96 LAWN AND SHADE TREES. 



kept in a pit frame during winter, and placed in the out-door 

 shrubbery on approach of spring. The flowers produced in 

 May of* our native varieties are almost white, varying to a pink, 

 while those of the pontica are a bright yellow. Writers say they 

 must have peat soil in order to succeed, but we have found any 

 good loamy soil to answer, provided w r e mulched it with leaves 

 or leaf mold. The same soil and care suitable for growing 

 rhododendrons answers well for azaleas. 



The AMORPHA. There are a number of varieties of the 

 amorpha or bastard indigo, all more or less ornamental, both 

 from their foliage as well as their long spikes of blue or purple 

 flowers produced in July and August. Their stems occasionally 

 die after three or more years old, hence they should always be 

 grown in the bush form, cutting out the oldest stems from year 

 to year. Any good garden soil will answer for them, provided 

 it is not too wet or too dry. 



The variety nana is the most dwarf, growing only one to two 

 feet high ; gldbra, growing four to six feet ; and fragrans, eight 

 or more feet in height. They are all good for planting on the 

 borders of water-streams or ponds, and also for strong contrasts 

 and backgrounds in masses. 



The AMELANCHIER. Under the common name of shad bush, 

 the amelanchier vulgaris is well known and admired, when in 

 early spring its peculiarly- formed flowers cover the tree, as it 

 were, like a white sheet. It is then seen at a distance as beau- 

 tiful as any of the magnolias, and when planted so that some 

 evergreen shall be contiguous and form its background, no 

 plant creates more universal attention or admiration. It makes 

 a small tree of from twelve to twenty feet high. 



The JUNE BERRY A. 'botryapium has also white flowers in 

 April, hanging in pendulous racemes ; the bark and wood more 

 smooth, and the tree of not quite as large growth as the shad 

 bush. It is a very desirable small tree for door-yards or small 



