ORNAMENTAL TREES STANDARDS 31 



taint of sombre suggestion from May till October. It is a tree which 

 more often is grown as a bush than as a standard, though it must be 

 grown as the latter when used as a back-row tree. It is propagated 

 by budding on young stocks of its common form, standard high if 

 the stocks allow of that, for it is not run up so easily on a single stem 

 as the thorns, for instance. There is one peculiarity in budding 

 acers worth calling attention to and it is this : whereas in budding 

 most subjects the tying begins at the bottom and finishes at the top, 

 above the cut, it is advisable to reverse the order with the acer, 

 otherwise the bud, because of its slippery character, is displaced or 

 even comes out. 



ORNAMENTAL CRABS 



are budded or grafted as required . Some of the varieties with slender 

 growth need to be grafted standard high, but both the Siberian and 

 J. Downie are strong enough to run up into standards about equal 

 to Cox's orange apple. They should both be worked on the free- 

 growing crab stock. Almonds and Prunus Pissardi can be budded on 

 the mussel stock exactly as fruiting plums, and both will attain 

 standard height if so cultivated. The double-flowering cherry may 

 also be budded or grafted on the cherry stock. Scarlet chestnut 

 may be raised from seeds but is just as often grafted. Elms, except 

 weeping, are budded on the common elm in August, and the weeping 

 varieties are grafted on the same stock at a good height. Both this 

 and the weeping ash or willow should be grafted from 8 to 10 feet 

 high, for only by allowing a sufficient stem can the trees ever attain 

 full specimen form. 



SCARLET OAK, 



like the chestnut, may be grown from seed but it is too slow to profit- 

 ably rear standards that way, so they are grafted when grafting is 

 afoot in March. 



THORNS 



And now we have only the thorns. There is no doubt as to the 

 claim of these to be considered as ornamental trees. No other 

 flowering trees figure more largely in our gardens in the late spring. 

 Paul's double scarlet, for example, is rich and beautiful beyond words 

 a huge warm mass of colour. This variety is in much greater 



