January II, 18C0. 1 



JODKMAIj op HORTIGUtjTORBi AND COTTAGE QAIJDENER. 



31 



The growing only a few showy plants in great numhers has 

 the tendency to lessen the attention to matters of detail that 

 was absolutely necessary in our younger days. Were more 

 attention paid to the old-fasbioned florists' flowers, such as the 

 Auricula, Polyanthus, Pink, and Carnation, &c., as well as the 

 rougher Dahlias and China Asters, there would be more con- 

 centration of effort upon many little matters that are apt now 

 to be neglected. Little things in the present day are apt to be 

 overlooked ; but it should never be forgotten that the man who 

 cannot bend his mind to make much of trifles would act wisely 

 in directing his efforts to something else than gardening. It 

 is just the trifles that make or mar. 



Shrubs and SlimbOcrie.-!. — With the exception of stray flowers 

 on the Corchorus, some Honeysuckles, a few Eoses, and some 

 opening blooms on the Pyrus japonica, the shrubs in bloom 

 now are chiefly three — namely, the Laurustinus, the Chimo- 

 nanthus fragrans, and the Jasminum nudiflorum. In many 

 places where the Laurustinus was cut down to the ground in 

 the winter of 18C0-C1, and where there was enough of patient 

 philosophy to wait, the shrubs are now in excellent condition. 

 Nothing has surprised us more than the dispatch with which 

 nurserymen, after losing their thousands and hundreds of thou- 

 sands of plants in that eventful year, had a young saleable 

 stock. Few evergreens will outshine the Laurustinus in winter, 

 and we like it as much before the blooms open as afterwards. 



Unfortunately, we have never seen the ChinwnanthuH fi agraits 

 do well except against a wall ; and the best mode of securing 

 abundance of its purple-creamy rich-scented flowers, is to train 

 and prune it so that there shall be plenty of twigs all over it 

 every summer, ranging from 4 to 1'2 inches in length. These, 

 if well exposed to the sun, will now be covered with opening 

 and opened buds ; and when we do not choose to cut these 

 shoots, a few flowers gathered from them and strewed among 

 other flowers in vases, &3., will give the whole place a rich per- 

 fume. This must not be overdone, or the scent will be too 

 strong, rendering the aroma even from Violets almost imper- 

 ceptible. 



The third plant, the Jasininum nudijlorum, has been for the 

 last two months a mass of golden blossom; The flowers stand 

 best, perhaps, when the plant is placed against a wall or fence, 

 but commonly, and especially in mild weather like this, it 

 succeeds very well in the open ground either as a bush, or 

 a standard. Grown to some 7 or 8 feet in height and then 

 allowed to form a large head, it would make a beautiful pen- 

 dulous shrub. It is easily propagated ; in fact, if the wood is 

 allowed to rest on the ground it will soon root and form 

 separate plants. We have always had something to prevent 

 our securing a good stock of it, as it could be used for many 

 purposes. Almost every green twig it forms in summer will 

 be clothed with yellow blooms all through the winter. A suc- 

 cession of frost and wet injures the bloom, and therefore some 

 large plants would be worthy of a place under protection, where 

 there would be light and yet no wet. Would that it had the 

 scent of Jasminum revolutum, but it is scentless. 



As a mark of gratitude to Mr. Robson for his excellent papars 

 on Winter Gardening, we would mention this plant as worthy 

 of his notice. We are afraid it would do little good trans- 

 planted, but plants might be kept in pots and plunged, either 

 as little standards, or low bush plants to cover a bed. Many 

 of oui common shrubs generally grown as bushes, would have 

 a different aspect when grown as small trees, as standards with 

 clean single stems. The papers on this subject are very timely 

 and well worthy of careful reading and practical appreciation. 

 Shrubs will ever be most effective, individually considered, 

 when thus grown, and as single specimens on lawns, .to., will 

 always look better than a mere bush. A single-stemmed plant 

 may feather to the ground. 



Shrubberies as a whole should be treated according to what 

 is required from them. When used solely for shelter, or to 

 conceal something that it is not desirable to see, or merely to 

 secure privacy in the inside of the shrubbery, the chief point 

 is to plant rather thickly at first, and then to prune and thin 

 out so that there shall be living branches and foliage right 

 down to the ground. In the earlier years of such a shrubbery, 

 forking over the ground will hasten the free growth of the 

 shrubs. When these begin to meet all forking and digging will 

 be unnecessary, and will do harm instead of good. The leaves 

 that fall, if the wood is thick enough at the sides to prevent 

 them blowing out, had better remain and rot-down as a surface- 

 dressing. 



Shelter and concealment are often required along with fine 

 specimens of evergreens, as A.butus, Philiyrea, Sweet Bay 



Hollies, Cypresses, Arbor-Vit:c3, &c. In such a case all the 

 favourite plants should be placed far enough apart, say 20 or 

 30 feet, and the other spaces filled up with Laurels, Lilacs, 

 &s. The great advantage of tho fiUing-up plan is, that from 

 the mutual shelter given all the best plants will grow much 

 more rapidly than if they stood there at first alone and thinly. 

 The great matter not to be lost sight of, is to thin and prune in 

 time, so that all the trees or shrubs destined to remain shall 

 have full opportunity of light and air to feather doww to the 

 ground. Even a good Holly tree with a clean stem is inferior, 

 as an object of interest, to a noble pyramid with its healthy 

 living base sweeping the ground. 



In all ornamental idantinrj we are in danger of committing 

 two errors — we plant our principal and most particular plants 

 too thickly, and then we forget to thin the less valuable ones in 

 time. When we plant specimens only a few inches in height, it 

 seems to be difficult for us to carry our mental vision forward tor 

 twenty-five or thirty years, or more. We have been cutting-out 

 to a considerable extent in our small place, and we heartily 

 wish that we had given more than doable the space to many 

 tr'jes. Most of the Pinus trioe which we wish to be thoroughly 

 ornamental, ought to have at least from 30 to 50 feet to expand 

 themselves in. Often two fine plants of these are spoiled 

 because both are so good that we cannot make up our mind to 

 sacrifice one. 



It is not BO much the thick planting at first that is the evil, 

 it is the neglect of the thinning in time. The thick planting 

 is often jast another name for quick growth. Even if we 

 wished a wood of Larch to grow up quickly, we would plant 

 the trees 4 or 5 feet apart instead of 10 or 20 feet, and then 

 the first thinnings would not only be useful for 0-feet rails, but 

 whilst they stood they would make the great bulk of the trees 

 grow faster. Single specimens of trees or shrubs on an exposed 

 lawn are always very striking ; but if we were called upon to 

 cover a lawn very much exposed as soon as possible, and as 

 taste would approve of, with fine specimens, we would not 

 plant the specimen alone, but in the centre of a small clump, 

 the outside formed of quick-growing hardy plants, to be gradu- 

 ally removed, so that the main plant should not be injured. 

 This plan, of course, would involve more first expense and 

 more ultimate labour, but in a bare place we should obtain 

 fine specimens sooner, and the lawn at first would look more 

 furnished. We have known places thus planted by first-rate 

 artists, and their designs completely frustrated, because of the 

 unwillingness to touch what such great men had planted. No 

 such danger will occur, when in ornamental grounds what ara 

 intended to be specimens are planted at first far enough apart 

 to reach their full size without being encroached upon, but in 

 all exposed places such specimens will grow slowly. They 

 will in general grow very symmetrically, and will need but little 

 looking-after. We have noticed specimens, however, so treated 

 that in fifteen years were not so large as others nursed up in 

 seven or eight years. The great evil is, the nurses are too 

 often allowed to remain too long. As a general rule, where 

 rapid telling growth is the object, the old planting axiom holds 

 good, " Plant thickly, thin quickly." 



When shrubberies are intended to be ornamental in them- 

 selves, regular lines, whether straight or curved, should be 

 avoided next the eye of the observer. The more the line is 

 broken by bold outjutting specimens and ingoing recesses, pro- 

 ducing great variety of outline, and the grass or moss going np 

 into all the bends and sinuosities, without a mark of a spade 

 or fork to break the spell of the picturesque with its variety of 

 Ught and shade, the more pleasing and delightful will such 

 shrubberies be. A straight-lined or curved regular-lined shrub- 

 bery is, however, more in character when, for various purposes, 

 it is resolved to'have a border for flowers in front of it. As a 

 general rule, all such borders will detract from the picturesque 

 beauty of the shrubbery, because giving it more of the garden- 

 esque and the artistic character by the mere regularity of its 

 outUne ; but the front of the shrubbery, whether always ever- 

 green, or at least a mass of green in summer, will greatly 

 enhance the beauty of the flowers in the border, not only by 

 the contrast of the green background, but also by this back- 

 ground throwing back the rays of light over the colours in the 

 flowers. We have done away with such borders in front of 

 Laurels, &e., but we are well aware we have thus lost a great 

 element of attraction. Even when roughly ribboned they were 

 very effective. We noticed last year a narrow ribbon border 

 at The Hyde, but the deep green background of Laurels gave 

 it a charm it would not have otherwise possessed. Some_ of 

 our older readers may recollect our describing the striking 



