EYERGKEEN SHRUBS. 



which Mr. Muxk has not mentioned, quite hardy around Baltimore, though hardly 

 so here — the Euonymus jimbriata — which I consider the prettiest of the family. 



The Andromedas, at least the Jlorihunda^ stand the winter well with me, but suffer 

 exceedingly from the sudden appearance of the sun out of a fog in mid-summer. They 

 endure the cold, I think, better than the heat. If planted in the shade, they would 

 probably do very well. 



The Golden Arbor Vitie, the Golden Yew, the Thuya filiformis (Weeping Arbor 

 Vita^), and the Cupressus jjendula, are all charming additions to our evergreen gardens. 



The Ilex 02Mca can, or could two years since, be procured from Mr. Buist, at Phila- 

 delphia, or Mr. Feast, at Baltimore, — nice plants, raised from seed. 



Mr. MuN'N speaks of the protection of snow. I observe that at the Royal Gardens 

 at Kew, during the late remarkable weather in England, there was a difierence of 

 nineteen degrees immediately above and immediately below the snow. 



One reason for the want of success in cultivating Rhododendrons, and otlier ever- 

 green shrubs, is perhaps a want of knowledge of the sort and character of soil neces- 

 sary to their success. Most persons are apt to manure them with coarse and stimula- 

 ting manures, entirely unsuited to their habits and requisitions. Another fault is, the 

 use of too coarse soil, which does not readily attach itself to the delicate, hair-Uke roots 

 and fibres of this class of plants. 



To cultivate Rhododendrons successfully, several things are necessary. In the first 

 place, a shady or partially shady situation is most desirable, though not essential. My 

 finest beds are most exposed to the sun. Could I have placed these on the north side 

 of a building or a wood, their success would have been much greater, their bloom finer 

 and more prolonged, and they would entirely escape the occasionally singeing they 

 get now. 



The next important thing is the preparation of the bed to receive the plants ; for, 

 with occasional exceptions of single specimens of fine plants, all evergreen shrubs 

 sliould be in large masses — oval or circular beds, twenty to fifty feet in diameter. 

 I think the soil should be as carefully prepared as in a Grape-border, and I would 

 therefore recommend an excavation three feet deep, and all the native soil, unless very 

 fine, removed. The lower eighteen inches I should fill with an equal mixture of 

 light, turfy, sandy loam, of a veiy fine, close texture; leaf-mold from the woods; white 

 sand, if obtainable ; and fibrous peat or bog soil that has been exposed to the influence 

 of at least one winter's frost — if more, so much the better. With this soil, closely 

 packed around their roots, an occasional watering in dry weather, (thougli even this I 

 do not do,) and if possible a shaded situation, all the plants mentioned above will suc- 

 ceed admirably well in this country. 



[We thank Mr. Sargent heartily for his excellent article, and tnist it will give an 

 impetus to the culture of those fine evergreen shrubs which he has recommended. 

 We are inclined to believe, however, that the nurserymen arc not wholly to blame for 

 the very limited cultivation of the Rhododendron. We think it is more owing to the 

 fact that a very large proportion of those who have planted Rhododendrons, failed 

 use they did not give them that treatment which the nature of the plant and 

 arities of our climate dooiand. ^'cry few gentlemen in this country can 



