BAY TREE 27 



remain till the following spring. The seeds should 

 be carefully dried, mixed with sand, and stored in 

 an airy, dry loft, sowing taking place about the first 

 week in April, though in some nurseries the seeds 

 are not sown for twelve months after being collected. 



Bay Tree 



(Laurus nobilis) 



MANY persons are under the impression that the 

 Sweet Bay Tree is peculiarly suited for smoky 

 localities, the idea being fostered by the large pot 

 and tub specimens that are to be seen at many of 

 the hotels and other public buildings throughout the 

 Metropolis. Although the Bay has few equals as 

 a standard pot or tub specimen, the foliage being 

 neat and sweetly scented and the general appearance 

 highly decorative, yet that it has distinct advantages 

 in the way of doing battle with an impure atmosphere 

 is not borne out by facts. It may and does succeed 

 for a time, and, being a general favourite, is replaced 

 when showing signs of distress, thus giving the casual 

 observer the impression that it has special advantages 

 for using in close, confined, and smoky parts of our 

 towns and cities. Where expense of renewal is a 

 matter of little moment, and a decidedly ornamental 

 specimen shrub is required, by all means plant the 

 Sweet Bay. Its cultural requirements are simple, but 

 the soil in which it is growing as a pot or tub plant 

 must be kept uniformly damp. It is, comparatively 

 speaking, an expensive shrub. In suburban districts 

 good examples of the Bay Tree may be seen, as at 

 Waterlow Park and Golder's Green. 



