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1. Bonsai - When I was invited to write on dwarfed potted trees or Bonsai, I could not help recalling a British broadcasting talk in which the speaker told us ". . . the Japanese love etiquette, formality and ceremony of all kinds, and to the   average American such things are poppycock." An American Army Colonel one informed me that the purpose behind the Noh plays, the tea ceremony and flower arrangement was simply to waste time. In that view, Bonsai should be in the same category. I fully admit that there may be some truth in it, though I have a different view.

2. Outstanding Bonsai - Juniperus chinensis sargenti is one of the very popular bonsai. Practically all the old bonsai of this tree are developed from specimens taken from their natural habitats by professional collectors, from the northern part of the so-called Japan Alps in West Middle Japan, from Iyo Province, from Hokkaido, and from other places where the tree grows.

3. Repot Bonsai - There are two reasons; 1. The root systems of dwarfed potted trees get pot-bound just like any other plants growing in pots. Repotting improves root aeration and drainage, and provides new soil into which the fine new absorbing roots can grow. 2. The other reason is to encourage the growth of fine roots by cutting off some of the larger roots. From the cut ends ("stumps") of the larger roots, many fine roots will grow. This procedure keeps the bonsai root system always young.

4. Bonsai Beginners - I am not a young man—59 years; I want to start with some interest that will hold throughout the rest of my life, and. in my introduction to bonsai trees I feel sure I have found it.

When a Japanese speaks thus to other Japanese, he is very often told he is growing old, in a cynical tone—or is it an utterance of envy? Be it cynicism or envy or anything1 else, he is entering into a pleasant continual activity in growing and training bonsai, and at the same time doing something good for his health, to keep him mentally alert and physically sound. He is not entering upon the pursuit "simply to waste time."

5. Miniature Bonsai - For the past twenty years I have been growing and enjoying miniature dwarfed potted plants, or Name bonsai, as a hobby. I have endeavored to create ever smaller miniature bonsai, in smaller pots than have ever been used before. Indeed, I am growing these plants with the minimum amount of soil in the smallest pots in which they can live.

6. Matsudaira Collection - After the great earthquake occurred in Tokyo and caused much disaster, in 1923, the city was barren and monotonous. It was then that my husband began to collect miniature, or Mame, bonsai. In the mountains and in other places he visited on his trips, he collected and purchased them as souvenirs. During the years when he was at the height of his zest for these plants, he grew seven or eight hundred of them.

7. Brooklyn Botanic - Within recent years the Brooklyn Batanic Garden has become recognized as one of the leading American sources of information on bonsai culture. The Garden has twice, in the last few years, brought bonsai experts from Japan not only to improve the quality of plants in the Garden's collection, but also to offer advanced courses in bonsai to all who might be interested. From one to two hundred people have taken such courses each year.

8. Bald Cypress Bonsai - Bald cypeess {Taxodium disti-chum) is a deciduous tree inhabiting swamps along the larger rivers in the southern part of the United States. It was introduced into Japan in the last century, and now many fine old trees are found here and there all over Japan.

A few decades ago, some bonsai fanciers were attracted by the graceful feathery, pleasing green foliage, slightly pendulous spreading branches, and massive trunk with cinnamon-brown bark.

9. Japanese Zelkova - How to raise the gray-barked elm from seed and how to train the trees to form miniatures of the naturally grown forest trees

My prime objective in growing zel-kova bonsai is to reproduce the image of Japanese zelkova (Zelkova ser-rata, or Z. keaki) which I have held in mind since early days when I was deeply impressed by these giant trees. Reproduction in miniature of the natural shape and appearance of the old trees is my purpose.

10. Yeddo Spruce - How to make and care for the cuttings; how to dwarf and train the trees in ordinary bonsai style or in clasping-stone style

Yeddo spruce (Picea jezoensis) is a good example to show the technique by which bonsai may be made from cuttings, improved year after year, and kept in very dwarfed form within the limited space of the container.

11. Wisteria Bonsai - If old living stumps are cut off 1 or 2 feet from the ground, and all the big roots are also cut off close to the stump, the stump can be transplanted into a pot or bed—where it quickly becomes established. When its new life has started scions of garden varieties suitable for dwarfing are grafted on the upper portion. In a few years beautiful flowering potted trees are formed. White and purple Kabitans and pink wisteria rarely have their flower buds damaged by frost. Ebicha and Issai are floriferous and more dwarf in growth.

12. Satsuki Azaleas - Among ornamental plants, flowering, cherries, camellias, chrysanthemums, Japanese irises, and Satsuki azaleas are some of the great contributions of the Japanese to horticulture. The first four of these, which we have been improving here in Japan for centuries, are now also being improved and are in popular favor in many other countries.

Azalea MINE-NO-YUKI trained as a bonsai. The photographs in this article are taken from the author's book.

13. Amateur Bonsai - In a remote age, some workaday person or some great genius who was very impressionable and artistic must have been moved by the great beauty and loveliness of nature and must have felt deep peace of mind when imbued with that atmosphere. In the first flush of this feeling, the idea must have come into his mind to copy some of the beauties of nature, in miniature, in containers— in other words, to create bonsai, or dwarfed potted plants.

14. Bonsai Care - Watering. More trees die as a result of neglectful watering or lack of watering than any other cause. One cannot over water bonsai as long as the water can drain through the soil and out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the container.

During the summer and on warm days the tree should be watered thoroughly at every watering. The beginner should check the drain holes at the bottom of the container for the first week or so until the amount of water necessary to saturate the soil is known.

15. Containers - Choosing the proper container for a bonsai specimen is second in importance only to selection and training the tree itself. Since one of the primary aims of the art of bonsai is to suggest nature in its various moods, containers should supplement rather than detract from the beauty of the specimen. Subdued, earthy colors and simple forms are most desirable. Browns, greens, grays, and off-whites are colors well thought of by the Japanese. Some yellow-flowered or yellow-fruited trees are beautifully set off by blue containers. Similarly, containers of deep red hues can be very pleasing with white-flowered plants.

16. List of bonsai - Those which may be grown indoors as well as out are indicated with an asterisk (*); for such plants 45 to 50oF winter temperatures are favorable. Those followed by „f“ bear fruit. For plants strictly limited to indoor culture see end of list.

Trees

*Cedrus atlantica (atlas cedar)
Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki cypress)
Chamaecyparis pisifera, and vareties (Retinospora)
*Cryptomeria japonica

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