The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-08-10

/ even and abounds in gentle slopes, Witn
here and there stretches that are quite
| level. The road which borders the lower
end of the nursery is the one that passes
the fair ground gates, and there y a
fringe of tall trees whose roots spread
out into the nursery ground for q dis
1 lance of forty feet. Mr.. Mcmillan found
this out when he came to set out his
| plants. and a to start his first row at
a good distance from the trees in order
| that they would get nutriment, since the
| big trees cred naples most of themo, are
very greedy and suck up all the good out
of the soil for a long distance around
them.
The first rows are very tiny, and 1t
seems preposterous to think that such
delicate looking little things will some day
be large. healthy shrubs, and some OF
them stately trees beneath which one
may recline in comfort at MONDAY. Now
| they stand scarcely as high as ones
knee. The first few rows are the cele-
brated althea. otherwise known as hibis-
Gus and popularity as Rose of Sharon.
There are any amount of these at Branch
| Brook Park now, and they ave made a
very brave showing and have delighted
III pCpplt VIM 6iNt 1tiC
| glance at the green things about them.
Then come rows of the hardy hydran-
| geas. sauaty little bushes now, very tinid
and modest looking. compared with their
| big brothers and sisters that one sees all
about. with their big flowers as large as
a healthy cabbage. In the next row are
syringas. white. then come barberries, or
berberries, both the purple and green.
/ 60 5;r ~;Jo 1r side ocsfhpu do a pQViFe
| might rave trouble in telling the differ
ence; certainly he would not know which
was the purple and which the green. but
Mr.. Mcmillan calls off the names as fast
as he can turn his tongue. Now we are
passing rows of Indian %currants, lusty.
healthy looking growths. Next there are,
side by side, in the long rows winding
across the width of the field. two cousins,
the coral berry and the snow berry. two
varieties of the syphoricarpus. Here are
the wigelieas. closely allied to the honey
suckle; in fact, called such by many.
Next the Siberian pear tree, then the
bush honeysuckle. with the tam
arack, green and feathery. forming a
| pleasing contrast to the other broader
leaved plants all about it. Right here in
| the field. near the middle of the six-acre
| stretch. one finds the first real traces OF
the mild devastation wrought by the in
temperate heat. This is the highest point
in the field, and Mr.. Mcmillan concluded.
naturally. that it was ground best adapt
ed for plants needing the least water, so
he laid out such varieties there. Then
| there happened something that no one
short of a geologist could have Anticipate
ed, for it turned out that. although it
was the highest point in the nursery it
was also the wettest. despite the fact
| that the hillock shelves off quite sharply,
| so that the rain. one would think, would
be drained from the place.
On over the field went Mr.. Mcmillan,
Secretary Church of the Park Commits
| sion, and the writer. the Superintendent
pointing out each one of his pets-the
mountain ash, little seeding naples,
| baby birches of every variety. copper
beeches, hawthornes, the Japanese Kerr
ria with its glorious yellow flower, Cali
fornia p~rivate,a very common hedge plant,
st. Johns wort, Japanese NAPLES, until,
down in a hollow, where a month g
water stood a foot deep. where now ev-
| erything is parched and dry, were the will
lows. in a fresh. green colony, under a
| wide-spreading tree. Further on are the
| serried ranks Of the Limonia, hardy or
| ange. sumachs, more althea, rich, green
and slender American holly, the English
yew, in one splendid long row, like a
line of soldiers, until we find ourselves
surrounded by various varieties or
the hemlock family. These are a
funny looking lot, odd little dwarf
| looking attempts at trees. so tiny
and yet so sturdy looking. Their various
! shades of green are a treat to the eye,
/ and they are all the more noticeable be-
| cause of the rows of entirely different
trees all about them. Most of the hem
locks are doing very well. Next are the
white cedars, and the red cedars. and then
4 the pines, children's sizes all of them,
but fighting heroically for life, some of
them in their second summer, the sum-
nner so dangerous for young children
We are nearly over the six acres and
have left ~unmentioned many varieties, for
there is not space enough for a complete
catalogue. At the end the tallest plants
are. and they are no longer small enough
to permit of being called such. When we
started on our trip across the nursery
we were among plants hat were not a
foot high; now the tulip trees, horse
chestnuts, catalpas stand ten feet high,
and their leaves are almost large enough
and numerous enough to make respect
able shade.
Wonderful 1t is that SO many different
varieties of plant life can live and thrive
in one field, the mountain ash hob-nob-
bing with the willow and the Japanese
cedar rubbing elbows with the English
hawthorne. 1t is a tree menagerie, and
nothing else, and it is an education sim
ply to stroll across the field with SUI
perintendent Mcmillan while he gives you
the catalogue. This is to be the place
from whence the foliage of the parks
is to come; it is the bank on which the
park people may draw whenever they
choose for supplies. Out of this n field,
six acres in extent, shall come more Won
ders and BEAUTIES in the way of arbori-
culture than have ever before been seen
hereabouts. The field is a veritable Noah's
Ark, and with it as a base of supplies,
constantly replenished. the park people
may carry the park system further and
further. making bowers of greenery and
bosky hillocks of hedges wherever the
park lines lead.