22 FLOWERS AND THE PLOWER GARDEN. 



The Almond, that glory of suburban gardens, is both 

 pretty and sweet, with the additional merit of blooming 

 very early. The tall kind is produced by grafting on 

 plum stocks, and the dwarf by suckers. "When almonds 

 are planted for ornament they should be placed against 

 a background of evergreens, because they produce their 

 delicate pink flowers before the leaves come out. When 

 so planted the effect is very beautiful. 



The gay and graceful Laburnum produces its charming 

 early bloom in almost any situation, and has the merit 

 of doing well even very near to large towns. The Scotch 

 laburnum, Cytisus Alpimis, has finer foliage and larger 

 flowers than the common kind ; it is scented, more pen- 

 dant, and flowers later in the season. Rabbits and hares 

 bark the trees, and will choose the laburnum in pre- 

 ference to any other tree. Laburnums grow readily and 

 quickly from seed, and there are several choice green- 

 house kinds which must be grafted or budded on the 

 commoner sorts. Among laburnums which grow in 

 gardens there are some with variegated foliage, and one 

 which produces a double white flower. The Broom 

 belongs to the same family, Cytisus ; its peculiar sprayey 

 growth makes a great variety in the shrubbery, and its 

 yellow and white flowers are both of them gay and 

 pretty. 



Lilacs are useful in the flower garden ; for the tender 

 green of their foliage is as early among leaves, as their 

 gay masses of fragrant bloom are among flowers ; and 

 they too have the merit of living and doing well in and 

 near towns, where few things so pretty will live. 



The Hawthorn, or white May, and the pink May, are 

 encouraged in gardens on account of the beauty and 

 strong fragrance of their early bloom. The double pink 

 May is beautiful, being covered with abundance of bloom 

 like tiny roses, but it is not scented. The Glastonbury 

 thorn, a variety of the common hawthorn, is said often 

 to flower at Christmas. The evergreen thorn, Cratcegus 

 pyracantha, or burning bush, looks well trained against 

 a wall; it has shining leaves and pure white flowers, 

 and in winter is covered with brilliant scarlet fruit. A 



