Introduction, etc. 29 



which by no means necessitates a departure from 

 the rules of good taste. 



I wish particularly to call attention to the fine 

 effects which may be secured, from the simplest 

 and most easily obtained materials, by using some 

 of our hardy trees and shrubs in the subtropical 

 garden. Our object generally is to secure large 

 and handsome types of leaves ; and for this pur- 

 pose we usually place in the open air young plants 

 of exotic trees, taking them in again in autumn ; 

 and, perhaps, as we never see them but in a 

 diminutive state, we often forget that, when 

 branched into a large head in their native countries, 

 they are not a whit more remarkable in foliage than 

 many of the trees of our pleasure-grounds. Thus, 

 if the well-known Paulownia imperialis were too 

 tender to stand our winters, and if we were accus- 

 tomed to see it only in a young and simple- 

 stemmed condition and with large leaves, we 

 should doubtless plant it out every summer as we 

 do the Ferdinanda. There is no occasion whatever 

 to resort to exotic subjects, while we can so easily 

 obtain fine hardy subjects which, moreover, may 

 be grown by everybody and everywhere. By an- 

 nually cutting down young plants of various hardy 

 trees and shrubs, and letting them make a clean, 



