' HEW OOHITEBOTTB TKBES. 
SPRUCES. 
First upon the list, and perhaps one of the 
most important gains of many years, is the 
Eooky Mountain Blue Spruce, Ahies pungens. 
Its chief merits are great hardiness and 
beauty. So much disappointment has re¬ 
sulted from planting tender evergreens that 
planters generally are commencing to lay 
great stress upon hardiness, and it is right 
that they should do so. What advantage 
is there in growing fine specimens of rare 
species only to lose them as they reach per¬ 
fection ? Two years ago, when in Paris, I 
saw in every section of that grand city 
ruined specimens of noble and rare .ever¬ 
greens, which had taken years of patient 
attention and care to develop. To be sure, 
those extremes do not come every year, but 
we cannot place too much importance upon 
the qualification of hardiness. The Blue 
Spruce is the bluest of evergi-eens, and a 
well-developed specimen is a sight that will 
charm every lover of beautiful trees. 
[Our illustration on the front page of this 
number, for which we are indebted to the 
Gardener’s Chronicle, represents one of the 
largest and most beautiful specimens under 
cultivation. It is seventeen feet high, and 
stands in Professor Sargent’s grounds at 
Brookline, near Boston. This magnificent 
tree, standing perfectly isolated on the vel¬ 
vety lawn, boldly contrasting against the 
bright green of the group of deciduous trees 
which form its background, produces one 
of the grandest arboricultural effects it ever 
was our fortune to behold, and to which 
neither words nor illustration can do full 
Justice.—E d.] 
Abies parviformis is a dwarf Spruce of slow 
growth and small foliage. It is an excellent 
small evergreen, very hardy, and will be 
useful for small grounds. 
Abies nigra Doumelti is a handsome form 
of the Black Spruce, of dwarf habit and 
compact growth. 
PINES. 
J’inus ponclerosa, the heavy wooded Pine 
of. California, has proved to be a valuable 
accession. It is perfectly hardy, of fine form, 
has long, distinct foliage, and is a vigorous 
grower. 
J’inus J’allasianaiis^s bluish foliage, and is 
hardy and beautiful. 
J’inus Jeffregi, from California, has also 
succeeded admirably, being hardy and very 
omamental. 
RETINO.SPORAS. 
The beautiful JJetinispora plumosa aurca 
and argentea and JiJicoides are charming ever¬ 
greens of moderate growth and medium size, 
and well adapted to plant in small places ■ 
but they are tender with us, and must bo 
protected Avith a few branches of evergreens 
or they will suffer in winter. Those who 
are willing to devote extra care and atten¬ 
tion to them should introduce them to their 
garden by all means. But for the general 
planter in cold regions, wo cannot yet 
recommend them. ^ 
JUNIPERS. 
The Silver Variegated Japan Juniper 
with foliage of a glaucous green color, and 
the Golden Japan Juniper, which has golden 
to be commended. 
The Golden Yew, 
should not be or Geo. 
forget the Pyramidal Auboi V , 
Peabody, ivith its un- 
Golden Yew and Geo. Peabody 
tb. wo b... g.l4.n •»2“’ 
tb. Arbor Tit., th.™ . »oth« 
hardier or more handsome than the ^ 
midal. The new varieties of Aiboi 
introduced by Mr. Robert Douglas are very 
^ It is a great satisfaction to those engaged 
in horticultural pursuits to know that there 
are always now pleasures to look forwarc 
i to. With e.ach year comes some new tree or 
I plant to engage oiu- attention and demani 
our care, and our interest is never permitted 
to Hag, even for a moment. What a gratifi¬ 
cation it is to aid in the dissemination of a 
really valuable article! Joy enters the home 
when the new plant arrives; the new-comer 
is welcomed, receives the best of care fi’Oin 
loving hands, and if it proves worthy, affords 
genuine happiness to the household. But if 
perchance the great expectations should not 
be realized, and the high-priced novelty 
should prove worthless, what sorrow and 
disappointment follow! Let us therefore 
exercise a care that we distribute only good 
things, and thus contribute to the welfare 
and happiness of our fellow-beings.— Tf'. C, 
Barry, before the American Nurserymen’s 
Association. 
FOEMIHG LAWHS. 
In making newlamis there are a few simple 
rules to bo observed, without compliance 
with which success cannot be relied upon. 
These are summed up in the Country Gen¬ 
tleman in the following concise manner; 
1. Take plenty of time in preparing for 
them. 
2. Grade moderately, rounding off sharp 
points or declivities. 
.3. Underdrain. 
4. Plow and subsoil, if admissible. 
o. Make the soil uniformly rich, deep, and 
even. 
G. Harrow well and repeatedly. 
7. Make several inches at the surface fine, 
rich, and mellow. 
8. Sow the seed early in spring, at the rate 
of two bushels of clean seed per acre, raking, 
rolling, or brushing it in; or sow chaffy seeds, 
five or six bushels per acre. 
Early in summer the surface of the ground 
will be a uniform green, soon after which 
begin to mow it, cutting high at first, and 
once in two weeks, and as the growth in¬ 
creases and strengthens, cut once a week 
It is hardly necessary to add that the ground 
should bo got ready in the autumn before 
sowing, so that the seed may be put in the 
first thing in spring. 
Established lawns should bo mowed as 
often as once every four or five days during 
the rapid-growing season,and loss froquontlv 
later. If cut often enough, the grass noS 
no be raked off, but left as a mulch. It" 
only when a taller gi-owth is cut that raking 
18 needed to prevent the dead grass from 
Late™! 
Late m the season sot the mower to cut 
high, so as not to expose the roots. A well 
made lawn will never need watering as rid ' 
ness and depth of soil will obviate ft 
GLIMPSES OF SOUTH AUSTBALIA. 
The extremes of the climate and seasons 
of Australia* offer to the horticulturist 
ujauy difficulties in the cultivation of intro-, 
duced plants not experienced elsewhere. 
The Report on the Progress and Condition 
of the Botanic Garden and Government 
Plantations at Adelaide, by dii-ector Dr. R. 
Schombui-gk, from which we condense the 
foUowing, furnishes much interesting infor¬ 
mation in this regard. 
The summer season includes the months of 
December, January, and February, when the 
temperature on the plains frequently exceeds 
100 ° in the shade, and reaches from 140° 
■ to 160° in the sun. The highest degree of 
heat in the shade ever experienced was 
116°3'. On the 18th of January, 1882, the 
temperature registered 180° in the sim, and 
112° in the shade. As the boiling point is 
212 ° it ivill be seen that the heat in the sun 
on that day was within 32° of that tempera¬ 
ture. 
The Australian summer months are charac¬ 
terized by gi-eat heat, liot winds and dryness. 
Not a drop of rain falls often for six or eight 
weeks, and it is during this time that not 
only the acclimatized but the indigenous 
vegetation suffers materially. The ground 
becomes so hot and cracked that even the 
occiu-rence of a fall of rain serves only to 
clear the leaves from dust, as it evaporates 
in a very short time. Dm’ing this period the 
coimtry wears, a desolate, sunburnt appear¬ 
ance, and is destitute of all green herbage; 
but after the setting in of the rains there is 
a magic appearance of grasses and herbage. 
The autumn season includes in Australia 
the months of March, April, and May, and is 
one of the genial and beautiful parts of the 
year. The temperature falls rapidly, only 
reaching 70° to 80° in the shade, the mean 
being 04°6', and in the month of May it is 
only 58°2'. The northern winds become 
cooler, the solar radiation is considerably 
reduced, and heavy deivs begin to fall at 
night. The indigenous vegetation which has 
siiffered through the summer awakes to new 
life; and trees, shrubs, and herbage put forth 
fresh growth, ivhilo the leaves of the Em-o- 
pean deciduous trees get the autumnal tints, 
and drop. 
June, July, and August constitute winter, 
the rainy season,—■which is usually marked 
by frequent rains and strong winds ; but it 
also often happens that remarkably dry 
winters have to bo contended tvith.' The 
mean temperature during the three months 
is 54° to .55°7'. Hoary frosts and heavy 
frosts often appear during the night, which 
have since the last four years increased in 
severity, and the lowest temperature experi¬ 
enced was 28°. 
The spring season — the most gonial and 
most beautiful in South Australia, and prob¬ 
ably not surpassed in any other part of the 
world-includes the months of September, 
ctoboi, and November, the moan tempera- 
tuTO during the first two mouths being 00 ° 
^ ^ 0 , At this time of t-ho year the gardens 
aie in their best floral beauty—trees, shrubs, 
peronnials, annuals, emulate each other in 
I'ogard to their flowers, which are of such a 
• mi, richness of color and perfection, as a 
