THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



129 



are much more geuer;illy useful than the 

 gold. Look about among the gardens for 

 one of the best belts of evergreen shrubs 

 in your district; glance along the belt, and 

 you will find that however rich in various 

 tints of green, russet, amber, and brown, 

 wliich berberies, auciibas, Portugal laurel, 

 Phillyrea, and such like substantial plants 



FREE CEOWING GOLD. 



contribute to it, tliere -would be a tameness 

 and a sam.eness about tlie affair except for 

 those well-disposed hollies which break in 

 at regular intervals with broad masses of 

 silver}' graj', and give light to the whole 

 picture. In formal planting, the ribbon 

 method is certainly the most effective for 

 exhibiting the characters of first-class 





TEEOX ArUEA. 



shrubs, and happily we have at command 

 so large a variety, and so many distinct 

 forms and colours, that as many varieties 

 of taste may be satisfied as by the inmi- 



mevable tints and tones of soft-wooded 

 bedders. The botanical system, too, can 

 be followed out very closely on this system ; 

 in a peat border the hardy ericas, gaul- 

 therias, Menziesias, and Pernettyas exactly 

 suit for front lines, kalmias of about live 

 years old the second row, or according to 

 what the front consists of, rhododendrons, 

 andromedas, or ledums, after which taller 

 rows are more easily determined on. So 

 with a border of real good loam, what 

 charming lines might be made wltli hollies 

 only, or with a front line of skimmias to 

 glow all along with myriads of scarlet 

 berries. Pick over a lot of nursery hollies 

 for the kinds and sizes, plants of two foet 

 of some of the narrow-leaved silver for 

 the front row next the skimmias, then. 



BKOAD-LEATEi. cilLVEE, 



three feet plants of ovata ; behind these 

 four feet plants of Best Gold; next a five 

 feet row of nobilis ; followed by a six feet 

 row of Painted Lady, a capital gold-striped 

 leaf that shows well at a distance. For 

 the back row tall plants of Balearica would 

 be charming, as it is such a free berry 

 bearer, and the entire leaves are always 

 bright and glossy, but this holly is not 

 good in small specimens, and to get large 

 plants you must draw upon the cultural 

 piitience of somebody's ancestors, for it is 

 terribly slow in its movements. 



Here we have but one indication of the 

 uses to which the liolly may be put in 

 ornamental phniting ; wlmt wouM be the 

 value of a hundred yards of such an ar- 

 rangement <as the one indicated above ? I 

 am afraid to make an estimate, but any 

 nurseryman will do it for a probable cus- 



a2 



