2 /bECOPATlVE PLANTS; TREES AND SHRUBS 



Their earlier cultivation belongs to what is known as the " hard- 

 wooded " department, with its own staff, its own houses, pits, 



frames and lights, inferior neither in 

 personnel or equipment to the " soft- 

 wooded " department which claims 

 all greenhouse plants for its own. 

 But the propagation of hard-wooded 

 plants, shrubs and trees is exacting 

 work, calling for a high standard of 

 skill, obedient to the same prin- 

 ciples, but following different 

 methods to those relating to the 

 soft-wooded department. We think 

 we should be justified in claiming 

 that the mentality of the two pro- 

 pagators must differ, that is if we 

 can trust to the close observation of 

 many years, and that he who takes 

 in charge the department we are 

 now dealing with has to be capable 

 of exercising unlimited patience and 

 of never-ending watchfulness. 



The stock propagated and culti- 

 vated is destined to become parts of 

 the permanent features of the garden 

 or grounds and not subjected to 

 constant changing. The merest tyro 

 can appreciate the importance thus 

 imparted to it, for it will make or mar the prospect. Its func- 

 tions are to create the " grand effects " of light and shade, of 

 brightness or soberness, of spring-time tints and autumn glories, and 

 to make " the stately homes of England " more homely, covering 

 their nakedness, surrounding them with beauty, grace and warmth, 

 and leaving them something more than chastely cold architectural 

 piles. Further, it is called upon to furnish the appropriate back- 

 ground and setting without which the gaudiest and the prettiest 

 " summer " effects would be bare and staring. So much for its 

 uses and value. Because of this, it is being more generally recog- 



FIG. i 



Philadelphus burfordensis 



