HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1910 
autumn and cover the plants 
with a thick mulch of dry 
leaves or straw. Over all 
should be arranged a water¬ 
shed of boards to keep the 
basin dry and thus prevent 
the roots of the plants from 
freezing. If such a protection 
is afforded them until the 
frost is well out of the ground 
in the spring, Nymphcvas may 
be grown in any part of the 
country with little danger of 
loss. 
Another Lily, which has 
been found admirably adapted 
for planting in America, is 
the Lotus, or Nelumbium. 
From China and Japan this sacred flower, which is so inseparably 
intertwined with the art and mythology of the ancient Egyptians, 
is imported to this country to ornament pool and water-garden. 
Its beautiful blossoms of soft 
rose color are held well above 
the water and continue from 
July till October, adding much 
to the charm of any garden. 
Hardy and vigorous, the Lo¬ 
tus thrives amid almost any 
surroundings, once it is thor¬ 
oughly established. It can, 
however, be raised only from 
imported seeds, since for some 
unknown reason those pro¬ 
duced by American - grown 
plants lack fertility. 
In addition to the rose- 
colored exotic, there is the 
native American Lotus, which 
is sometimes known as the 
Water Chinquapin. Throughout July and August this plant 
bears magnificent pale yellow blossoms, closely resembling the 
(Continued on page 53.) 
For the indoor water-garden a sheet-iron tank, well protected from 
rusting by paint, is best 
Landscape Gardening With Bush-Hook and Pick 
by H. W. H i l l y e r 
YEAR ago last autumn I came into possession of 
a piece of land of about fourteen acres, which is 
situated largely on a bluff overlooking a broad 
portion of the Connecticut valley. At the foot 
of the bluff is a bit of marshy land through 
which trickles a brooklet fed by springs. From 
this marshy spot the land sweeps up through 
the garden to the house site on a high knoll 
and back into the wooded dell from which the brooklet flows. 
The public road, which gives access to the bluff, and borders 
one side of the land, leads up through a glen and by the side of 
a brook under a dark hemlock grove. From this road a zigzag 
cart-path leads up by a steep grade to a 
place not far from the edge of the bluff 
and near to its highest point. 
In time past, the top of the bluff and 
the steep slopes below have been covered 
with a growth of good timber, but a few 
years ago everything useful for lumber, 
ties or fence-posts was cleared away, and 
it is now covered with bushes and cop¬ 
pice growth from the old stumps, and a 
few old trees too gnarled to be worth 
cutting. Its varied soils, contours and 
elevations, and its aspects south, west 
and north, also give conditions suitable 
for the growth of a great variety of 
lesser plants. These blooming in succes¬ 
sion from the time of the skunk-cabbage 
near the brooklet to the time of the gol¬ 
den-rod and asters in the meadow, rival 
in interest its shrubs and trees, its rocks 
and distant views. There are on this 
tract at least thirty varieties of trees, 
mostly common native trees, but no less 
suitable and beautiful on that account. 
Largely they are sprout growths in 
•clumps and groves, with a few old trees 
too full of limbs and knots to please the woodman, but for that 
reason all the more full of character and beauty. 
Most of my time and labor have been spent in caring for 
a neighboring piece of land on which are growing a young or¬ 
chard and the crops planted between the trees. But from time 
to time I have walked over this woodland tract, noting its pres¬ 
ent beauties and thinking of the means for revealing them and 
making them more accessible to myself and others. I also be¬ 
lieve in the commercial value of beauty, and feel that to develop 
this place will increase its value by many times the value of the 
labor expended. As it is within reach by trolley and automobile 
of several good-size and prosperous towns, it will be desirable as 
a site for summer residences or bunga¬ 
lows. 
A part of this tract also is planted with 
a young orchard, but a part of it is too 
steep and rough and stony for planting, 
and in fact, too valuable for its beauty to 
be used for planting. I had learned to 
use the bush-hook in clearing out the 
fence corners in the orchard and the pick 
in cutting a practical roadway to the barn. 
In my Sunday walks I saw how these 
tools might be used to good effect in this 
woodland. At odd moments and at times 
when the crops did not need my personal 
attention, I have done a little sketching 
with bush-hook and pick, expecting that 
nature will complete the picture. , 
My predecessor and present assistant 
in landscape gardening, an .old white 
horse, has maintained several obscure 
paths along the easiest grades to the 
places of most interest to him—the old 
apple tree, the clearing where sweet 
grasses grow near the edge of the bluff, 
and round about through the bushes to 
(Continued on page 46.) 
Improve your land and secure beautiful 
vistas by judicious cutting out of the 
younger growth at odd moments 
