326 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



evergreen Oak. We have collected within the past 200 years ever- 

 green trees from all parts of the northern world, but it is doubtful if 

 any of them are better than the common Yew, which when old is 

 often picturesque, and which lives for over a thousand years. Of this 

 great tree we have many varieties, but none of them quite so good as 

 the wild kind when old. In the garden little thought is given to it 

 and it is crowded among shrubs, or in graveyards, where the roots are 

 cut by digging, so that one seldom sees it in its true character when old, 

 which is very beautiful. The Golden Yew is a variety of it, and there 

 are other forms one of which, the Irish form, is well known, and too 

 much used. 



After the Yew, the best of our evergreen shrubs is the Holly, 

 which in no country attains the beauty it does in our own ; certainly 

 no evergreen brought over the sea is so valuable not only in its 

 native form, often attaining 40 ft. even on the hills, but in the 

 varieties raised from it, many of them being the best of all 

 variegated shrubs in their silver and gold variegation ; in fruit, too, 

 it is the most beautiful of evergreens. Not merely as a garden tree is 

 it precious, but as a most delightful shelter around fields for stock in 

 paddocks and places which want shelter. A big wreath of old Holly 

 undipped on the cold sides of fields is the best protection, and a 

 grove of Holly north of any garden ground we want to shelter is the 

 best evergreen we can plant ; the only thing we have to fear being 

 rabbits, which when numerous make Holly difficult to establish by 

 barking the newly-planted trees, and in hard winters even barking 

 and killing many old trees. As to the garden, we may make 

 beautiful evergreen gardens of the forms of Holly alone. 



Notwithstanding the many conifers brought from other countries 

 within the past few generations, as regards beauty it is very doubtful 

 if more than one or two equal our native Fir. In any case few things 

 in our country are more picturesque than old groups and groves of the 

 Scotch Fir ; few indeed of the conifers we treasure from other 

 countries will ever give us anything so good as its ruddy stems and 

 frost-proof crests. 



Again, the best of evergreen climbers is our native Ivy, and the 

 many beautiful forms that have arisen from it. This in our woods 

 arranges its own beautiful effects, but in gardens it might be made 

 more use of, and no other evergreen climber comes near it in value. 

 The form most commonly planted in gardens the Irish Ivy is 

 not so graceful as some others, and there are many forms varying 

 even in colour. These for edgings, banks, screens, covering old trees, 

 and summer-houses, might be made far more use of. In many 

 northern countries our Ivy will not live in the open air, and we rarely 

 take enough advantage in such a possession in making both shelters, 



