314 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[ October, 



and I should judtje a Torrcya wlien old would 

 look s<miotluiig like this. I wondered when I 

 saw it whetlior in our own t-ountry wc had in 

 cultivation so jtretty a specimen of our own na- 

 tive tree. The jiart where these trees are mostly 

 growing is separated from the other parts of the 

 ground by a dense hedge of Laurels and Laurus- 

 tinus; and this makes a shelter from the stifl' 

 sea breeze, very favorable to evergreen conifer- 

 ous trees brought from our Pacific shores, though 

 the hedge itself was planted to give a good land- 

 scape gardening effect to the grounds. There, 

 are some pretty specimens of our mammoth 

 tree, Sequoia gigantea, on the grounds, and some 

 that have suffered from the same disease which 

 has not left u.s one good si)ecinien, in the East- 

 ern Atlantic States, indeed hardly a specimen of 

 any kind at all. Whenever I would ask the tree 

 growers of England or France about this disease 

 they would answer that they knevv nothing of it, 

 and yet I saw traces of it everywhere in both 

 countries. It is probably a species of yEcidium, 

 a small parasitic fungus. It attacks the lowest 

 and weakest branches first, and thrives best 

 when the weather is warm. In our country with 

 so much Summer heat, it progresses upwards 

 rai)idly enough to destroy the whole plant before 

 Winter sets in ; but in these European instances 

 it only browns some of the lowest branches 

 though in a few cases I saw half the tree de- 

 stroyed. When I would call attention to it, I 

 would be told it was " only something in the 

 soil," although a close neighbor a little more 

 shaded perhaps, in the same "jsoil " would look 

 quite sound. 



There is a long avenue to the main road, 

 planted by Prince Albert, with a double row of 

 trees. The first is of Araucaria imbricata, the 

 Chili pine, alternating with evergreen Oaks, and 

 the back row of Cedars of Lebanon and evergreen 

 Oaks. There was thus three chances of some 

 one doing well, so that the other two could be 

 cut away in time. All have done well, and there 

 has been nothing cut away yet. Our readers, of 

 whom only a few have seen the Araucaria in 

 greenhouses, can have no idea of the peculiar 

 effect this tree has on the English landscape. It 

 is quite hardy in that country, and we meet with 

 it everywhere. Every garden has its beauty 

 spots formed by some combinations or other; 

 but I do not know that I saw a more beautiful 

 piece of garden art in England, than was here 

 with an Araucaria for the chief centre. It was 

 on a mound a few feet high, and behind the 



Araucaria were two beautiful specimens of the 

 Californian Cuprcssus macrocarpa, tlie dark and 

 feathery edge of which, seen on eai-b side of the 

 Araucaria made a sort of perspective shadow to 

 it, rounding it oil", as it were, in a most benutiful 

 manner. In the foreground of the mound, and 

 in front of the Araucaria, were pieces of fossil 

 wood and rock, and in amo.ig them our Yucca 

 jjjloriosa. Around the base of the little evergreen 

 crowned mound, a narrow gravel walk sweeped, 

 and on the other side of the walk, on each side, 

 masses of Yucca filamentosa. The Araucaria 

 itself has, as those who know it recognize, a sort 

 of fossil-like look, and the Yuccas are scarcely 

 less geological in their expression. The whole 

 made a happy union and harmony such as we 

 rarely see in Landscape Gardening. A seat was 

 arranged where one could sit and enjoy this very 

 pretty feature, as I did for some time. Those 

 who know Queen Victoria tell me that she has a 

 keen relish for natural beauty, such as this. We 

 often see trees, especially evergreens, clipped 

 and sheared into many strange, if not really hid- 

 eous, forms ; but there is no tree-shearing on 

 these gro«nds, except where some ol)ject is to be 

 gained by it, beyond the mere manufacture of a 

 monstrosity. One of these usefully sheared 

 plants is a Myrtle against a wall. This Myrtle 

 covered the whole surface of the wall except the 

 coping, and was sheared so close and regular 

 that one might almost imagine a painter had 

 wholly covered a board with green foliage. The 

 whole was regularly about eight inches deep. 



In many parts of England the Pyracantha and 

 Cotoneaster are grown against walls in the same 

 way, and when kept thus neatly sheared are re- 

 markably prettj' — quite as much, if not often 

 prettier, than Ivy. On a large heavy wall here 

 our Magnolia grandifiora is grown, and neatly 

 trained. Of course, this tree is " hardy " in Eng- 

 land, but it misses our Summer heats, and this 

 wall treatment supplies some of this. Here, with 

 its very sweet white flowers and fine evergreen 

 leaves, it was very highly prized. 



One of the matters with which I have been 

 struck everywhere in England, and which I find 

 to prevail even here in this royal place, is the 

 simplicity of the materials out of which 

 the best garden effects are made. In front of 

 some of the Queen's rooms, is an extensive ge- 

 ometrical flower-garden, made up of numerous 

 beds for flowers in masses, with gravel walks be- 

 tween. In many of these gardens the borders 

 may be of box ; but here a narrow edge of what 



