242 ON FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS. 



the reign of George I. not above nine or ten more. About the 

 middle of the century, the American rhododendrons and kalmias 

 began to be planted in English gardens ; and from that period to 

 the present time, the taste for, and, consequently, the importation 

 of foreign trees and shrubs have increased so rapidly, that be- 

 tween 1811 and 1830 above seven hundred new ornamental trees 

 and shrubs were introduced into British pleasure grounds. The 

 finest trees and slirubs of these introductions have also speedily 

 become well known and in general cultivation, and instead of 

 lingering for a century or two as formerly, in the hands of a few 

 individuals, they are now found to spread in a few years, even be- 

 fore they have lost the first freshness and bloom of their novelty, 

 into cottage gardens ; and the demand increases so fast, that 

 collectors are at this moment in almost every unexplored region 

 of the globe catering for the vigorous appetite that has been 

 created. 



One of the most beautiful, and, at the same time, one of the most 

 numerous, families of flowering shrubs now cultivated in our gar- 

 dens, consists of the numerous species belonging to the genus 

 Ribes. Nearly all the ornamental species of this genus are of 

 quite recent introduction. Till lately, but few persons had any 

 idea that the genus Ribes included any plants worth cultivation 

 but the common gooseberry and the red and black currants; for 

 though some few other species were introduced about the middle 

 of the last century, they were not sufficiently ornamental to attract 

 general notice. In 1812, the first really ornamental kinds of Ribes 

 were introduced, viz. those with yellow flowers. The handsom- 

 est of these (Ribes aureum) has large golden yellow flowers, which 

 generally appear in May, and which are succeeded by blackish 

 yellow fruit, very inferior to the common currants of our gardens 

 in size and flavour. The shrub grows from four to six feet high. 

 The common yellow-flowered currant is one of the earliest flow- 

 ering kinds, but there is a variety of it which does not flower till 

 the middle of June. 



In 1822, Ribes multiflorum was introduced ; and though its 

 flowers are green, they are, perhaps, more beautiful than those of 

 any other species, on account of the long and elegant drooping 

 racemes in which they are disposed. This species flowers a 

 fortnight or three weeks later than the other kinds, and it is one 

 of the very few species of this genus that are found wild in Europe, 

 it being a native of Croatia. Though a most abundant flowerer, 



