mV**- 
Vol. XXXIX No. 
Whole No. 1595. 
Price Fite Cents, 
82.00 Per Tear, 
[Entered according to Act of Comn-688. In the year 1880 . by the Rural New-Yorker, in th e office of the Librarian Vi Congress, at Washington.] 
. .. I am often pained at the efforts to distort 
illj, nature in the pruning and training of orna- 
^ mental trees and shrubs. Nature has her own 
form for every plant, and though you may in¬ 
crease the fruitfulness of a tree or vine by 
your edged-tool manipulations, as merely a 
thing of beauty yon cannot improve upon na- 
e to the lure’s plans. Such is my own opinion of prun- 
deasure ing and training for ornament. Ton may 
about shear off the ends of the limbs of a spruce or 
cemete- fir, and make it look as though it had been 
mid be turned in a lathe, the thick wall of its sides 
m their covering up its branches, but it will always be 
me can too sharp at the top, and I would prefer that it 
for any should stand behind the house as a specimen 
cial di- of what can be done in the way of outraging 
able, if nature. Such a tree is to one of nature's make 
!• what a wax doll is to a real baby. It is true 
o. that that accidents may happen in vegetation as 
traight well as iu other matters. If a tree is near a 
lure with the pruning knife. In passing a fine 
sprnce tree to-day, with the leader broken off, 
I was reminded of an item of my own experi¬ 
ence some 25 years ago. when I had such a 
tree that grew two or three years with a flat 
top of four or five branches of equal size. I 
fastened one of these branches in an upright 
position, and in two years it was larger than ail 
the rest, and it soon made a thrifty tree of most 
perfect symmetry. 
Sheboygan Co., Mich. 
other shrubs or with plants of its own kind it 
assumes the habit of a bush. Singly also it 
looks a bush during its earlier days, being of 
slow growth and given to rounded forms. Re¬ 
lated to the tree-like ash, on the one Ride, it is 
quite as nearly allied, on the other, to the 
shrub-like lilacs, forsythias and privets. 
The White Fringe, though not exactly rare, 
is thoroughly choice iu every way. There is 
not a quality about, it from the crown of its 
head to the sole of its foot that is not rich or 
very good. The bark of the trunk or Btem is 
smooth an I light-colored aud the. leaves good- 
sized and shining—quite as interesting as those 
of the lilac, which is saying a good deal. Even 
the twigs group themselves in picturesque 
fashion. But the “crown of its head” bears 
its richest endowment after all. Its flowers 
are indeed unique. There is nothing at all 
like them in the great variety of inflorescence 
displayed by a large list of lawn plants. They 
make up wreaths, and clouds, and piles of 
lace, snow-white 3nd d izzling. Plucked from 
the bush they are nothing; crowning the bush 
they are exquisite. 
We recall a specimen that stands on the bor¬ 
der of a walk near a picturesque bit of rock- 
work, with green turf and great Norway 
Spruces in the background. It would be im¬ 
possible to describe the charming effect this 
crown of white fringe produces iu such a set¬ 
ting. Looking down the vista and beyond, 
one could almost fancy for a moment that he 
saw a mass of cirrous clouds floating near the 
earth. It is worthy of the most distinguished 
position, not too near the house or other 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
S. n. I’ECK 
^rbrinilUtral 
THE WHITE FRINGE TREE. 
(Chionanthus Virginica.) 
This excellent shrub is considered a tree 
by many. It partakes of several qualities one 
RDRALISM3 
THE WHITE FRINGE.—Chi 
building or too near other trees, it is liable to 
be misshapen, aud its faults may often be cor¬ 
rected by pruning. A branch may be broken, 
the wind may sway the top or a rampant shoot 
may start up; in these eases we can assist ua- 
