NOVEMBER 125 



' The primrose yet is dear, 

 The primrose of the later year. 

 As not unlike to that of spring. ' 



— In Memoriam. 



In the general absence of flowers in November, there 

 is a special value in two shrubs, which in favourable soils 

 are now in full flower. These are the laurustinus and 

 the dwarf gorse. The laurustinus lives "with me, but 

 never flowers well ; perhaps it does not like the abun- 

 dance of lime in the soil, yet I know it in great beauty 

 growing on pure oolite ; but nowhere do I see it more 

 flourishing or more covered with flowers than in one of 

 my outside gardens on the red sandstone. It is nearly 

 related to our guelder-rose and the wayfaring tree, 

 but is not a British plant, though a very old favourite 

 in English gardens. It comes chiefly from Southern 

 Europe, but is quite hardy, except in the severest 

 winters, when it gets cut down, but not killed; but 

 when frosted the smell is most ofi'ensive and far-reach- 

 ing. There is a variety with shiny leaves and large 

 flowers {V. lucidum), which I have seen in the Isle of 

 Wight and Devonshire, like large bushes of Kalmia, 

 but it is rather tender. The dwarf gorse, Ulex nanus, 

 seems also to like the sandstone formation. It is 

 closely allied to the common gorse, but lies prostrate 

 on the ground, and flowers in the autumn. It would 



