The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25
BEAUTIFYING A ROAD
RESULT OF THE BOSTON a MAINE
RAILROADS. GARDENING PLAN.
a small hut UsefuI Nursery OF Native
Plants Established - Forestry
Experiment to BE Tried.
Boston Transcript.


out OF nothing. but II almost amounts TO
that when some heretofore unused thing is
seized upon by n wideawake man and
turned to good account. So when the Bos-
ton & Maine Railroad transformed piece
OF unused land into a fertile acre, put 1t in
the hands OF one OF its officials who had a
natural tastes for gardening. and gave him
for gardener a man who had previously
been a day laborer. but who surely proved
20 be born plant-grower. that was almost
ss good as making something from moth
ing.
IL all grew out OF the theory OF one OF
the roads supervisory engineers that the
matter OF planting station grounds. and bits
along the right OF way. could be handled
more economically II the corporation owned
q nursery and collected its own plants, cut
fings and seed 1t was his idea that the
work could be largely done by the regular
labor OF the road at odd times, and the
cost held down TO q mere trifle. He fur
fhermore wished to a change made in
the old practice Of decorating station
grounds with nothing but grass and perish
able summer bedding-plants. The bedding
plants and incidental expenses for the
roads many divisions made really costly
item. not far from $4,000 year. This sum
invested for hardy shrubs and herbs would
most =,
q permanent work and therefore more eco
nOmfcal in the end
The management was attracted by the
plan, and authorized beginning by way
OF experiment. An acre OF good sandy
loan IN the railroad yard at South Lawr-
ence, the headquarters of the roadmaster
cultivated Right here at the very outset
one or the economies OF the plan was
proved. Manure was needed with which to
went to the terminal at Mystic wharf.
where the cattle trains arrive, to have the
faur es PreviousI1 a1l tina that mater rh
had been thrown away. The cars had 20
be cleaned In any event. and the manure
blessings for the nursery have been drawn
from this source Of supply.
THE RIGHT MAN FOUND.
Next man was needed to carry on the
work OF collecting the stock for the nur-
sery and to grow IL until such time as II
should be ready for use in a permanent
place. AS the plan was to buy nothing
from other nurseries. but to collect chiefly
native hardy plants. a man must be had
who knew at least something about the
subject Such man. Mr.. Desmond. was
at hand on the regular crew employed to
take care OF the grass and flower beds
about the stations. He was not employed
as gardener, but IL was discovered that
he took good deal OF interest in plants,
and often knew the botanical names of
commoner ones So he wss o assigned ' te
the nursery as a part OF the experiment,
and under the careful coaching Of the
roadmaster he has since been growing
with the establishment. That piece OF
ground and its contents is as the apple of
pesmond's eye to-day. and its thriftiness
and weedlessness would be a credit TO any
professional nurseryman.
After the first year the road built small
glass house OF about 5000 plants capacity
xfkrr Fn ffr,y
Joy to the gardener. In collecting his ma
terial. as he must, from the countryside
al over the Boston q Maine system, IT is
not always possible to secure the plants
themselves. root and branch, for trans
planting In some instances cuttings are
taken, In others seeds, and from these
plants are developed in the giass-house
Desmond. with all the enthusiasm of a true
botanist, scours the fields and woods and
tive wild flowers in his dinner box to help
him In Identifying strangers, and returns
with pockets full of seeds and cuttings,
and notes of locations OF desirable plants.
During the growing season out of doors
the gardener has the use Of the men who
cut the grass about the neighborhood sta
tions whenever he has wedding to do, and
these men also do the planting-out under
Desmond's eye whenever a stations
grounds are to be embellished- Planting
plans are prepared by Mr.. Louville Curtis
the roadmaster, and while he disclaims any
pretensions to mastery OF the art of land
scape gardening he must be credited with
being clever amateur.
In this way, at an expense which practi-
cally amounts TO no more than the wages
established and has so expanded that II has
been necessary TO transplant some OF the
stock TO an overflow ground of three-quar-
along this division have already been
planted with stock from this nursery. Wy
omfng. Melrose. Greenwood. Wakefield
Junction. Reading, Wilmington Junction
Andover and North Andover and begin
ming has been made at Rockingham juno
ton. Next year Maiden and Kennebunk
will be reached.
VARIETY OF PLANTS.
One would naturally think that by limit
ing the stock to such plants as could be
readily collected the range would be far
from wide. A glance at the partial list of
the plants already in use. however. shows
considerable variety. In trees they have
thus far started Western and Southern ca
talpas. naples. savins. locust. spruce and
two or three varities OF willow. For shrubs
there are several kinds OF cor.el common
and Thundbergs barberries. mountain
laurel. rhododendron. azalea, deutzia, snow
barry, forsythia, weigela, meadow beauty
(Spirea) in six varieties. hydrangea, rose OF
Sharon. lilac. bush honeysuckle, spice BUSH
globe flower, spindle tree, angelica tree.
priyet In two varieties. 81. Johnswort, rosa
rugosas wild roses. PROSTATE juniper. stag
horn sumac and others. For vines there
are clematis honeysuckls. wistara. Virginia
In hardy herbaceous stock there is NAL
low. larkspur, tick-seed, beard tongue old
fashioned pinks. infants breath. day lily
Iris. yucca, blackberry lily, peonies, golden
glow. Michaelmas daisy. phlox in variety,
asters in variety. goldenrod, hollyhocks
ribbon grass, horse mint, wild SIENNA and
others.
OF course there are many plants repre-
scented In this list which are not INDIGENOUS
20 our soil, but the exotics have all been
with US for so long that they are thorough
" acclimated and reliable and Mt to be
called American. We do not like TO admit
that our beautiful wild barberry is an
exotic. and II does not look so when seen
growing sturdily on our north shore pas
lures And so IL must be said OF many
other plants. that they have taken so kind
" 70 their adopted soil that they seem to
belong here "a much as do any OF the truly
indigenous ones
All this is but beginning. It is con-
fdently believed that eventually the road
will recognize the value OF doing more of
this permanent planting each year. and to
supply the stock for that work. and to re-
place the failures IN old plantations as
they occur, viii need a nursery for each of
Its divisions. Some or the important sta
lions on the road have been planted with
purchased stock. and from designs by out
side talent. engaged by the company for
these special cases The best results how
ever. are TO be obtained, in the long run,
by devoting the money used heretofore
for bedding plants and prizes TO charging
the nursery idea, and employing a designer
20 lay out the various grounds.
A MORE PRACTICAL SIDE.
A xI~ IT, A. "a