Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1883 — Japanese Gardens. [ARTICLE]

Japanese Gardens.

The love of flowers, shrubs and trees is widely spread in Japan; even in the busy commercial quarters of the large towns almost every house has its garden spot with its tiny dwarf shrubs. These dwarf shrubs and trees probably owe their origin to the narrow limits of space, and their production is carried on to such a ridiculous degree that a Dutch merchant was shown a box three inches deep, and with a square inch of surface, in which a bamboo, a fir aud a plum tree, the latter in full bloom, were growing and tliriving. The price asjtedjjfbr this botanical curiosity wa§ about S4OO. The method of dwarfing is by checking the circulation of sap* cfainping the extej&ion of the. branches, chilling the roots in flat, porous pots, which are kept constantly cold and wet. Many dwarf plants have striped or variegated leaves, and the production of such varieties, both dwarfed and in the natural s:2e, a famous hobby with Japanese gardeners. In the portions of the garden immediately surrounding the house, no tree s or shrub is allowed to retain its natural J size, but within one sees fans, ships in full sail, round tables, candelkba, large crescents and stiff, rectangular walls. A soft, velvet-like turf covers the ground, and the clean gravel paths are bordered with gay stones, dwarf trees and flower vases. From the artificial rivulets rise mossy little rocks to which tiny bridges of every conceivable shape lead. Such spots require too much care and attention to admit of wide extention, and so they generally occupy but a comparatively small space in front of the mansion. High, pruned hedged inclose these green boudoirs, where nature is disguised aud cuiled as conventional culture and the usage of “good society” demand. Without these lies the larger part of the garden, where nature is left more to herself. Japanese gardens look most beautiful toward the end of autumn, when the foliage of the maple assumes a bright, purple hqe, and the azales and wax trees are clothed in dark purple tints. About this time, too, the winter chysanthemmum is in bloom; it is the favorite flower of the Japanese, who possess countless varieties of it. The size and splendor of its star-like flowers are often incredible.—J. Douglas, in Gardener’s Chronicle.