216 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



rich loamy soil suits them best and if the soil contains 

 a certain amount of lime so much the better, for 

 Lilacs generally are fond of lime. Full exposure to 

 the sun and air is necessary and their beauty is dis- 

 played to best advantage when the plants are allowed 

 a sufficiency of space in which to develop freely. 

 They are essentially plants for northern New Eng- 

 land and regions with a similar climate; in southern 

 New England and southward the leaves in summer are 

 often temporarily disfigured by mildew. 



A decade or a little more ago it was customary to 

 propagate Lilacs by grafting them on Privet (Ligus- 

 trum) stock, but this pernicious practice has met with 

 the opprobrium it merits and to-day any dealer selling 

 plants so propagated deserves to be ostracized. It is 

 the nature of most Lilacs, and of the Common Lilac 

 in particular, to sucker freely and this alone demon- 

 strates the necessity for their being on their own roots. 

 If the plants get unshapely or too large, own-root 

 Lilacs may be cut almost to the ground with advan- 

 tage for they will spring up and soon make shapely 

 bushes again. Cuttings three to four inches long 

 of green wood taken in early June, or of thin but firm, 

 half-ripened wood taken from mid-July to early 

 August, and inserted in prepared soil or sand on a 

 spent hotbed, or in pure sand in a frame and kept close, 



