The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-14


under trying circumstances. But TO drop
the metaphor For some little time the
famous 'dwarfed" forest trees of Japan
nave been bidding for Western popular
ity, and their exhibition aud sale is now
or almost annual occurrence. They are
more or less perfect resemblances of TIM
ber-trees, grown in pots, with gnarled
trunks and branches, ana leaves to
match, and fully justifying to the eye
their claims to be perfect, II minute, en-
amplars of forest growth The once fam
Gus Snowman, MIR, Vufin. declared, as
the result of his varied experience, that
the older dwarf IS, the better worth
he Is; gray-headed dwarf, well wrinked.
Is beyond all suspicion" In the produc-
ton of their dwarfed trees the willy Orien-
tails seem to acknowledge the same prin-
ciple. The unfortunate tree-dwarf must
not only be old, but must look its age.
1t must have its wrinkles and crows feet,
its knOtted roots and palsied members.
Then it is dwarf indeed, and the better
worth owning and exhibiting
Although the greater number of the
dwarfed trees come from Japan the Jap
anese owe the secret of their produc ton
to the Chinese. II is the very button Of
excellence in the cap of a Celestial gar
dener to be an adept in the art of con-
quering nature. and the practice OF maxi
ing "Koo Shoe" 0ree dwarfs) may pos
siby date from the time of Confucius
Various members of the Confer, family
are the favorte subjects of distortion,
though they are by no means the only
tribe submitted to It. Long experience
has doubtless suggested more than one
method of producing the desired end.
but the Chinese system may perhaps be
taken as a type of ell. The practitioner
selects small branch OF a healthy grow
ing tree which promises well for the
operation. Just below an "eye" i'm the
young wood a ring of bark is excised,
and the wound Immediately surrounded
with ball of compost, held in position
by a suitable envelope This being kept
moistened, the branch soon begins 10 send
out little rootlets In search of uourish-
ment. Being in every way encouraged 10
make the best Of its new situation, it pres
emily declares its complete Independence
of the parent stock, from which it is then
severed Now begins the more personal
struggle with untoward fate. Sti at
tended by its bali OF earth It is crampe1
into a small pot. and just kept alive by
a sparing allowance of water. IL cannot
flourish. and IL must not die; those are
the terms on which the artist deals with
his captive, and between which il has to
find its own level. But the dungeon alone
is not sufficient; the torturer is called
in to assist. As soon as the victim has
established kind of torpid existence. it's
stem and offshoots are in various places,
"clamped" with wire letters, in order to
promote the rugged appearance 50 neces-
sary to it's future prospects as a dwarf
of venerable age. At this stage, also the
roots are closely scanned, and when noe
essary are trimmed, or even scared with
a hot iron. Many deaths occur just then.
but such subjects as survive the trea;-
ment gradually begin to show its effects
With dessened leaves and cramped branch
es, they grow into more or less perfect
resemblances of forest veterans. To con-
fer a kind of 'worm-ea ten" antiquity, the
branches are occasionally smeared with
honey to invite the attacks OF insects
The plants natural instinct is sometimes
rot fully overcome for ten. or even TWEEN
ty years. But st eventually subsidies into
the state of dwarfdom, "A barely living ex-
ample OF what mans perverted ingenuity
can effect.
As one Of the many tricks played upon
trees, grating stands perhaps only next
20 dwarfing. IA must however, at once
be admitted that the former process has
been Of the most benencent service 10
mankind The Romans, who had a won
derful love Of gardening-p IL was
the natural antithesis OF the warlllSe elc-
ment-knew everything that was then 10
be known In relation to grating and
budding" But we are confronted by
Nirgils rather startling assertion that any
scion may be grated on any stock He
speaks Of apples growing on a pear, and
even plane, tree; or cherries on a plum
and Of pears on a wild ash. Now IL is
the common experience Of the moderns
that no graft will succeed unless &c be
upon a stock which bears fruit of the
same kind. We must not, however, be
too ready to charge the poet with having
exceeded the bounds Of his license" for
Pliny tells us OF a famous tree in the
garden OF Lucullus which bore half a
dozen different kinds of fruit. Instances
Of thls kind. indeed, might be expanded
almost indefinitely Our own sober and
discreet Evelyn speaks confidently Of hav-
ing seen a rose grated on an orange
tree, and Decandolel describes a flourish
ing young cherry which sprang bodily
from the trunk Of an ancient oak.
We know that nature occasionally ex-
hibits her working I'm che form of So
called freaks" word which Is simply
an admission Of our own inability to trace
the origin OF an "effect defective" which
'comes by cause" But the majority Of
such wonders are often much less freaks
than frauds. Bacon lets US into some OF