El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-12


flowers is the trailing arbu-
tus, or 'mayflowerH earliest harbin-
ger of the vernaI season. whose dainty
piukish blossoms peep forth courage
Ously beneath the very snow 1t IS,
alas, becoming scarce IN the nelgnbOr-
hood of our eastern cities, where for
merly il was plentiful
But, most fortunately, a means has
been newly discovered whereby the
plant, hitherto deemed impossible to
cultivate, can be grown in pots. In
fact. Frederick V Coville, the govern
ment boUanist-in-chief, has succeeded
in dOmesticatinE it, and, with the help
OF lew suggestions here given, any
body may succeed in producing arbUtUs
more beautiful than the best to be
found out of doors
1t is a very simple matter To tame
the wild arbutus, you have only to
give II the particular kind of soil it
requires This is not like ordinary
soil at all-which Is exactly the rea-
son why efforts to dOmesticate the
plant have hitherto resulted in failure
What you must do is to get a lot Of
one-third their bulk Of old flower pots
smashed TO rather tiny bits, and add
10 percent Of ordinary sand
Sounds rather absurd. doesn't it,
But this (as will be presently made
clear is an entirely new kind OF hOr-
uculture, applicable not only to the
leas, and a number Of other kinds Of
plants. The sand is to make the mix
rUre more porous. and the broken bits
Of flower pots are an important help
Requires Acid soil.
The main point, however, IS that ar
butUs will thrive only in very acid
soil, and what this signifies viii be
understood when it is explained that
fresh oak leaves are just about one
third as acid as lemon juice The
leaves one should use for the purpose,
however, as already stated, are half
rOtted-far enough decayed, that Is to
20 -=Err ms fnf To- n
not so far gone in decomposition as
to be merely so much black, loamy
Attempts TO transplant wild arbu-
tus plants to gardens have rarely, If
ever, been successful To grow them
from seeds has proved hopeless i'm
possibility apparently. Nevertheless,
two years ago Mr.. Coville got some
arbutuS seeds from New Hampshire,
planted them in pots Of the curious
mixture already described, and had the
satisfaction of seeing them promptly
Eerminate- In the following summer
the plants filled fiVe-inch pots to the
doors during the winter, were brought
into a cool greenhouse IN March. and
few days later were in fun flower.
Not only that, but the exquisite
plnkiSh blossoms were Of unusual size,
the largest being seven-eighths OF an
inch in diameter They had all the
fragrance of the wild arbutus flowers.
and the foliage was remarkably free
from injury by insects or funEOus dis
is watching the development in pots
Of large number Of arbUtus plants.
which (aS even the writer, ineXpert
in such matters, was able to See) eX-
hibit every symptom Of health and
vigOr-
Is sub-Arcffc Plant.
It is believed by bOtanists that the
arbutus was originally a sub-Arctic
plant Most Of US have read how plants
in Alaska and other sub-ArCtic regions
hasten into bloom when the belated
spring arrives (the. very perpetuatiOn
OF their existence depending upon the
production Of ripe seeds in the briefest
possible time), in order that they may
take advantage Of the short summer
of those latitudes. The early bios
sOming habit Of the mayflOwer seems
to bark back to a period when-nOt
more, perhaps, than 10000 years ago
glaciers were spread over all the east
ern part Of what is now the United
States, as far south as Philadelphia
and St Louis.
1t is the same way with the crocUs.
which is another plant Of sub-ATctic
type. It insists upon making its ap-
pearance in the middle Of the month
of March Cat about the same time with
the trailing arbutus), often beneath the
snow, as If disregarding the ordinary
laws which govern the well-being OF
things vegetable. And, as a matter in
cidentaI. il provides for its offspring