empurpled limbs, preparatory to being shorten¬ 
ed back a little so that the next year’s supply 
may exceed that of the present. Towards the 
end of May Deutzia gracilis becomes clothed 
with its snowy panicles, and on account of its 
neatncsB, dwarfnesa, profusion, aud hardiness, 
surely it deserves a place in the smallest garden. 
About a fortnight later D. crenata, with single 
and double flowers, puts in an appearance and 
it too is one of our choicest shrubs 
Early in June the FriDge Trees, having re¬ 
membered to leaf out, are a mist of sprayey 
whiteness, and about the same time the Yellow- 
wood trees, large and small, are drooping with 
heavy panicles of white pea-shaped flowers, 
humming with bees, and diffusing fragrance all 
around. From the end of May up into June 
the Tatariau Honeysuckle bushes are a-glow 
with white, pink, or rose-purple flowers, which 
are succeeded iu a few weeks by bright orange 
berries. From the end of May till nigh the end 
of June the Large-leaved Mountain Laurel is 
doing its uttermost to reolaim the dreariness of 
the New Jersey woods or hold its own in out- 
gardens, and that it does effectually, for surely 
no shrubs bloom more lavishly. And in May to 
July the crimson-purple corymbs of the Sheep 
Laurel are abundant in our woods and, if we 
choose, in our gardens. Potentilla fruticosa 
from early June blooms all summer long.—[Con¬ 
clusion next week. 
gated Mesembryanthemum cordifolium; 3rd, a 2 
inch wide band of Sedum Lydium (green) ; 4th, 
a band of Echeveria secnnda glauca; 5th, Al- 
teruanthera amtena, 6th, a belt of Sedum glau- 
cum studded with little circles of Echoveria con¬ 
taining in their center a patch of Nortora depressa 
a miniature plant covered with tiny orange 
fruits;—7th, Alternanthora ammna; 8th, Eohe- 
veria. From this 8th belt depend the chained 
jewols resting on a broad ground-work of green, 
formed by Sedum Lydinm. The elevated rim is 
of rounded outline with inner and outer circles 
of Echeveria secnnda glauca. Next to each of 
these circles is a belt of Alternantbera amcena, 
and in the middle a wider band of Sedum glau- 
cum studded with Nertera depressa. 
decorations. They all have the long-lived beauty 
which renders them well fitted to stand in groups 
bearing such a relation to masses of Spruces aud 
Pines that, in the years to come, they may fill 
their placeB, when deformity requires then- 
removal. All Piceas must be transplanted and 
pruned frequently, or they become worthless for 
lawn planting. Two or three Spruces—Abies 
orientalis, dark-green, shining and very massive, 
and Abies excelHa inverta pendula, remarkable 
and picturesque with drooping foliago hugging 
the stem—and at leaBt two lietinosporas—ob- 
tusa and pisifera—are also well fitted for single, 
large specimens. 
A very important element of fine lawn deco¬ 
ration wili be found in groups of dwarf or lower- 
growing evergreens. They may be employed 
immediately about the house, or on the curves of 
paths near by. Planted three feet apart, it 
will be 10 or 15 years before any of them inter¬ 
feres with another. Large specimens are fine, 
if planted singly, but massed in groups, their 
varied colors aud forms exhibit the most 
striking effects. Of course, all cannot bo named 
here, but there are at least a dozen choice ones 
which should form part of every group of consid¬ 
erable size. Broad-leaved Hemlock, dark, hardy 
and of waxen luster ; atrovirona, also extremely 
hardy, dwarf, dark aud shining, Constitute two 
members of a species, the crowning glory of 
which is the Weeping Hemlock of graceful 
sprays and fountain-like habit, a veritable queen 
of evergreens. Then come the Conical Spruce, 
most popnlar of dwarf evergreens, symmetrical 
and compact; Gregory's Spruce, massive, broad 
and dwarf, and neat little nigra pumila, with 
form of perfect finish, not forgetting Abies dif¬ 
fusa, richest and finest of dwarf Spruces in a 
way hardly describable—all form a most valua¬ 
ble group of dwarf ornamental trees. 
The Biotas, perhaps less popnlar because in 
some cases less hardy, furnish rich material in 
the golden elegantiasima, the new Pyramidal 
aud the hardy Nepaiensis. Junipers are of 
taller growth except such as Swedish Dwarf, 
Juniperus tamariscifolia, prostrata, squamata, 
etc., which are very low and curious. Among 
Piceas wo have the exquisite little Hudsonica, 
dark green and strangely dwarf, and compacta 
of hardy habit and elegant form. The soft, 
feathery needles of the Dwarf White Pine, and 
the darker, richer tints of the Dwarf Scotch and 
Mugho can be ill spared in any group of ever¬ 
greens. Betinosporas have many dwarf and 
strangely diversified forms, such as filifera, lepto- 
clado, lycopodioides, etc., hut few surpass plu- 
mosa aurea for ready transplanting or lasting 
gold, which latter feature is so effective con¬ 
trasted in masses with tbo Broad-leaved Hem¬ 
lock macropbylla. Nor must I forget tho Golden 
Yew, of unrivaled color iu June, but later sur¬ 
passed by the golden Ketiuospora in both beauty 
and hardiness. Did space permit, much might 
bo said concerning these remarkable and com¬ 
paratively unknown plauts, each one of which is 
deserving of au article to itself. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT IT, 
[Under this heading, a number of articles 
have been prepared by able writers. These will 
appear from time to time. Their object is not 
at all to deal with “humbugs”—but with the 
many unconscious errors that creep into the 
methods of daily country routine life. —Eds.] 
“HAVING EYES, THEY SEE NOT.” 
Chas. W. Garfiet.d, Sec’y of the Michigan 
Pomological Society. 
I have just attended a teachers’ Institute, 
where learned men and women, who are called 
the educators of the children in this country, 
were gathered, and occupied a day in discussing 
the merits of this and that method of teach¬ 
ing. I listened to beantiful essays on “The 
Word Method," “ Easy way of Computing In¬ 
terest,” “ Order in the School-room,” “ Natural 
Instruction iu Local Geography” and “Gram¬ 
mar by Short Steps and No Halting.” 
I confess that there was much of interest to 
me in the papers and discussious that followed, 
but I was somewhat surprised not to hear some¬ 
thing upon the best plan of developing observing- 
powers ia the pupils. I go out among the chil¬ 
dren and am astonished every time that they, as a 
mass, know so little about the commonest things 
about them. Boys that know the multiplication 
table by heart, do not know that an elm tree 
bears flowers, or that a butterfly comes from a 
caterpillar. Girls that can conjugate the verb 
“ To love ” with the most startling rapidity, 
open their eyes iu ignorant wonder at the an¬ 
nouncement that, a. clothes-moth turns into a 
winged insect, or that the beautiful piece of 
stone they have called “petrified honey-comb” 
is a piece of coral, made by a little animal in the 
sea. A mau who has taught school for years 
and has apeut other years in giving the people 
the benefit of his thought upon questions of 
agriculture aud horticulture, asked me the other 
day “Why do the Maples look bo red this 
spring ?” exhibiting the fact that he did not 
know that there was such a species as the Bed 
Maple, and that its blossoms appeared before the 
leaves and gave it its common name; and when 
told of the fact, he said “Blossoms before 
leaves! how oan that be? How can a plant 
flower before it is in leaf ?’’ And when twenty 
illustrations of this kind were given, he expressed 
astonishment at his own ignorance. 
Every day, wherever I go there is this same 
exhibition of ignorance of the most common 
things about us, and 1 am led to believe that the 
fault lies largely in our schools; there is too 
much teaching of Arithmetic, Grammar, aud Ge- 
ography, and too little developing of the observ¬ 
ing powers. It is worth a great deal more to a 
child to know the difference between a bug and a 
beetle than to know the length of the Mississippi 
River or the flight Luke Michigan is above the 
ocean. The common school ia to give the 
foundation for further kuowledgo; it is to 
sharpen the appetite for more learning, and I 
am in favor of making every step count by giv- 
iug valuable information while working to disci¬ 
pline the mind uf tho pupil. 
The great fault we find with men engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, who are willing to give 
others the benefit of what they know, is that 
they theorize too much—take too many things 
for granted—give us too much closet literature 
in plaoe of farm experience. I think this 
WHAT SHALL I PLANT 1 
SAMUEL PARSONS. 
To answer such a question with any degree of 
completeness would require volumes, and it 
would be well if sufficient interest existed to 
make such volumes attractive to the world at 
large. A great part, indeed, of the charm of 
natural landscapes, in glades or forest, lies in 
the almost uumberleBS varieties of plants that 
constitute them. Space, however, only permits 
me to mention a few prominent examples spe¬ 
cially fitted to produce certain important effects. 
The skeleton or framework of the place 
should be built up of Spruce and Pines. 
They grow largo and make massive shelters 
against bleak northwesters. They should be 
planted on a somewhat irregular system by 
which the frout tree fills up the gap presented 
by the two rear ones, while the whole shows a 
waving outline devoid of stiffness. Tho Nor¬ 
way Spruco performs this work most rapidly and 
completely, and may be well supported by the 
contrasting and beautiful hues of the larger 
Pines. 
For symmetry and endurance, few surpass the 
well-named Black Austrian, although the erect 
elegance of the Swiss Stone Pine, Pinus Cembra, 
is both hardy and picturesque in the landscape. 
The Stone Pine, however, does not make a good 
wind-break, while the Scotoh doeB, notwithstand¬ 
ing its irregular shape and meager look as it 
grows old. Moreover the Scotch Pine resists 
well the bleak winds and sea air. Other Pines and 
Spruces there are, but they are ill-adapted for 
the purpose of shelter. Like the White Pine, 
they are too open, or too slow of growth, and 
consequently have attained leas popularity. 
Tho framework established, next come the 
filling in of the shades and tints, the arranging 
of striking figures in the fore-ground, and the 
plauning of all the vistas and graceful effects 
that go to make up the perfect landscape pic¬ 
ture. If the place be large, I would use promi¬ 
nent specimens here and there on the outskirts, 
facing, like sentinels, the flanking shelter groups. 
Grandest of all evergreens for this purpose is 
the Picea Nordmanniana, shining and glossy- 
green of foliage, symmetrical, stately and tower¬ 
like in form. It is the king of evergreens, and 
CARPET BEDDING, 
Carpet bedding consists in the decoration of 
our flower-beds with neat dwarf-habited plants 
that are more conspicuous for their compacted na¬ 
ture and brilliant or dense leafage than for their 
flowers. Circular, square, oblong, oval, and 
other plain-patterned beds are the easiest and 
most prettily carpeted. Tho design may repre¬ 
sent any conceivable idea, and should bo exe¬ 
cuted so that at a distance or in proximity, the 
pattern may bo as definitely plain—recognizable 
at a glanoe. These beds require thick planting 
so as to produce immediate effect, and afterwards, 
the greatest vigilance in sheering or pinching to 
prevent the lines running into one another, and 
thus obliterating the design. They not only re¬ 
quire a deal of plants to begin with, but a great 
amount of patience and oft-repeated application 
in their summer care. Intricate tracery on a flat 
carpet bed is somewhat formal, no matter how 
minutely executed, hence the introduction of 
one or several isolated “ relief ” plants, as green¬ 
leaved Di acienae, variegated or plain-leaved Yuc¬ 
cas, Century Plants, and the like. 
In England this kind of gardening is more 
practised than it is here, because there more 
kinds of plants are applicable for the purpose 
than is the case with ns. They have an excel¬ 
lent blue in Lobelia aud orange iu Nertera de- 
pi essa, both of which succumb to our summers. 
the back-bone of our coloring material —grow 
much the rankest in this country. Among tho 
plants most commoDly used for this purpose are: 
for white or silvery gray, Anlonnarias, Veronica 
incana, variegated Sweet Alyasum, variegated 
Stevia, variegated Solanmn, Coutaurea caudidls- 
sima, Leucophyion Brownii, Guaphalium lana- 
tum, fetachya Germauica, Sedum variegatum, 
and Artemeeia frigida. 
Golden Feather Feverfew is our best yellow 
and is supplemented by the variegated Abutilon 
voxillarium, pegged and pinched, and some of 
tho best and most oompaot yellow variegated and 
golden-bronzed Pelargoniums. For bine Klei. 
uia lepens takes the lead, and then follow many 
kinds of Echeverias, Sedum glaueum, dasyphyl- 
lum and Hispanicum. But none of thoso is 
true blue; in faot, wo are almost minus that 
color; for though dwarf Ageratums be used they 
are not persistently reliable enough Good car¬ 
pets of green are secured in various kinds of 
Sedums, as acre, sexanguiare, aud the like. 
Semperrivums or House-leeks are lavishly 
used in carpeting, and are quite effective, 
but medium sized plants are preferable to 
full-grown specimens, on account, of..tlio 
maturely developed ones blossoming, hence 
dying, thus leaving a gap. Therefore a 
fow reserve plants shonld bo kept in case of 
emergouoy. They are perfectly hardy and 
prettier and more satisfactory when exposed 
to the full winter’s severity than when 
mulched or housed. Among the best aro 
araclmoideum, tomeutosum, piloselluu;, all 
cob-web kinds; montamim, cal eaten m (Cal- " ' 
ifornicum), Fnuckii, arenaria, Comollii, * 
Powellii, stoloniferum, tectornm and some 
of its many varieties, etc. For fiery coloring, 
Altornantheraa are alone, and that lately 
produced variety of amtona is the most 
brilliant of all. 
Tho annexed illustration represents a carpet 
flower-bed at Clapham Park, London. It is a 
saucer-shaped bed 12 feet across with an elevated 
run a foot wide, a 3 foot high mounded centre 
SPRING'S PROGRESS, 
Rcral Grounds : May 13. 
The late Tulips are nearly gone now at a time 
when in previous years they had scarcely beguu 
to bloom. The season, owing to mild, cloudy 
weather has prolonged their blooming period 
comes 
| from tho early teaching which deals with books 
rather than with natural objects. Where one is 
used to turning over books for facts and is not 
in the habit of looking for himself bat into the 
world for them, it is a great deal easier to sit 
by the desk in frout of a library and de¬ 
velop ideas than to search for origiual observa¬ 
tions on the farm, ia the woods, or in the shop. 
For this reason we get a good deal of reading 
that is good, only it is warmed over. We 
would do well to heed the facts contained 
in it, but knowing they are dished up from 
tho shelves, it is not appreciated. 
The following would be considered a 
if. very ^noer question to put to a class of 
teachers on examination for certificates: 
k'U “Where do our flies come from aud what 
■ ua0 do they subserve?” And still it is a far 
, } D10re sensible one than are one-half of 
i - those which, if correctly answered, win the 
Lj certificate. “But this is a question in en- 
t, . tomology and we are not required by law 
Lk - t0 answer questions iu that ?” is objected. 
1 ma Y not know what the law is or what 
the word entomology signifies, but I do 
know that it is a question that every ob¬ 
serving child will ask sooner or later, and 
if the teacher can answer it himself, he will 
know tho kind of information that is 
required in developing that child's teud- 
| ency to observe. I wish more common sense 
I could be put into our heads about tho necessity 
of every teacher having a large fund of knowl¬ 
edge of common tthugs that can be seen aud 
heard. The teachers too often are of those that 
“ having eyes, see not," aud the difficulty is pro¬ 
pagated in our system of eduoation. 
I know a professor that teaches botany by 
driving his classes into the fields aud woods be 
UARPKT BEDU1NU 
attains its i ull majority only when the Norway and the flowi 
Spruces are lapsing into tbin and naked old age. equaled in hi 
Picea nobilia, steely blue, like tinted velvet, offers Conifers 
lovely forms for occupying prominent positions. spring growt 
Light-colored, long-leaved P. firms, most vigor- of light aud 
ous and hardy of conifers ; P. cilicioa, soft-leaved renders then 
aud of exquisite spring growth, P. Pichta from time. Decid 
Siberia, richly hued and finely formed, all have except, it ma 
notable qualities, well adapting them for lawn only jnst bei 
