  racemes  a  foot  in 
length  terminating  every  stem. 
Prince's  Pirn  is  now  blooming  in  shady  woods 
— a  pretty  little  plant  with  leaves  as  leathery  as 
those  of  a  Kalmia  of  a  dark-green  color  and  a 
ouneato-lancoolate  shape.  These  are  in  whorls 
of  four  to  six  upon  half-creeping  stems.  The 
flowers— half  an  inch  in  diameter — ^aru  whitish 
with  prominent  purple  stamens.  They  bloom  in 
umliels  of  four  or  more  raised  upon  long,  naked 
peduncles  and  drooping  from  slondcr  peilicels. 
It  is  good  for  ferneries  or  Wardian  cases  or 
among  low  crooping  things  in  shady  parts  of  tho 
garden. 
Mr.  IjCO.  Orimlon  says,  speaking  of  hybridiz¬ 
ing  aud  crossing  Rhododendrons : — It  shows,  in 
the  most  pleasing  manner,  how  florioulture,  tho 
first  and  finest  of  the  fine  arts,  the  most  benevo¬ 
lent  and  the  most  civilizing,  Utenilly  jhelpB  to 
“make  tho  whole  world  kin.” 
WiU  not  tho  London  Garden  tell  us  sometliing 
of  the  Japanese  Maples  ? 
TO  THE  MIDDLE-AGED. 
Let  tho  following  words  of  A.  J.  Downino  l>e 
acted  upon  by  the  middle-aged  as  well  as  the 
young  dming  our  Centonnial  year.  Tho  fall  will 
give  all  procrastinators  an  opportunity: — We 
Amoricans  nro  proverbially  impatient  o'  delay, 
and  a  few  years  in  prospect  appear  an  endless 
futurity.  Ro  much  is  this  tho  feeling  witli  many, 
that  wo  verily  believe  there  are  hundreds  of  our 
country  places  which  owe  their  barenoas  and  des¬ 
titution  of  foliage  to  tho  idea,  so  common,  that 
it  requires  “an  ago”  for  forest  trees  to  “grow 
up.” 
The  middle-aged  man  hesitates  about  the  good 
of  planting  what  he  imagines  he  shall  never  see 
arriving  at  maturitj’,  and  even  mauy  who  are 
younger  conceive  that  it  requires  more  than  an 
ordianrj'  lifetime  to  roar  a  fine  wowi  of  planted 
trees.  Abont  two  years  since,  we  had  the  pleas- 
uin  of  visiting  the  seat  of  tho  late  Mr.  Loweix, 
whom  wo  found  in  a  green  old  age,  still  enjoy¬ 
ing.  with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth,  the  pleasures 
of  Horticulture  and  a  country  life.  For  the  en¬ 
couragement  of  those  wiio  are  ever  complaining 
of  the  tardy  j^aco  with  which  the  grow’Ui  of  trees 
advances,  we  will  here  record  that  wo  accom¬ 
panied  !Mr.  L.  through  a  belt  of  flue  woods 
(skirting  part  of  his  residence),  nearly  half  a 
mile  in  length,  consistiug  of  almost  all  onr  finer 
hardy  trees,  many  of  them  apparently  full  grown, 
the  whole  of  which  had  been  planted  by  him 
when  be  was  thirty-tw-o  years  old.  At  that  time, 
a  solitary  elm  or  two  -wore  ahnoet  the  only  trees 
upon  his  estate.  We  can  hardly  conceive  a  more 
rational  source  of  pride  or  en  jojnnent,  than  to  be 
able  thus  to  walk,  in  the  decline  of  yeai's,  beneath 
the  shadow  of  umbrageous  woods  and  groves, 
planted  by  our  own  hands,  and  whose  growth 
has  become  almost  identified  with  om  own  pro¬ 
gress  and  existence. 
- 4-*-^ - - 
ARBORICULTDRAL  NOTES. 
Lfirvh  Sevdiinqs. — Theljawson  Seed  and  Nmrs- 
ery  Co.,  in  England,  is  said  to  have  commenced 
the  present  season’s  trade  with  30,000000  one- 
year-old  Larch  Seedlings,  which  were  nearly  all 
sold  the  first  of  March.  The  seed  from  which 
these  plants  were  raised  was  all  gathered  from 
native  trees  in  the  Tyrolese  Mountains,  and  it  is 
said  to  be  far  preft-rahle  to  that  saved  from  t^«^eB 
in  Britain.  We  seldom  find  the  Tyrolese  or  Lu- 
ropean  Larch  producing  good,  fertile  seeds  in 
this  country.  The  cones  are  abundant,  but  are 
generally  filled  with  immatui'e,  shrunken  seed- 
Borders  for  Fknner-Betls. — Tile  act  as  a  dam 
and  hold  the  water.  Dwarf-box  and  other  per¬ 
ennial  plants  harbor  noxious  insects,  and  are 
more  or  less  ditlicult  to  keep  clear  of  weeds,  ihe 
best  edging  for  flower-beds  is  a  good,  clean  and 
well-kept  sward  of  some  of  the  finer  grasses.  If 
it  is  not  practicable  to  cut  flow  er-bed.s  out  of  a 
grass-plat,  then  employ  some  low-growing  per¬ 
ennial,  herbaceous  or  annual  plant  for  edging. 
