FLOWERING TREES 233 



to shade the young trees for several weeks and keep the 

 ground about them thoroughly moist. All Magnolias 

 prefer a damp soil, but will do well wherever the soil is 

 deep and rich. 



No garden would be complete without a few Haw- 

 thorns. Here we have only two the white English 

 Hawthorn or May, and Paul's Double Scarlet Thorn 

 but there are many others. The white thorn, Crataegus 

 Oxyacantha, while it is the commonest, must surely be the 

 loveliest, and I know of few things which fill the air with 

 so rare a perfume. It may be had in various pink and 

 red forms and double, but the single white is, I think, 

 the most characteristic and beautiful. The effect of 

 the tree in flower is not pure white, but almost silvery. 

 Burns sings of the Hawthorn, "wi 5 its lock o' siller 

 grey," and Shelley of the "moonlight coloured May/* 



I have a fine Hawthorn tree outside my bedroom 

 window, and not only enjoy the sweet perfume the first 

 thing upon waking, but hear the bees testifying in noisy 

 fashion to the excellence of the fare provided for them. 

 Paul's Scarlet Thorn is very brilliant when in full flower, 

 but lacks the sweetness of the other. Both, in time, 

 grow into good-sized trees but are rather leisurely about 

 it. 



A favourite among my garden trees is the Golden 

 Chain, Laburnum vulgare the variety Watererii is 

 better and in late May hangs chains of yellow pea- 

 shaped blossoms nearly two feet in length from every 



