HOUSE AND GARDEN 
83 
February, 1910 
There are the ( branches of the fruit trees — 
Cherny Pear, Plum, Apple and Currant; 
of the nut trees—Almond, Chestnut and 
Beech; and the Dogwood, Willow, Poplar, 
Magnolia, Alder, Elm, Rose Briar, Rho¬ 
dodendron, Sweet Briar, and so on down 
the list. 
Be sure, when cutting twigs in forest 
or in orchard, that it is done with a clean, 
slanting cut, and when cutting twigs and 
branches from fruit trees, that those are 
selected which present full round buds. 
Such buds are the flower buds and will 
blossom while the other and more pointed 
ones are leaf buds which, in many in¬ 
stances, do not come forth until after 
flowering time. 
It is best to soak the twigs in luke¬ 
warm water before putting their stems 
into the vases of water. After that 
change the water every other day at 
least and keep the twigs and branches as 
free from dust as possible by dipping or 
spraying them daily. A piece of char¬ 
coal in each vase of water will keep the 
water from souring. 
You will find the “Pussy” Willow 
the most easily forced, but you will have 
little trouble with Dogwood, — the most 
beautiful of all, with its white Clematis¬ 
like flowers — with Laurel, or any of the 
cultivated shrubs such as Forsythia, 
Flowering Almond, Japan Quince. The 
Red Maple, too, is one of the most easily 
forced twigs and one of the most beautiful 
in effect. 
Shrubs and Vines for a Lawn 
/^\UR house sets in a lot around the front of 
which we have a beautiful hedge and 
across the street front of which are five maples 
as indicated on accompanying diagram. The 
foundation is rough Dunville stone and quite 
high. What vines and shrubs would you sug- 
Cherry branches forced in water will produce a 
profusion of lovely blossoms 
gest for beautifying the lot and where should 
they be placed? 
Correspondents should always give 
dimensions of lawn areas, and also indi¬ 
cate especially shaded parts of the lawn. 
The accompanying diagram, however, 
mav prove helpful. The key thereto is 
as follows: 
1 Maples 
2 Weeping Birch ( Betula alba var. pendula) 
3 Hedge 
4 Boston Ivy ( Ampelopsis tricuspidata) 
5 Clematis (C . paniculata ) 
6 Crimson Rambler 
7 Japanese Barberry {Berberis Thunbergii ) 
8 Hardy Perennials 
9 Hardy Hydrangeas 
10 Pearl Bush {Exochorda grandiflora) 
11 Spirea (S. Bumalda var. A. Waterer ) 
12 Gladioli 
13 Snowball {Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum ) 
14 Weigela {Diervilla hybrida var. Eva Rathke) 
The number of specimens required will, 
of course, depend upon the dimensions 
of your lawn. 
Watering Flowering Plants in Pots 
M ANY who have the care of window 
plants seem to imagine that the 
operation of watering is one of the simplest 
items incident to their care, and will hardly 
think it necessary that we should draw 
attention to this matter, and yet we may 
safely assert that more plants are injured, 
and more fail to reach their greatest per¬ 
fection from an improper mode of water¬ 
ing than from all other causes combined. 
To water the various plants, that their 
different wants shall all be supplied and no 
more, is an art acquired by but few, and 
the credit which most cultivators receive 
for a fine collection of plants is often due 
to the proper observance of this one item. 
It should be borne in mind that the 
duty of the water is to dissolve and convey 
to the roots of the plants the food which 
they need; some plants must have a season 
of comparative rest, and if such are wat¬ 
ered liberally during this time they will 
keep on growing, and the necessary rest is 
not obtained. Sometimes growers will tell 
us that they succeed very well with certain 
classes of plants such as Fuchsias, etc., but 
that they fail with other sorts. We at 
once set such people down as being profuse 
waterers, who, by too much water, injure 
or destroy such plants as will not bear it. 
On the other hand, there are those who 
fail with this class of plants and succeed 
well with others, because their mode of 
watering does not supply enough for the 
wants of one class, but is about the proper 
amount for another. 
Many plants are permanently injured 
by water remaining in the saucer; others 
often suffer from a bad selection of the 
soil. Some amateurs fail with a certain 
class of plants, of which Begonias maybe 
taken as a type, because they shower the 
leaves with cold water, but for this very 
reason they are eminently successful with 
another class, of which the Camellia will 
serve as a type. As a general rule, from 
which there are few variations, the texture 
of the leaves may be taken as an index 
of their power to resist the application of 
water. Plants having porous, open, or 
fleshy leaves covered with soft down should 
be seldom, if ever, moistened, while those 
having glossy or hard leaves will do all the 
better if washed frequently. 
W. R. Gilbert. 
Repotting Ferns and Palms 
W ILL you please tell me what to do with 
several of my ferns and palms ? They 
seem to be in good condition but do not 
make any new growth. I have been told by 
a neighbor that I ought to repot them im¬ 
mediately, but I would like your advice. 
Neighbors very often give useful advice, 
but in this instance it appears that you 
have done well to hesitate about taking it. 
Your plants should not be repotted, at 
least not before the early part of May. 
They are “resting,” and any meddling 
with them now is apt to be attended by a 
loss of the plants. Many persons forget 
that plants, like people, need times of 
rest. You can’t expect your canary to 
sing incessantly, nor should you expect 
your plants to grow incessantly. Nearly 
every plant needs these resting spells, and 
so, as your plants seem healthy, do not 
become impatient because they have not 
the energies of Jack's phenomenal bean¬ 
stalk. 
Storing Apples and Potatoes 
1 FIND that we have great trouble in keep¬ 
ing potatoes and apples in the same room 
in our cellar. Will House & Garden please 
tell us the difficulty ? Our cellar walls seem 
well built. 
The temperature required by pota¬ 
toes is probably the cause of your apples 
decaying. Potatoes require about 40° 
while apples do not need but about 32 0 . 
Therefore it is next to impossible to keep 
both in the same room without discourag¬ 
ing results. 
