THE FLOEAL WOELD AND aAEDEN aUIDE. 73 



to improve, yet always getting worse, until at last there is scarcely 

 the semblance of a tree about it. Examples of these languishing 

 trees may be seen in London gardens by thousands. Most of them 

 would recover, and look handsome again, if they were assisted to 

 make new roots by digging round them, and introducing good 

 manure, and plenty of it, and at the same time cutting the trees 

 down to the ground, or to within a few joints of the base of each 

 shoot, and giving them a chance to begin life again. 



J^ext to the Aucuba, we must place the Tree Box, JBuxus sem- 

 pervirens. Unlike the Aucuba, which does not thrive so well in the 

 shade as in the open, the tree box is an excellent subject to plant 

 under the shade of large trees. There are several varieties, many 

 of them with variegated leaves. They make an abundance of fibrous 

 roots, and are very exhaustive of the soil ; therefore in planting 

 them it is well to use manure liberally. JB. halearica, the Minorca 

 Box, is one of the choicest evergreen shrubs we possess, with large 

 bright green glossy leaves, having somewhat the character of a 

 myrtle. This is a most admirable shrub for entrance courts, and to 

 associate with architectural embellishments. It will not endure the 

 shade of trees so patiently as the common box, but it is not at all 

 particular as to the smokiness of the atmosphere, though it is rather 

 tender. 



The Holly and its varieties are among the best town trees. Any 

 one who doubts the capability of the holly to endure smoke, need 

 only take a peep at the garden of the Bank of England, and there 

 will be seen some dozens of respectable green hollies which have 

 been there many years, and which grow about as fast as hollies else- 

 where — and that, as everybody knows, is slow enough. The common 

 green holly is the best for all ordinary purposes, and, like the box, it 

 is one of the best of evergreens to plant under the shade of large 

 trees. We have seen the hollies survive all other kinds of ever- 

 greens, where such fast-growing trees as horse-chesnuts have been 

 allowed to grow up amongst plantations of shrubs, and by degrees 

 kill them out with their increasing shade, and the screening from 

 them of every drop of rain. Among the variegated hollies, the com- 

 mon white-edged and gold-edged are the fastest growers ; and as the 

 trees vary considerably in their tones of colour, the selection of 

 examples is a matter of taste. One of the most noted varieties is 

 that called Milkmaid, which, however, is very inconstant, as it 

 frequently produces large breadths of green leaves, and often shows 

 only small patches of variegation on a general groundwork of dark 

 green. The Hedgehog hollies, which have very small curled leaves, 

 covered all over with prickles, are the slowest growers of all ; and 

 those who want fine specimens must either pay the price for them, 

 or wait half a lifetime for them to grow. Variegated hollies will not 

 endure either smoke or shade with such patience as the species out 

 of which they have originated. If heavily shaded by trees they soon 

 become one mass of dead sticks ; and if subjected to close confine- 

 ment in very smoky districts, their appearance is never grand enough 

 to render them anything but cumberers of the ground. But when 

 freely used in terrace lines, entrance courts, and broad borders 



