January 20, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



AUCUBAS. AND THEIR CULTURE. 



HE old Aucuba japonica. with large, bold, 

 yellowish-green leaves, blotched and dotted 

 irregularly with yellow, is familiar to every- 

 one ; it has long held a high position as a 

 shrub, and as a gold-leaved one is inferior 

 only to the Holly; and there is no other 

 shrub with golden foliage that can be com- 

 pared to it for general usefulness. Undoubt- 

 edly the finest of all yellow or gold-variegated 

 shrubs are the Hollies, but Hollies to do well 

 require open or but very slightly shaded situations, whilst 

 the Aucuba will grow almost anywhere and in any way. 

 It will grow under the shade of large trees, forming a good- 

 sized bush or shrub, where the Holly, Yew. Laurel, Privet, 

 Rhododendron, and other evergreens have ceased to pre- 

 serve their existence ; indeed, in this respect it excels all 

 shrubs, always excepting the Periwinkles and the Ivy. 

 I may here mention that Skimmia japonica under the shade 

 of trees has beautiful dark-green leaves, and in winter is 

 literally loaded with bunches of red berries, thriving in 

 any confined shaded border. In the next place, the 

 Aucuba having very fibrous though fleshy roots, may be 

 transplanted at almost any period with safety, it being 

 hardly possible to remove it without a good ball; and 

 unless the roots are very much reduced in the endeavour 

 to take away the soil or lighten the plant, it may be 

 transplanted as well in May and throughout the summer 

 as at any other time. It may be removed as often as we 

 please, if only care be taken to preserve a ball, and supply 

 the plant with water in dry weather. Old plants can be 

 removed as readily, or even better, than young plants. 

 On account of the facility with which this shrub can be 

 frequently transplanted uninjured, it is, as Mr. Robson told 

 us but recently, one of the very best for giving to flower 

 beds and borders a furnished appearance in winter. Again. 

 in smoky town gardens in which few evergreens thrive, I 

 might almost say it luxuriates, but I shall rest content 

 with stating that amidst smoke and dust it is almost the 

 only evergreen that is able to keep pace with the times 

 and place. Other rivals it may have, as Rhododendrons, 

 which, though they withstand smoke quite as well, are not 

 so enduring of wind, and in a border or group of deciduous 

 trees and shrubs are about as useless as anything can be 

 for underwood ; but there the Aucuba flourishes, and be- 

 comes even more beautifully green. And it is not colour 

 we need in town gardens, but Nature's eye-relieving green, 

 for which every town denizen pants, and towards which he 

 hastens as often as his means and pursuits will allow. 



I might enlarge still more on the merits of the Aucuba 

 as a useful and ornamental shrub, but since the intro- 

 duction of the male Aucuba. the old variety (for I cannot 

 look upon any variegated-leaved plant as being other than 

 a variety or sport from a green-leaved species i will have 

 many rivals ; though as a free, vigorous, and distinct 

 variety its place will not be easily taken, especially now 

 that we are enabled to see it decked in rubies — not all 

 winter, as some would have us believe, bearing clusters 

 No. 160.— Vol. Xvrrr., New Semes 



of oblong, tolerably large, orange or red berries ; for up 

 to Christmas they have scarcely any colour, and in a 

 green state are no great ornament. About that time, 

 however, the berries begin colouring, and up to June they 

 enhance the plant's beauty. With the production of berries 

 we have a succession of comparatively small growth, for 

 the vital forces of the plant are concentrated on the per- 

 fection of the berries ; the shoots are shorter, less strong, 

 and shorter-jointed, and the leaves smaller, and not half 

 so handsome. Like the Pear on the Quince, and the 

 Apple on the Paradise stock, a sudden and in some cases 

 early puberty shows itself to be the greatest of all checks 

 to growth, and in no plant have I seen so decided an 

 instance as in the Aucuba. As regards growth, and the 

 beauty of an Aucuba's foliage, I think it would have been 

 well had the male Aucubas been left for an indefinite 

 time in Japan. But are the plants not more beautiful in 

 berry ? Granting that they are so, it remains to be seen 

 whether our feathered friends will not take the additional 

 beauty we anticipate in the berried Aucuba. I feel tole- 

 rably certain the berries must form a not unsavoury meal 

 to the blackbird and others of the feathered tribe, and 

 that our beautified Aucubas will be in future, as they are 

 at present, pretty only as novelties in structures to which 

 birds have not admission. 



Any danger there might he of the growth of the Aucuba 

 being' interfered with by allowing the plants to bear an 

 unlimited quantity of berries, can undoubtedly be prevented 

 by going over the plants after flowering, and removing 

 the seed vessels as done in the case of Rhododendrons 

 and other plants. Whilst we could remove the seed 

 vessels from plants which we wish to have clad with 

 vigorous foliage, those on which berries are desired could 

 be left without any removal of the seed vessels after 

 flowering. 



The new varieties of Aucuba must be regarded as among 

 the greatest of acquisitions. I see very little good in the 

 introduction of the male variety merely on the ground 

 that because we have it our old Aucuba will be beautified 

 with berries. For reasons already given, I consider the 

 Aucubas as shrubs we value for their foliage and free 

 growth, and far more handsome when unberried than 

 berried. There are other and far greater results to be 

 looked for from the introduction of the male in addition 

 to the female variety. In town gardens a want has long 

 existed of a shrub of moderate growth to take a position 

 occupied at present only by some dreary deciduous shrubs. 

 Something is wanted to give warmth, and relieve the 

 monotony of frowning deciduous shrubs, or the glaring 

 white or red of town-garden surroundings. What is wanted 

 is a shrub that in town gardens would be to them what 

 Laurels are to gardens in the country. This I think We 

 have in the green-leaved Aucubas. Some of them are of 

 a bright green, vigorous, and handsome growth, and must 

 in a few years find their way into every town garden ; and 

 in those where the Rhododendron, from peculiarity of soil, 

 does not grow, they will have a hearty welcome. Indeed, 

 judging from what has already been accomplished with 

 the new kinds, and. mainly by the introduction of the male 

 No. 1112.— Vol. XLIIL, Old Series. 



