The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-31
tloraI department.
Grounds for Beauty in Winter.
BY CAPT. G.. B. benson.

Grounds for Beauty in Winter.
1t has been happily said BY a famous
h~orticulturist that one should not gov
ern himself in planting on American
soil by rules devised for England. Of
no section is that more emphatically
true than of the South.
The rain and fog. mist and snow. that
shut up the Englishman to his fireside
through the long months of winter,
are but occasional visitants with us,
much of the season being bright,
CHEEKY and bracing weather, inviting
n to enjoy the pleasures of a stroll
abroad.
We should not forget that it is in our
power to add wondrously to the effect
of our gardens and grounds through
this long season, when it is so often
supposed that ~desolation must reign
until spring. On the contrary, a little
management will evoke beauty from
the chaos, and beauty, too, of a high
order of refined expression.
ORDER AND
In the first place, all appearance of
neglect or untidiness should be ban
ished leaves cleared away, walks
swept, rubbish of all kinds removed,
and all mulching materials strictly in
their place, about the plants to be
cared for.
ppI-NJNn
All hardy shrubs and roses that have
not been pruned should be cared for
now. In pruning roses, the tall grow
ing noisettes should be allowed to re-
tain sufficient number Of long stems,
from which, on short stems, the
flowers are borne but the hardy per-
petuals and the teas will bear heavy
pruning. Many of the fine new teas
and hybrids will thrive the better by
protecting with cedar boughs, or else
carefully laying and covering lightly
with earth until the middle Of March.
In pruning shrubs, one must take care
to save the wood of such sorts as
bloom on the growth made in the pre-
vious year, such as the syringa, or
Philadelphus, and the lilacs, the white
and the Persian being great favorites
with our people. This is also true
of most weigelas, except one or two,
inclined TO be remontant. Most of the
shrubs may, however, be pruned free
~ with advantage.
All hedges, except our evergreens,
may now be carefully pruned, if we
desire increased growth and strength.
Our readers understand that the effect
of pruning in the summer is to weaken,
where one desires to dwarf or keep
back a certain portion of the plant, but
if one wish it to push vigorously the
coming season, it is policy to prune
heavily in the winter. Hedges should
be broad at the bottom, rising in a
shapely conical style, leaving the base
always the broadest portion.
WHAT TO PLANT FOR BEAUTY IN WINTER
Is however what we desire to call at
tention to, after the walks are neat
and the plants faithfully caredfor.
The glory of the winter garden is the
tasteful arrangement of evergreens of
varying shades and styles. A large
range Of color may be obtained. no less
than of shape and general habit. Many
are far more beautiful in winter than
at any other time.
There are, first, the deep black green's
for background, in the Irish yew taxus
fastigiata), and English yew Ct. adj
pressa), Nordmann's fir (f in moist
situations), and the varieties of tree
box, of which we have now some fine
varied glossy-leaved sorts from Japan.
For the general line of shades OF
green we may take the thirty tc
forty variations of arbor vitae, some
darker, some lighter, round, dropping
pyramidal, or tree-like; the spruces
too, furnish a goodly contingent. The
blue shades of green we find in tn,
balsam and other frs, Irish juniper
and notably SO in cedrus deodara
which hrNe well in North Carolina
and the very soft and lovely retinos
pera squarrosa. 1t is to be regretted
perhaps, that there are no other name
for some of these, by which they ma,
be popularity called, as yet.
Shades of yellow may be observed i,