THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



the growth of the hardy Pines of the northern world seems as easy by 

 the sea as anywhere ; indeed, more so, because if there is any one 

 place where the rather tender Pines are grown well it is near the sea 

 in places around our coast, where if the soil is good, one has not to be 

 so careful about the hardiness of trees we select as we have to be in 

 inland places. 



The Ilex. — The evergreen Oak takes a lead among the trees near 

 the sea, and it ought to be largely used ; but as it is not very easily 

 transplanted from nursery-bought plants, it is just as well to raise it 

 on the place and plant it young. Seed may be scattered with some 

 advantage in places we wish it to grow in, as it grows freely from seed. 



This evergreen oak withstood the great gales of 1897 in the 

 south and west of England better than any other. At Killerton and 

 Knightshayes, and many other places where the destruction was 

 greatest I was glad to see that the evergreen oak was not among the 

 many victims. It is a precious tree for the south and west, and all 

 sea shore districts, and should never be forgotten among the crowd of 

 novelties among trees ; not one out of fifty is worth naming beside it. 

 Like many other trees, it suffers from indiscriminate planting with 

 other and sometimes coarser things, and is rarely grouped in any 

 effective way, although here and there, as at Ham House, Killerton, 

 and St. Anns we may see the effect of holding this tree together 

 in groups or masses. 



In addition to the common evergreen trees of Europe, the Scotch, 

 Spruce and Silver Firs, we have the noble Corsican Pine, which, from 

 its habitat in Calabria and in Corsica, can have no objection to the 

 sea. The Pines of the Pacific coast, too, are well used to its influences, 

 and hence we see in our country good results from planting them near 

 the sea, as, for example, Menzies' Spruce at Hunstanton, the Monterey 

 Pine at Bicton, the Redwood in many places near the sea. One good 

 result of planting in such places is that we may use so many evergreen 

 trees, from the Holly to the Cedar, and so get a certain amount of 

 warmth as well as shelter. 



Though our country generally is not perhaps fitted for the growth 

 of the Cork Oak, a fine evergreen tree, it is here and there seen in 

 southern and sheltered parts on warm soils, as in certain parts of 

 Devonshire and on the warm side of the Sussex Downs, even in good 

 condition. Of this fact we have an example in the Cork Oaks at 

 Goodwood, all that could be desired in health and beauty. This Oak 

 naturally inhabits the southern parts of Europe and the northern parts 

 of Africa, and it is interesting to see that it can attain the size of a 

 stately tree in our own country in some favoured places, but the 

 evergreen oak for our islands is the Ilex and its various forms. 



