P H I 



P H I 



of a lucid green, and serrate, each serrature end- 

 ins in a spine. And the Kew Catalogue has 

 another, under the name of Ilex-leaved. 



Culture. — These plants are capable of being 

 increased either from seeds or layers, but the 

 latter being the most expeditious method is 

 chiefly preferred in this climate. 



The best season for laying them down is in 

 autumn, when the ground should be dug round 

 the stems of the plants intended to be layed, 

 rendering it very loose ; then making choice of a 

 smooth part of the shoot, a slit should be made 

 in it upwards, in the manner practised in 

 laving carnations, bending the branch gently 

 down to the ground, making a hollow place to re- 

 ceive it; and having placed the part which was 

 slit into the ground, so as that the slit may be 

 open, it should be fastened down with a forked 

 stick that it may remain steady, covering that 

 part of the branch with earth about three inches 

 thick, keeping the upper part erect. The layers 

 must be kept clean from weeds in the spring 

 and summer following, as if suffered to grow 

 ■up amongst them, they will prevent their taking 

 root. 



In the autumn following most of the plants 

 thus laid will be rooted, at which time they may 

 be taken off, and carefully planted in a nur- 

 sery, where they may be trained three or four 

 years in the manner they are intended to grow ; 

 during which time the ground should be dug 

 between the rows, and be cut about the roots 

 of the plants every year, to cause them to 

 strike out strong fibres, so as to support a good 

 ball of earth when they are removed. Their 

 stems should likewise be well supported with 

 stakes, in order to make them straight, other- 

 wise thev are very apt to grow crooked and un- 

 sightly. When they have been thus managed 

 three or four years, they may be removed into 

 the places where they are designed to remain. 

 The best time for this is the end of Septem- 

 ber, or the beginning of October, but in remov- 

 ing them, their roots should be dug round ; and 

 all downright or strong roots, which have shot 

 out to a great distance, be cut off", that they may 

 have balls of earth preserved to their roots, other- 

 wise they arc liable to miscarry : and when 

 placed in their new situations, some mulch 

 should be laid upon the surface of the ground 

 to prevent its drying. 



The plants should likewise be supported with 

 stakes until they have taken fast hold of the 

 earth, to prevent their being turned out of the 

 ground, or displaced by the winds, which de- 

 stroy the fibres that are newly put out, and 

 greatly injure the plants. 



They delight in a middling soil, which is 



neither too wet and stiff nor too dry, though the 

 latter is to be preferred to the former, provided 

 it be fresh. The sorts with small leaves are 

 commonly two years before they take root when 

 laved : therefore they should not be disturbed, as 

 the raising them out of the ground greatly re- 

 tards their rooting. 



In the seed method, the seeds should be sown 

 in the autumn soon after they are ripe, as when 

 thev are kept outof the ground till spring they do 

 not grow the first year. They succeed best when 

 sown in pots or boxes filled with light loamy 

 earth, and placed under a garden frame where 

 they may be screened from hard frost, but always 

 exposed to the open air in mild weather. If the 

 seeds are sown early in the autumn, the plants 

 appear in the spring; but if they should not 

 come up, the pots should be plunged into the 

 ground in an east border, where they may only 

 have the morning sun, in which situation they 

 should remain the following summer; during 

 which time they may be constantly kept clean 

 from weeds, and in the autumn removed again 

 under a frame for shelter in winter, and the 

 spring following the plants will certainly come 

 up, it the seeds were good. Towards the mid- 

 dle of April, the pots should be again plunged 

 into the ground on an east border, to prevent 

 the air from drying the earth through the pots, 

 which is generally the case when the pots stand 

 upon the ground ; so that they must then be 

 frequently watered, which should not be prac- 

 tised to these plants where it can be avoided. 

 In the autumn following the plants should be 

 carefully taken out of the pots and planted out 

 in a nursery-bed, covering the surface with old 

 tan to keep out the frost ; and if the winter 

 prove severe, they should be covered with 

 mats : afterwards they may be treated as those 

 from layers. 



These shrubs are so hardy as to thrive in the 

 open air in this climate, and are never injured 

 except the winters are very severe, which some- 

 times causes their leaves to fall, and kills a few 

 of the weaker branches, but these are repaired 

 by new shoots the following summer ; so that 

 there are few evergreen trees which are hardier, 

 or that more deserve to be cultivated for the 

 purposes of ornament. 



The first and third sorts and varieties are 

 very proper to inteimix with other evergreens of 

 the same growth, to form clumps in pleasure- 

 o rounds and parks, or to plant round the borders 

 of woods which are filled with deciduous trees, 

 where in the summer time their dark shades 

 make a fine contrast with the brighter green 

 leaves of the deciduous trees ; and in winter, 

 when the latter are destitute of leaves, they have a 



