XI 

 THE LAURELS 



Prunus laurocerasus . . Cherry Laurel 

 lusitanica . . . . Portugal Laurel 



r ~"1HE Common Laurel ranks with the privet, 

 the box and the aucuba as among the com- 

 -^- monplaces of our garden. Undoubtedly some 

 merit can be denied to none of these shrubs, least of 

 all to the Laurel, but their ubiquity is a pity. It 

 denotes lack of imagination, it starves our garden of 

 colour and brilliance, and it prevents other and worthier 

 shrubs from finding a footing. In its place, however, 

 a place that should be strictly limited, the Common 

 Laurel must claim our admiration. One cannot deny 

 the felicity of the poet's lines " To a Favourite - 

 Laurel." 



"There is a solemn aspect in thy shade, 

 A mystic whisper in the evening gales 

 That murmur through thy boughs." 



Its heavy, glossy foliage those leathery leaves off 

 whose shining surface the soot of a town is so easily 

 swept by a passing shower makes it eminently suitable 

 to fill in shaded nooks and screen unsightly corners in 



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