300 
THE AMERICAN GARPE^N- 
Eecember, 
Lawn and Landscape. 
PBOTEOTINa THE LAWH. 
Late autumn is the best time for top-dress¬ 
ing lawns. But little evaporation goes on at 
this season of the year to draw oft' the most 
valuable and readily available portion of the 
fei’tilizer applied, as is the case with top¬ 
dressing applied in the hot, dry weather of 
mid-summer. Top-dressing in mid-summer 
may sometimes be necessary as a protective 
mulch for the grass roots in times of drouth; 
but for the real work of fertilizing, fall or 
spring top-dressing is vastly superior to that 
of summer. The rains and melting snows of 
winter and spring carry the fertiiizing ma¬ 
terial down through the sod, and distribute 
it where the i-oots can get a hold upon it 
readily. This is especially the case with 
barnyard mamu-es no matter how well rotted 
they may be when applied. It is the juices 
and solu\)le portions that get washed down 
witliin reach of the roots, that do the work. 
Its buUi remains above gi-ound, and, unless 
very fine indeed, ma}' have to be removed 
after it has served its purpose. It is easy to 
be seen that such maum'e applied to a clean¬ 
ly shaved surface like the lawn, in scorch¬ 
ing, dry weather, is extremely liable to lose 
the largest share of its available fertilit}' by 
evaporation. 
I often wonder that lawns look as well as 
they do. To be sure the soil is, or certainly 
should be, made very rich to start with; but 
how much of this deep, rich soil is really 
•available to the limited roots of the closely 
cropped lawn grass? AYhere the top growth 
of plants is constantly kept down from the 
very start, the root growth is also propor¬ 
tionately limited. Rank-growing meadow 
grasses send down roots sometimes to the 
depth of several feet, but the roots of lawn 
grasses descend but a few inches. Xo mat¬ 
ter how deep and rich the soil may have 
been made at the start, the surface must be 
kept fertilized if we would keep up that deep, 
rich, velvety green that is the great beauty 
of the lawn. 
Again it is a wonder that the lawn does 
not suffer more from drouth than it does. 
What other portion of garden or field is kept 
so exposed to sun and wind? Its surface 
never has that protective covering of plant 
growth that Stature intended as a provision 
against drouth and excessive evaporation. 
The cuttings from the mower fall back upon 
thelawn to be sure, biit as a protection to the 
roots what do they amount to after the sun 
has had a two-hours’ chance at them ? 
Still fewer lawns receive proper attention 
in winter. The .smoothly cut surface has 
nought to protect it from alternate tli.awing 
and freezing that is so fatal to all grass 
roots. It has not gi-owth enough to catch 
and hold the snow, th.at best of all mulches, 
where it can be held evenly over the ground. 
An open, variable winter means partial ruin 
to thousands of lawns. 
Well-mulched lawns are comparative j-ai-i- 
ties. Where one is mulched in autumn 
twenty remain bare and unprotected. It is 
a great pity, after a lawn has become well 
estatjlished, to allow it to be damaged in this 
way. A coat of p.artiiilly decomposed ma¬ 
nure tvould save the sod, and at the same 
time furnish the needed fertilizing matcj ial. 
This mulching should be applied late ui 
autumn or early winter after the surface of 
the ground has become frozen. Mulching 
then'will keep the grftund in a frozen condi¬ 
tion, thus preventing the working of mice 
and moles in the soil that might be induced 
to take refuge among the mulching material. 
In winter we can best see the necessity of 
prorfding evergreen wind-breaks for the 
i.awn. .‘Vu exposed, wind-swept lawn is 
much more difficult to protect than a shel¬ 
tered one. If one is near a forest where 
evergreens ai’e to be had, he would often do 
well to cut a number of good-sized ones, 
bore holes in the ground and set the stems in 
them about the lawn in a hedge shape, or so 
distributed that they will best .serve as wind- 
bre.aks to exposed portions. This is an ex¬ 
cellent recourse until natural growth can be 
provided where wanted. AY. D. Bovnton. 
HARDT RHODODEITDRONS IN NEW EN&LANE. 
I was quite interested to read the state¬ 
ment in Tnn American Garden th.at many 
or most of the supposed hardy Rhododen¬ 
drons had succumbed to the iuclemenc}'- of 
the winter, because it fully corroborates 
my statements made in the “Magazine of 
Horticulture'’ twent 3 '-five years ago. 
In 1S44 on my first visit to Europe, I spent 
a daj^ with Mr. AVaterer of AA^okiug, father 
of the present Air. AYaterer, and an enjoj'- 
able time I had looking through his iimneuse 
plantations of this beautiful shrub, though it 
was in September. But I could well imag¬ 
ine the splendors of the display in June. 
AYhat struck me was the great number of 
beautiful standards six or more feet high. 
A day and night I staid with Air. AA^atei-er 
enjoying his kind hospitality, and had .an in¬ 
teresting chat with him in regard to the pro¬ 
duction of seedling Rhododendrons and 
Azaleas, stating to him that the old Jf. ar- 
boreurn was a greenhouse plant with us, and 
unless the hybrids which he had produced 
were not nearly or quite as hard}' as our R. 
Catawbiense, there was little hope of intro¬ 
ducing the splendid varieties he had reared. 
He stated th.at he had fine seedlings of Jl. 
Ponlicmn which were quite as hardy as the Ca- 
tawbienee and far more beautiful, with a vari- 
etyof colors though not .so grand iis thc.semi- 
hardy sorts; and with his aid I selected 
twenty kinds, two plants of each for trial. 
The.»e hardy kinds were as follows, which 
I take fi’om the invoice before me dated 
Octobei-, 1844. 
DnlirMiiHsirnnra^ Kverc.xiianuw.^ Bir.olor, Bi- 
cMor flora, piano., (flp.laHinum, Purpnreum a.la- 
Uane, Mullirnaanlfanrii, :Bic,lum, .HoHa.mn cle- 
(/ane, QelaMiann (jraudiflornm, aiorionum. 
'J’hc other nine were varieties which Mr. 
AVaterer thought were just as hardy, though 
they were a further remove from the J{. Ca- 
lawbianen. 
Ail the plants wei-e lairefiilly planhid in 
well prepared soil, and every attention given 
to have them succeed. Eor one or two 
years they all appeared about of tins same 
h.ardiness, when we had (»no of oiir sevesre 
wintei’s, and then all wijre seriously injured 
and partial 1}'killed but tlui.'ibove named sorts. 
1 at once came to the conclusion that no 
Rhododendron was iierfeetly hardy, unless 
grown from (JulawbiimHe. 1 began raising 
those that survived,, ami 
I'aee just as hardy as the 
Oak. To be sure there are no crimsons and 
scarlets among them, hut white and all in¬ 
termediate shades between that and Purpu- 
rexim elegans. 
My imported plants are now forty years 
planted and fully 15 feet high, as are also 
many of the seedlings I raised from 1847 to 
1850. From 1844 to 1860 I planted more 
than 200 of the finest varieties of Rhododen¬ 
drons to be procured in England, Belgium 
and France, and I have not to-day one single 
plant left in the open ground. 
It was after such experience that I made 
the statement th.at none of the so-caUed 
hardy hybrids were perfectly hardy in our 
climate, and although it was denied by many 
cultivators, the statement of The American 
Garden seems to corroborate my opinion 
of twenty-five years ago. 
Boston. C. M. Hovev. 
KHODODENDEONS IN MAEYLANB. 
Let me add, writes “Chestnutwood” from 
Hampden, Aid., a few varieties of Rhodo¬ 
dendrons which hfive withstood last winter 
well with me, besides those mentioned in 
September number of American Garden. 
ibrahain Lincoln., Aurora, Bertie Parsons, 
Bicolor, Blandtmi, Blandyanum, Canclidissi- 
muin, Ccdeslinwn, Chas. Baglay, Belicatissi- 
niurn, Gen. Grant, Minnie, Purpureum crisp- 
urn, Doctor Torrey and Arnarantinora. 
As an edging for Rhododendron borders 
Daphne Cneorum cannot be i-ecommended 
too highly, being perfectly hardy, st.andiug 
pruning well and giving forth its delicate, 
sweet-.sceuted, pink flowers from earh' spring 
until late in autumn. 
seedlings from 
ha ve produced a 
VALUABLE HEAV TREES AND SHRUBS. 
In answer to an inquiry about the best 
ornamental ti-ees and shrubs of recent intro¬ 
duction, S. B. Parsons names the following: 
Cornus florida jlore rubro. Red Flowering 
Dogwood.—This is without exception one 
of the most desirable and most showy flow¬ 
ering trees, which will sureh’ meet with 
general favor. To the well-known charming 
qu.alities of the common Dogwood, with its 
rich .autumnal foliage, it adds red flowers. 
Cornus florida pendula, AA’eeping Dog¬ 
wood.—A form of the common Dogwood 
with perfectly drooping habit and the up¬ 
right Ic.ading stem of the weeping Beech, 
which will obviate the necessit}' of high 
giafting or training. Few weeping trees 
have so many good qualities. 
Buonymus alntu.s, Cork-barked Burning 
Bu.sh.—A small , tree possessing all the ex¬ 
cellent qualities of the genus, with the pecu- 
lar cork bark and a charming vermilion- 
tinted autumn foliage. 
Buonymus Ycddov.nsis, Japanese Burning 
jpish.—The leaves and stems of this species 
are larger than those of the European kiiuL 
and its autumn foliage is most strikimr. * 
Viburnum lalij'olium, Broad-h'aved '’snow- 
II—This has larger foliage than the Jap- 
aae.se Snowball, and a more vigorous liabit. 
I.S strdvuig character makes It valuable for 
landscape eft'ect. 
IVmmwm tatifotium vaHagatum is a bcuu- 
variegated form of the preceding with 
white and green foliage. 
IlypcHcnm aureum, Golden St. J ohu’s AYort. 
svu charming dwarf shrub of 
hiw large, yel¬ 
low flowers blooming through the. s—r. 
ball.- 
