CHAP. X VILLA GAEDENING 55 



I. germanica, I. iberica, I. graminea, I. pallida, I. reticulata, I. 

 Susiana, I. sambuciua, Lilium candidum, L. auratum, L. bulbiferum, 

 L. canadense, L. chalcedonicum, L. croceura, L. exiinium, L. japoni- 

 cum, L. speciosum, L. longiflomm, L. tenuifolium, L. tigriuum, L. 

 venustum, L. Washingtonianum. Though this list has grown to 

 larger proportions than I intended, yet it is very imperfect, be- 

 cause many good things are omitted. The truth is, the Ixilbaceous 

 plants are now in such immense numbers, that a life's study is 

 required to become thoroughly acquainted with them all ; and 

 wherever there is a good soil, with the means of improving it 

 where needful, and jilenty of leisure, I know of no more pleasant 

 subject to be taken up as a hobby than the culture of plants 

 havins: bulbous roots. 



CHAPTER X 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN 



Many of the beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowering plants which 

 adorn the tastefully arranged English garden have been brought 

 from the higher regions of that great continent — America. In 

 large gardens, where there is space for many separate and distinct 

 features, the American garden may very appropriately find a niche 

 somewhere — not, as too often liappens, in the shape of formal beds 

 of Rhododendrons, but treated freely and boldly, bringing into pro- 

 minence not only picturesque groups of evergreens, but drawing 

 freely upon the rich stores of deciduous trees and shrubs, using 

 freely, too, the Lilies and other flowering plants which associate so 

 well with the dwarfer American shrubs. 



The Rhododendron heads the list of American shrubs, and, 

 as a rule, so well does it thrive in this island home of ours, that in 

 some neighbourhoods it has completely altered the character of the 

 scenery, especially in the spring, when the woods are lighted up 

 -with its gorgeous clusters of blossoms. At Cobham Park, in Kent, 

 Portnal Park, Middlesex, Powderham Castle, and many other 

 places in Devon and elsewhere — in fact anywhere in these islands 

 where the soil is not impregnated with lime — the Rhododendron 

 will thrive and blossom in a way which commands and receives 

 unbounded admiration. The late Charles Dickens, whose residence 

 — Gradshill — was near Cobham Park, speaks enthusiastically of the 

 Rhododendrons there in one of his letters. I lingered about Gadshill 

 the best part of a long day some years ago when the Rhododendrons 

 were in their beauty, and though the masses which exist in such 



