386 



CEDRUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CELMISIA. 



storm, and how much more able to 

 bear it are the Cedars planted in woods 

 and allowed to grow mast-like shafts ! 



The cure for much of this loss and 

 waste of valuable trees lies in planting 

 in more natural ways and in grouping 

 and keeping the trees together. 



With regard to soil and situation, 

 each planter seeks the best possible 

 development for his Cedars, and so 

 selects the best soil and position he 

 has, and, probably, digs a big hole for 

 each tree and puts many loads of earth 

 in. The result of this is not good, in 

 more ways than one, first in creating 

 a too rapid growth in the young tree, 

 and soft unresisting wood in the old ; 

 and, secondly, any proof that the 

 natural soil and other conditions of 

 the place suit the tree is withheld from 

 us by the deep preparation of soil made, 

 entirely altering the natural conditions. 

 Cedars usually inhabit high mountains, 

 often on bare, shaly slopes, though 

 never so well developed as when 



Cedar of Lebanon. 



growing where a little soil collects. 

 That soil is often of a rocky or pervious 

 nature. Surely this points out that in 

 country seats, instead of taking the 

 very best soil, we should plant on rocky 

 or sandy places where the tree will, 

 though growing at first slowly, even- 

 tually get a safer and hardier growth 

 than it ever would on rich deep soil. 

 It would be well to plant it in the 

 ordinary woodland, in which the trees 

 would be drawn up with a tall stem, 

 very effective near drives or in woods. 

 The difficulty of dealing with the Cedar 

 is increased by its being made a kind 

 of fetish in our nurseries, always being 

 offered in the "specimen" state, so 

 that nowadays it is not easy to get a 

 nice healthy stock of young plants of 

 it, and those offered are generally 

 highly priced, as if they were some rare 

 novelty instead of a tree known for 

 some centuries. The seed of the tree 

 is plentiful in Asia Minor and N. Africa, 

 and it really ought to be grown in 

 forest nurseries and offered among the 



other forest trees. All young planta- 

 tions of Cedars should be securely 

 wired for seven years, as rabbits destroy 

 them more than any other tree of the 

 Pine tribe. 



CELASTRUS (Staff Vine). C. 

 scandens is a shrubby climber from 

 N. America, and valuable for its rapid 

 twining growth, for trailing over trellis- 

 work and arbours. Theie are several 

 kinds not yet well known or used C. 

 corticulatus, Flagellaris, hypolucus, and 

 Zatifolius, which promise well, and to 

 reap their full beauty the two sexes are 

 essential. 



CELMISIA. Charming Daisy-like 

 plants from New Zealand, where they 

 fill the mountain meadows with 

 cushions of downy leaves covered 

 with glistening Daisy - like flowers. 

 There are upwards of thirty kinds, 

 differing more in leaf than in their 

 flowers, which are mostly white, 

 though sometimes purple and very 

 variable in size. They grow in varied 

 situations, some in swamps, some in 

 dry shingly places, others on moist 

 river - banks or the gritty moun- 

 tain side. To succeed with them we 

 need therefore to know just how 

 each grows in its own country, and 

 things are made more difficult by the 

 fact that they are not fully hardy with 

 us, and seem to dislike the moisture 

 that gathers on their hairy leaves and 

 stems in a wet season. The few kinds 

 that have been introduced have never 

 become common, though they may 

 be seen doing well here and there. 

 The following are in cultivation : 



C. CORIACEA, a hardy little kind not 

 difficult to grow, and the largest in its 

 flowers, i to 3 inches across, pure white 

 with a yellow centre, and borne on stout 

 stems a foot long. The leaves are like 

 those of a small Yucca, 10 to 18 inches 

 long, covered with cottony threads and 

 dense white down. 



C. HAASTII. A plant of strong growth 

 with large leaves similar to, but less 

 woolly, than those just described, the 

 flowers, i to -2\ inches across, coming 

 upon short sturdy stems. 



C. LINDSAYI forms dense tufts of leaves 

 3 to 6 inches long, very white on the 

 underside, and with white flowers i to 

 2 inches across on stems of 6 inches. 



C. MONROEI is also hardy, growing well 

 near the sea in N. Wales. Its leaves are 

 silver-grey with down, almost sword- 

 shaped, and very white beneath. The 

 pure white flowers are 2 inches across, 



