FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 65 



rough fences, and have never planted anything that has given a 

 more beautiful return. 



The Judas Tree is neglected in England, and rarely planted in 

 an effective way. In the Pare Monceau in Paris there is a beautiful 

 grove of it in which trees of various ages form one family party, 

 so to say, showing some differences in colour and earliness. Such 

 slight but often valuable differences arise when we raise trees from 

 seed and do not slavishly follow the habit of grafting one thing on 

 another. This is one of the gains of following a more natural mode 

 of increasing trees than is usual in nurseries, as those raised from 

 seed have a chance of interesting variations, whereas grafting from 

 the same identical form shuts out all chance of it. It is curious 

 that a tree so effective in bloom, and so distinct in habit as the 

 Judas Tree is, should be so little planted with us, and, when planted, 

 so often left to the scant mercy of the shrubbery border. All such 

 trees have their own ways and wants, and should not be j.umbled 

 up in the common, crowded, and ignorant way of planting. 



Of Indian Azaleas in the open air Mr C. .R. Scrase-Dickens 

 writes : " The hardy Azaleas of the American races are very popular, 

 but few know the value of the white Indian 

 Azaleas and Azalea, for the open garden in the south of England. 

 flowering shrubs. Few plants give so little trouble when once estab- 

 lished, even though the late frosts may now and 

 again spoil the beauty of the flowers. When planted out and left 

 alone it is not much more than three or four feet in height, dense 

 and spreading. The engraving shows a bush over ten feet across 

 with a shadow thrown over the upper part by a tree of Magnolia 

 which grows at the side. It gets shelter from cold winds and 

 from too fierce a sun on the flowers. Any one who intends to 

 plant this Azalea should remember that it flowers naturally at a 

 time when there may still be late frosts and cold winds hovering 

 about, and that it would be a mistaken kindness to choose any 

 place, such as under a south wall, which would tend to make the 

 blossoms open earlier in the season. We have some plants under 

 a north wall which do admirably, but they seem to like association 

 with other things. The variety which does best here is the old 

 typical white. Overgrown plants of other colours from the green- 

 house have been turned out sometimes, but they do not seem so 

 happy or produce so good an effect." 



There are no plants so much neglected as flowering shrubs, and even 

 when planted they are rarely well grown, owing to the " traditions " of 

 what is called the shrubbery. The common way is to dig the shrubbery 

 every winter, and this is often carried out as a matter of form 

 without giving the soil any manure, while much harm is done by 



E 



