The sun., 1915-05-30

Tho best evergreen trees for home
grounds IN New York. according to
Prof. II. w. Curtis OF the landscape
art department Of Cornell, are white
pine. red pine or Norway pine and
hemlock. All three OF these are native
and are generally adapted to local
conditions. While II Is stated that
the hemlock is usually the most ex-
, pensive TO buy and has the slowest
growth, yet Il has the finest foliage
and most graceful hahi, Of any Of the
Eastern eVergreens. When clipped It
makes the best evergreen hedge that
can be grown.
Among the everrreens which have
heen introduced from abroad or from
distant points in this country Aus
trian pine IL tough and long lived
hut is held 10 he rather too stiff. duh
and somhre for home grounds. Scotch
pine is harry, rapid growing and pic
turesquc. but has a comparatively
short life. Prof. Curtis says also that
spruCes and hrs should be used spar
iugly, because they are distinctly
ConiCal in shape and ther, fore tco
conN Np!cuous and formal for the ord-
nary small home place. II a too en-
phatic color is added 10 the emphatic
form, as IN the Colorado blue spruce
the result is a blue exclamation point
on the front lawn. The eye cannot
get away from It. Instead OF helping
u make quiet, harmonious frame
for the house. which Is the centre Of
the picture, the blue spruce stands ont
and SAYS. Look at me-" 1t Is unfortu-
nate that this tree has been so widely
/ advertised and planted. Another
drawback, IN addition to that OF being
conspicuous, Is that II u short lived
when planted In the East. Some
which were set out IN Massachusetts
/ thirty years ago are losing their lower
! limbs and beginning to go back.
Norway spruce is another tree that
has been too much planted, and II
has no permanent value in America
as an ornament. II has been in
tnoduced from Europe and planted
almost everywhere, but trees planted
from thirty 10 forty years ago are
now beginning 10 deteriorate. In
addition TO It's short life, Il IL too
sombre and funeral to he a cheerful
tree companion for home planting
The fact that the Norway spruce Is
unsuited TO the eastern United States
bears out the general statement which
horticu'turists make about plants in
troduced from western Europe. They
maintain ms general thing that the
eastern United States should look
to eastern Asia for plant introduc-
tons, the vegetation OF western Eu-
rope being more suited 10 tho western
coast of the United States.
Another general fact In plant in
PRODUCTION is this: Plants grown from
seed collected In the northern mart
of tho plants range are more hardy
than those grown from southern seed
There are many examples Of this. bu,
one OF the best II Douglas spruce or.
as II is called in the West, Douglas
fir. The Rocky Mountain form OF
Douglas fir is perfectly hardy IN the
East, while the coastal plain form is
not.
Prof Curtis believes that there Ia n
bright future for the Douglas f,r in
eastern plantations. He considers II
the finest OF the conical evergreens
and thinks II should be planted in
preference 10 any spruce or FIR. II
Is a vigorous grower and IL we'll
spoken of by practically every tree
man in tho East Its foliage is soft
and flexible and its habit intermediate
between the st.ff spruce or fir and the
graceful hemlock.
Water lilies require top dressing
Of loan and leaf mould annually 10
keep them in health. After the third
year they should be raised from the
water OF the rub or tank In May, and
replanted In fresh soil removing any
length Of the exhausted rhizome found
below the living part of the roots.
Otherwise the plants many cease TO
bloom. Offsets should be removed