Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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Wise-Acres •♦+ ---- — ■ = :♦♦• enough they were transplanted outdoors for further development. All the time Burbank was protecting the plants from worms and diseases. For six months he observed these flowers, noticing the stems, leaves and bloom. There might be a stalk with a graceful flower head, but its color would not be a pure white, or an intensely white flower on a scrubby stalk. Thus from selection only the few that came nearest Burbank’s ideal were saved. For eight years Burbank worked patiently on. In spite of the fact that there were many measuring two feet in circumference and seven inches from tip to tip of petal, only the medium-sized plants were saved for seed, for Burbank’s purpose was to develop a daisy which would do well in all soils and climates; in Florida, Greenland and Italy. Thus we now have a daisy that will thrive north of the Arctic Circle and south to the Equator, bearing an abundance of pure white flowers on tall stems, the flowers being three to six inches in diameter with a large golden center. Burbank, in creating the Shasta, has produced a plant that will not seed itself; thus the bad habit of spreading which was characteristic of the daisy has been expelled. The Shasta, because of its size and blooming period lasting from five to seven months of the year, has become a rival for the chrysanthemum. As a result the Shasta is listed in many catalogues of seedsmen as Chrysanthemum maximum. The Shasta has been developed in three strains: the Westralia, Alaska and California. Burbank derived the name for this daisy from a snowy peak in northern California, called Shasta because of its whiteness. Flowering Trees and Shrubs L. K. Herring One of the great joys of American gardens is the wealth of blossom on flowering trees and shrubs in spring. After the long dead winter the bare twigs waken into life and beauty, giving an intensity of pleasure beyond expression in words. A drive through Chestnut Hill, a visit to the Morris estate, or, better still, to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, is a joy and also an education. A great many genera and species have been gathered together from all parts of the world to enrich these gardens, Mr. Wilson of the Arboretum having introduced a great number of shrubs from China into America, while others come from Japan or Europe. The winters in Northern United States are severe, but the strong gtj

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School oj Horticulture - -------------------------------------------------- A.M. 5.30— Barn cleaned in preparation for milking 5.45— Both cows and young stock fed according to the milk production of cows and age of young stock 6.00— Cows milked 7.00— Milk cooled and put in cans and bottles for various delighted customers 7.15— In winter cows are fed hay. In summer go to pasture P.M. 4.30— Barn prepared for milking 4.45— Stock fed 5.00— Evening milking 6.00— Milk placed in cooler to wait for morning 6.15— Cows fed and bedded for the night Development of the Shasta Daisy Mary K. Picrcy The bright warming sun of a summer’s morning was casting its rays over the hills and flooding with warmth the valleys of Lancaster, Massachusetts. On a woodsy incline, sloping away from a rather complacent--looking house, a boy was kneeling on the ground examining a cluster of daisies. Perhaps you wonder why a lively boy should stop in his play to examine so common a plant as our hardy American daisy. But to this lad, Luther Burbank, whose pets were plants, not animals, we owe the development of that beautiful pure white flower called the Shasta Daisy. With an eye trained to variations in plant texture and coloring, Burbank could detect the most desirable qualities to be found in each of three types of daisies. These three types represent the three countries of England, Japan and the United States. The English daisy was singled out because of its remarkable size, while from the Japanese daisy, famed for its purity of color, was derived the whiteness of the Shasta. The common moon-penny daisy of United States contributed hardiness and profusion of bloom. Taking the pollen first from the English daisy, Burbank conveyed it on his watch crystal to the American daisy. Then followed a period of waiting for the two united flowers to ripen their seed. Next he carried pollen from the Japanese daisy to the new seedlings. From these he gathered the best seed, continuing for several years, until about 100,000 seedlings were collected in a space of about ten feet. Then when large

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School o] Horticulture sunshine in summer seems to ripen the wood well, so that it can stand the frost and produce abundant flowers, whereas in warmer climes the wood is soft and winter-kills, or else does not flower so freely. I would not suggest that the same holds true of other flowering shrubs. We in England grow species of Cytisus, Berberis, Ceanothus, etc., that die here, and nothing could be more beautiful than some of our flowering trees and shrubs, but our joys are scattered over a longer period and are not quite so intoxicating. First and foremost, I think, stands the Flowering Dogwood, Cornua florida with its masses of white blossoms, which later give place to clusters of red berries. My first acquaintance with this shrub was at Kew Gardens, London, many years ago. There were four blossoms on it, naturally giving no idea of its real beauty. The pink form of the dogwood, C. . rubra, now grown in gardens is very lovely, and the leaves of both forms turn a beautiful red in autumn. The white one can be propagated from seeds. Sow one inch deep in fall, and just before the ground freezes cover with a heavy mulch of leaves, in fact, treat them as nature does. Another method is to stratify the seeds in sand over the winter and sow in the spring. Dogwoods transplant badly and should be moved carefully when young, in the spring. The Lilacs (Syringa), do not flourish so well here, but are still worth growing. They are so often allowed to get tall and straggly, so that the flowers are too high up to be seen from the ground. If the shoots are cut back every year directly after flowering, to a joint or bud, the bushes can be kept dwarf and compact without loss of future flower. I have often cut back large limbs, one to two inches in diameter, to a good branch, quite successfully, gradually getting the bush back to a more dwarf shape. At the Arnold Arboretum, in 1926, all the lilacs were cut to the ground, as they were getting too tall. In May, 1927, when I saw them, they were growing from the base and some were flowering, and I heard that in 1928 they had grown and flowered well, but I did not see them myself. Hedges can be made of lilac if it is pruned once a year, immediately after the flowers are shabby, and so treated they bloom every year. Keep dead heads cut off arid syringe in February or early March with an oil spray to check oyster scale. There are a great many species of Viburnum which are not at all difficult to grow. The flowers are cream or white, and many of them are followed by attractive red or black fruits. Viburnum opulus is the Guelder Rose and has an outer ring of sterile flowers with large petals, the inner ones being fertile with small petals. The flowers are followed by clusters of red juicy berries. Viburnum (opulus) sterile has all sterile flowers clustered as a snowball and, of course, has no berries. Viburnum tomentosum, is even more attractive with its long horizontal branches thickly studded with clusters of white sterile flowers. The