148 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



a few of which picked off and placed in a shallow 

 saucer will fill a room with fragrance. The cor- 

 nelian cherry (Cornus Mas), which grows from 

 ten to fifteen feet high, follows very soon with 

 its bright little yellow clusters, which ripen later 

 into fruit. Mezereon, when it has donned its 

 mauve-purple garments, is charming planted in 

 groups of six or eight well-grown bushes, and 

 attracts the first-coming bees. The tassel bush 

 (Garrya eliptica) is both evergreen and winter- 

 flowering, and though it may not succeed in all 

 parts of the country without the protection of a 

 wall, is too attractive to pass over where there is 

 a hope of its doing well. Some of the early rho- 

 dodendrons are valuable, like the crimson R. noble- 

 anum, the flowers of which will stand some frost 

 without injury ; and so are the smaller but free- 

 flowering R. dauricum and R. prcecox, though 

 both are apt to be a little too venturesome, and 

 suffer in consequence. Camellias, as is now well 

 known, are hardier than the common cherry laurel, 

 but require a little shelter to preserve their flowers. 

 For all such early-flowering shrubs it is not diffi- 

 cult, by careful planting in a large shrubbery, to 

 contrive sheltered bays where they would have a 

 reasonable chance of protection from cold winds, 

 more harmful than even frost, and which by break- 

 ing in upon the even tenour of its length would 

 add greatly to its delights. 



Japanese quinces (Cydonia) may be in flower any 

 time between Christmas and May; but March 

 should usher in the almond, after which comes a 

 long procession of fruit blossom, double and single 



