THE LABURNUM. 39 



the leaves. The flowers seem to come out of the solid 

 wood, and are of a pea shape and of a red colour. 

 Tradition says that this is the tree Judas hung himself 

 on (?). It may be so, as the tree comes from that 

 quarter of the world ; and probably, being of an orna- 

 mental kind, it was planted around Jerusalem. The 

 tree is certainly an ornamental one for outer planta- 

 tions. It may be propagated by seed, sown in deep 

 seed-pans of fine maiden soil and peat, and set in a mild 

 heat in the spring. It should be hardened off as soon 

 as it is well up, and finally planted out into good and 

 fine earth. The rarer sorts may be grafted. 



The Sumach. 



The Sumach is an ornamental and large-growing 

 shrub. S. cotinus is a very beautiful-foliaged plant. 

 If it is grown rapidly (which it will do fast enough if 

 in good soil), and trained up with a clean straight stem 

 to about 8 or 10 feet, and then stopped, it will form a 

 head which, when well grown for a season or two, and 

 in leaf, will present a very noble appearance on the 

 lawn as an isolated object. It is rarely that we see the 

 Sumach to advantage. 



The propagation of this species is by seed sown in 

 deep seed-pans of fine soil, or by suckers and layers. 

 The roots will form plants if made into cuttings, and 

 every bit of root will make a plant if dibbed into the 

 ground in the early spring. 



The Laburnum. 



There are many varieties of the Laburnum, but none 

 more deserving of notice than the common Scotch. The 

 common Laburnum is one of the most beautiful trees 

 we possess of itself, and is too well known to need any 

 description here. But there is one thing deserving of 

 especial notice in this genus which we seldom or never 

 see, and that is, the common Laburnum serves for 

 stocks on which many varieties of the Cytisas may be 



