258 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



The great value of the Buckthorn, with us, is for hedges. 

 It is perfectly hardy, grows rapidly, and bears pruning better 

 thun any other shrub with which we are acquainted. Another 

 important item in its value is, that it is never attacked by 

 insects of any description. It is, also, very tough, and flourishes 

 in any soil. No animal, except sheep or goats, will feed upon 

 it. We consider it, therefore, the only plant for general use 

 for the formation of hedges. " It puts forth its leaves early in 

 the spring, and retains them late in the fall, and its bunches of 

 rich berries are very showy in autumn." 



The plants are easily raised from seed, which may be planted 

 either in the fall or very early in the spring. When planted 

 in autumn, it may be done as soon as the berries mature. 



The berries should be first mashed and washed, so that they 

 may be planted more evenly. The seed may be sown in drills 

 eighteen inches apart, or in beds. The fall-sown seed will 

 vegetate very early in the spring, while those sown in the 

 spring will not appear under four or five weeks from the time 

 of planting. The second year, the plants may be transferred to 

 the nursery, and should be headed down as soon as they begin 

 to grow. This causes them to thicken at the bottom ; a very 

 important point to be remembered, for unless they are first 

 grown with branches from the bottom, no after cultivation can 

 remedy the neglect. 



The best hedges we have seen were those where the plants 

 were placed in a single line, six inches distant from each other. 



RHODODENDRON. 



American Rose Bay. 



Rhododendron maximum. The generic name is derived 

 from the Greek, rhodon, a rose, and dendron, a tree, because 

 the flowers resemble, in color, bunches of roses. In the North- 

 ern States, it is a straggling shrub, of very irregular growth, 



