366 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



producing a neat bright green glossy leafage, which, in winter, 

 becomes plentifully stained with fiery orange and red. 



There is no dearth of berry-bearing shrubs when those named 

 above have been turned to the best account. The very best of the 

 aucubas for the purpose is the small green-leaved female variety, 

 named Aucuba Japonica foemina vera. This is well adapted by its 

 glossy rich green foliage for associating in a great group of berry- 

 bearing shrubs, but we cannot allow it to rank equal in importance 

 to those we have placed first, because its berries do not ripen until 

 about Christmas, and when the tree is loaded with them they do 

 not show conspicuously. The Peruettyas are of course available, 

 and P. mucronata and P. speciosa are the best. But they are not 

 well adapted for the kind of massing vre have now in view. Por a 

 certain number of them usually " miss," in other words, some of 

 them are occasionally barren, and blanks (in respect of berries) 

 are the necessary result. Pinally, in the formation of a large group 

 or special garden of berry-bearing shrubs, our old friend the 

 " spindle tree " (Euonymus Europsea) might come in with advantage. 

 It is not evergreen, and its berries do not hold on long, but for two 

 months, at least, in the autumn, it is cheerfully attractive, and it 

 has the peculiar merit of thriving to perfection in the worst of soil, 

 and in the deepest shade of overshadowing trees. S. H. 



IMPROVING THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



BY JOHN SCOTT, 

 Merriott Niirseries, Crewkerne, Somerset. 



S the later autumnal months are in every way the most 

 suitable of the whole year for making alterations and 

 improvements in the fruit garden, I shall not, perhaps, 

 be required to make an apology for again reverting to 

 such an old and well-worn theme as that of fruit 

 culture. The subject is as old as the hills, yet there is always some- 

 thing to be said by observant men that is, at least, fresh, if not alto- 

 gether new, in reference to it. I shall, upon this occas^ion, address 

 myself more especially to those readers of the Ploeal Woeld who 

 have very little ground attached to their dwellings, and are unable 

 to spare more than a small portion of it for the production of fruit, 

 I think that in so doing I shall be able to throw light on a few 

 points upon which they are not so well-informed as they would wish. 

 It may first of all be said that in the Merriott collections we have 

 an immense number of varieties of all our hardy fruits. We have, 

 for example, no less than 1200 varieties of apples, 1800 varieties of 

 pears, and a proportionate number of all the other fruits which are 

 grown ia the open air in this country. This is not said for the 

 purpose of pushing my business, but rather to show that I have an 

 ample opportunity for arriving at correct conclusions respecting the 

 merits of the varieties in cultivation. There are some advantages 

 in having a large number of sorts of any of the fruits that could be 



