16 Commercial Gardening 



dance of moisture being especially necessary during the season of growth. 

 Hence large numbers were planted in beds or the mixed border, without 

 reference to their special requirements in the matter of food or moisture. 

 The growth was consequently unsatisfactory, and in course of time their 

 cultivation was greatly reduced. Within the past few years there has 

 been a great revival in the interest evinced in this and other of the 

 Japanese Irises. 



The lessons that the Japanese growers have been able to teach us 

 have been taken to heart, and moist positions are selected for the moisture- 

 loving Irises, and, if these cannot be provided, care is taken to main- 

 tain the soil in a thoroughly moist state throughout the whole period 

 when the plants are in an actively growing state. The influence of the 

 Iris gardens of Japan has been felt in many gardens of this country, and 

 in not a few, large plantings have been made on the lake side and along 

 the margin of pools, and constitute delightful features. These examples 

 are of interest as showing that if we cannot have displays of Irises equal 

 to those which have made the gardens of Hori-kiri famous, we can with 

 their aid have in this country floral pictures of wondrous beauty. 



Among the Japanese trees and shrubs that have been introduced but 

 have not as yet been planted largely, mention may be made of Magnolia 

 hypoleuca, which attains noble proportions, but does not produce its 

 handsome flowers freely until it has attained a large size; the Japanese 

 Horse-chestnut (^Esculus turbinata); the elegant Styrax japonicum; 

 Betula Maximowiczi, a handsome Beech remarkable for its large leaves 

 and yellow bark; Quercus acuta, Q. glabra latifolia, two Evergreen Oaks 

 of merit. Then there is Daphniphyllum glaucescens, one of the most 

 handsome of evergreen shrubs, and Vitis Thunbergi, which surpasses in 

 brilliancy of colouring V. Coignetice, long so popular for clothing trellises, 

 wall spaces, and tall pillars. 



With a fuller knowledge of the distinctive characteristics of the 

 many beautiful trees, shrubs, &c., that had been introduced from Japan, 

 and the increased facilities for becoming acquainted with the various 

 phases of garden design that had long found favour in that country, it 

 is not surprising that a strong desire should have been felt by many 

 owners of gardens within the British Isles to create gardens more or less 

 in accordance with Japanese ideas. Practical expression has in numerous 

 instances been given to this desire, and, as might have been expected, with 

 varying results. Where the principles governing the making of gardens 

 on the lines followed by the Japanese landscape gardeners have been 

 acted upon as closely as circumstances would permit, the result has been 

 a distinct, interesting, and pleasing addition to the pleasure grounds. On 

 the other hand, where but scant attention was given to principles, the 

 results have not been altogether satisfactory. 



The Japanese garden, as we understand the term, is not a swamp, as 

 suggested by some of the gardens that have come under our notice. 

 Neither is it a lake surrounded by an irregular belt of trees and shrubs 



