458 DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 



far countries, and more from the wilds of our own country. When, 

 therefore, in the following or the preceding descriptions, there is 

 more warmth of praise of some tree or shrub that is little known 

 than of some of. the beautiful well-known sorts, it must be remem- 

 bered that we are writing partly for a class who are disposed to 

 follow St. Paul's injunction; "prove all things; hold fast that 

 which is good." 



The growth of shrubs singly to develop the greatest beauty and 

 size they can be made to attain, will produce results that few per 

 sons, even among those familiar with shrubs, are aware of. How 

 few of those who have seen tartarian honeysuckles all their lives, 

 have ever seen one standing out alone in a rich soil, ten feet high 

 and fifteen feet in diameter of head, and arching to the lawn like a 

 miniature Connecticut valley elm , yet this would be a common size 

 and form if this shrub were planted and kept with the intention of 

 developing its greatest beauty. The common snow-ball viburnum 

 can be grown much larger, probably sixteen feet high, and of much 

 greater breadth of branches ; the latter bending to the ground with 

 a graceful sweep that the early growth of the shrub does not promise. 

 The little red-fruited St. Peterswort or Indian currant, known in 

 some localities as the red waxberry, which is usually tucked in among 

 other shrubs as not important enough to stand alone, forms one of 

 the most symmetrical and graceful of low shrubs when grown as a 

 single specimen. In short, among all our commonly cultivated and 

 well-known shrubs, one is rarely found which has had a fair chance 

 to develop all its beauty. 



The difference between a forest grown oak, and the spreading 

 oak of an old park is well' known, but the fact that the same differ- 

 ence obtains between shrubs grown in the mass or grown singly is 

 not generally understood. 



There is much difference in the value of nursery plants for 

 growing good specimen shrubs, depending on the nature of their 

 roots, and the stockiness of the stems. Seedlings generally make 

 the best roots, but as the choicest varieties of most fine shrubs do 

 not come true from seed, the nurserymen propagate them princi- 

 pally by cuttings and layers, and the commoner varieties by suckers. 

 Cuttings generally have roots spreading pretty equally on all sides, 



