The Garden Magazine, July, 1924 
343 
V ERY frequently an arbor or “resting shed” is placed in the 
water or at the water’s edge. This inviting little place is fre¬ 
quently fashioned with just a heavy post to support the um¬ 
brella-shaped thatch roof, and has a broad seat around the post. 
(See illustration, page 341). Arbors and tea-houses are not the 
only places where one can be directly over the water, for many of 
the bridges partly cross a stream and then branch off to allow 
space to linger over the mirrors of cool water. The bridges that 
form a half curve are intended by their reflection in the water 
to represent the full moon, half bridge, half reflection. 
There are many designs in fences and some of the more elab¬ 
orate ones have a symbolic meaning worked into their ornamen¬ 
tation. The true Japanese fence is always roofed to keep 
off the rain. The fence pictured on page 341 has ornamental 
tiles for its roof and a gateway of bamboo placed in an upright 
design. The Pines rising above the fence in this illustration 
were placed no doubt to bring good fortune to the owner of this 
garden, for the Japanese consider the Pine an emblem of good 
luck. It may grow up tall and sturdy or it may be covered 
with lichen, trained and clipped to look storm- and wind-swept, 
or it may be trimmed in some fantastic shape. One can spend 
hours studying the general effects, the details, the loveliness of 
a Japanese garden and still more hours producing them, for the 
Japanese are clever artists and skilled gardeners and have a 
remarkable aptitude for making plants grow as they wish. 
Much of the shrubbery used in these gardens has been trained 
and pruned to have the look of age, and everything from the 
trailing blossoms of the Wisteria to the Lilies in the pools 
makes the Japanese garden a garden of reflection—a garden for 
reflection! 
KEEPING CUT FLOWERS FRESH 
H. F. GRINSTEAD 
E ALL like to have our choice cut blooms last 
as long as possible, and there are a few simple 
mw^rin t * 1 ' n § s which help to prolong their vitality and 
' <ee P them from fading so fast as ordinarily. 
Cut your flowers early in the morning rather 
than later in the day and place immediately in clear 
water to every pint of which a teaspoonful of soda has 
been added. A lump of charcoal will also prevent the 
water souring quickly. Flower stalks of a woody nature 
should have an inch or so of the outer skin pared away, 
or the end split for a little way. A small amount of 
camphor in the water also tends to stimulate the ab¬ 
sorption of water by the stems, which is the desirable 
thing. 
The inexperienced will think that salt and hot water 
are the last things to use to revive faded flowers, but 
in fact nothing is better. When flowers are received in 
a faded or wilted condition, first cut off the ends of the stems a 
bit and at once put the stalks in a bowl or vase of water as hot as 
the hand can bear though not quite scalding. A little salt or camphor 
in the water will be of advantage. As soon as all the flowers arc 
in the bowl stand it away in a dark cupboard for an hour, after which 
time they will be found wonderfully revived and can be put into vases 
of cool water. 
Flowers with thick petals, like many of the bulbs, may be kept fresh 
for a considerable time by immersing completely in clear cool water. 
Thus, the flowers can be kept in vases during the day 
and revived by the cool bath at night. Blossoms 
with thin petals will be discolored by this process, 
however. 
To keep flowers fresh for an extremely long time, 
prepare a box of sand an inch deep, and keep it moist 
with water. Stick the ends of the stems in the sand 
and exclude the air by turning an empty fruit jar or a 
bottle over each blossom or group of blossoms, taking 
care not to crowd or crush them. A small tuft of 
cotton with a few drops of formaldehyde on it under 
each jar will prevent mold. A shallow dish or a saucer 
will answer in place of the box, using one inverted jar 
to each dish. The flowers should be kept in a cool, 
shady place. 
When preparing flowers for bouquets or to send 
away, put them in water for an hour after cutting 
and then wrap each stem end with a wad of cotton saturated in salt 
water, covering this with a piece of tinfoil or tissue paper. An¬ 
other way to prevent loss of moisture from the stalk is to dip the 
cut end in melted paraffin or beeswax so that the ducts are closed. 
Wrap the flowers with tissue paper and pack tightly in the box; they 
should never be sprinkled, the only moisture in the box being that 
on the tufts of cotton around the stalks. When flower stems are again 
put in water after being treated with melted paraffin, cut off the tip 
end of the stem so that it can absorb water. 
GROWING “MEAT’’ IN 
JJPK^SITH the broadening of all our conceptions nowadays the garden 
iminjK has kept pace—it is no longer merely a vegetable patch or even 
WtytPi vegetables plus flowers. It has gathered into its wide embrace 
all the growing things about a home, and happily, the emphasis 
is swinging from purely ornamental planting to planting that 
is productive as well. What, for instance, could be lovelier than some 
of the fruit trees with their spring bloom, autumn harvest, and all-year 
beauty of shape? What more dignified than the Black Walnut, more 
interesting than the Pecan or the Hickory? People are beginning to 
realize the great, unexploited possibilities of the nut tree for both 
public plantings (see page 352, the use of Pecans along the Jefferson 
Davis Memorial Highway) and private grounds. 
Indeed the possibilities are so fascinating that we cannot resist quot¬ 
ing from Doctor Morris’s illuminating book on “Nut Growing’’ (re¬ 
viewed on page 338) in the hope that home builders will be stimulated 
to establish at least one or two of these noble allies of man in their 
gardens; “Our next great meat supply stands all ready to be released. . . . 
YOUR OWN GARDEN 
Extensive studies have shown that nut trees of many kinds are capable of fur¬ 
nishing all of the proteins, oils, and vitamines belonging to the meat group of 
foods. . . . Each nut represents a prize package to the most concentrated 
food materials, and the increase in the popularity of the nut foods will inciden¬ 
tally add a health factor not to be despised. 
The Big Four species of nut trees for expansive development in the United 
States during the present century will probably be the Pecan for the South, 
the Shagbark for the Northeast, the Black Walnut for the Pacific coast. All 
these four species will overlap to some extent in all four localities and great 
progress will be made with Almonds, Hazels, Chestnuts, and Pine nuts. 
The trees may live and bear for more than a century, sometimes without 
apparent reduction of the fertility of the soil in which they grow. . . . Nut 
cultivation belongs to what has been called permanent agriculture. . . . 
The tree is a machine that is working night and day with less attention required 
from man than the annual plant requires. . . . Aside from such unpoetic 
questions as those of food supply, interest in trees belongs to a larger order than 
interest in potatoes,oats, and hay—the tree seems to be a standing object lesson 
of highly organized forces. . . In nut trees we combine the Greek ideal of 
utility with beauty.” 
