HARDY SHRUBS. 153 



this species, make very symmetrical specimens. Ttiey are more florifer- 

 ous ttian the American liinds. Some of the best are C. o. alba-plena, 

 double white; C o. punicea-plena, double scarlet; C. o. bicolor, pink 

 edged with white; C. o. rosea, pink with white claw. They are increased 

 by budding or grafting upon seedlings of the type. The seeds do not 

 germinate until the second year from sowing, consequently they should 

 be mulched in Summer to prevent drying out. 



C. pyracantha is the evergreen Thorn. The fruits are the principal 

 decorative feature of this shrub; they are of a beautiful scarlet color, 

 remaining on the branches during Winter. C. p. Lelandi has bright 

 orange-scarlet fruit — a very ornamental and quick-growing variety. 



CRYPTOMERIA JAPONICA (Japan Cedar).— With us this is one of the 

 most satisfactory of the evergreen coniferae. It looks well in a 5-inch pot, 

 and from that to a specimen 30 feet high. It varies very much, there 

 being nearly a dozen well-defined varieties. In the New England States it 

 is not thoroughly at home as a tree, and this condition is not to be met 

 with until we get as far South as Maryland. As a pot-grown plant it 

 is very little inferior to the costly Norfolk Island Pine ( Araucaria ex- 

 celsa,) and it can be gotten up in quantity at less than one-tenth the 

 cost of the latter. Cuttings root well if put in by the end of October, in 

 a cool sand bed. They can be inserted large enough so that by the 

 middle of May following they will be ready to be shifted into 5-inch 

 pots. Although plants raised from cuttings make the best furnished 

 plants for using in pots, seedlings, If grown on without a'check, furnish 

 plants within a year from sowing, which will not look too small in 5- 

 inch pots. The seed should be gathered as soon as ripe, which it usually is 

 about October 15, else there is danger of it being lost through the cones 

 bursting open, the seed falling out through a little disturbance of the 

 branches. For sowing, prepare shallow boxes of firmly pressed soil — 

 loam, leaf mould and sand in equal proportions will suit. Sow the seed, 

 not too thickly, and cover with half an inch of screened leaf soil and 

 sand; put near the glass in a temperate house. They will germinate 

 the first half of January, and can remain in the boxes, if not sown too 

 thickly, until the end of May. Pot off singly or three in a 3-inch pot at 

 first, using sandy soil. Keep in a growing temperature until they are 

 too large for small pots. The plants will stand in cold frames during 

 the Winter in most places without hurt, other than a slightly yellowish 

 tinge to the leaves, but where they are wanted to make marketable 

 plants in as short a time as possible from the seedling stage, they should 

 be kept in a cool house where, if suitable rooting conditions are provided, 

 they will make rapid progress during the Winter months. 



CYDONIA JAPONICA (Japanese Quince).— The common form will give 

 good flowering specimens from seed. The finer varieties may be grafted 

 on seedhngs of the type. Cuttings of the ripe wood taken in the Fall and 

 stored till Spring are rooted successfully. It is also raised from cuttings 

 of the roots, from suckers and by layering. There is a form with varie- 

 gated leaves and pale flowers, also a pure white and double red. They 

 are among our most desirable hardy shrubs, coming into bloom along 

 with the Forsythias and Jasminum nudiflorum. 



