FLOWERING SHRUBS AND TREES, AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 67 



hardy plants than by pot plants will not begrudge attention to 

 outdoor things, and some may even consider a garden of beautiful 

 shrubs as a conservatory in the open air, no kind of flower gardening 

 being more delightful or enduring. 



Whether they are all distinct species or merely varieties it matters 



little, the great beauty of the trees being undoubted, not only in their 



flowers, but in their fruits, some of which are edible. 



Thorns and their Being natives of countries colder than ours, includ- 



future. ing much of Canada and North-Eastern America, 



they are as hardy as any of our native trees, and 



well fitted for planting in any soil or position. 



Here, there was a slope above the moat cottage too steep for 

 plough or spade, and many years ago I planted most of the kinds that 

 were obtainable at the time, and while some did very well, half of 

 them failed owing to their being grafted on the wild Thorn. The 

 latter being common in every nursery, opportunity is taken to graft 

 exotic kinds upon it, with the result that the native kind will kill the 

 foreigner. The kinds which never looked back were the forms of our 

 native kinds, such as Paul's, which, " worked " on the mother tree, pre- 

 sented no difficulty. 



The important thing is that they should be raised from seed, the 

 natural method of increase, and as the shrubs are as free to fruit as to 

 flower, there should be no difficulty in obtaining plenty of seed. 



A number of Thorns have been tried here that came from the 

 Arnold Arboretum, in Massachusetts ; they were seedling plants, and 

 all did well, "the enemy being the rabbit. Now we have fewer rabbits, 

 the Thorns thrive. 



Apart from the beauty of these trees, they interested me for their 



value in making very good fences. We all know the use of our native 



Thorn for this purpose, and some of these foreign 



Good fences. kinds might give a better fence than any con- 

 trivance of barbed wire. 



A fault of the native Thorn is the constant labour it requires to 

 keep it in shape, and some of the wild species might give a better 

 fence. This is important, as the beauty of England is in the way of 

 being lost through the use of iron fences. Some estates are quite dis- 

 figured for landscape beauty by the iron fence, costly and not so 

 enduring. The only fence for those who wish to preserve the beauty 

 of our country is a " live " one of Thorn. 



The Thorn I use most for this purpose is the Cockspur. It makes 

 a very good fence for woods where frequent trimming is not needed, 

 being well armed with spines, and the leaves turn a fine brown in 

 autumn. 



In view of the great importance of dwarf effective fences for our 



