MY SHRUBS 77 



and ascending to the roof tree of a Cornish mansion on a southern 

 wall. The little scarlet and yellow flowers of this choice climber 

 are very dazzling and effective. 



Margyricarpus setosus, from the Andes, sows its own white 

 berries, and is always with me. It has no great charm or interest, 

 and makes but a struggling thing on the rock- work. 



Medicago arborea, a lucern with orange pea-flowers and very 

 ornamental foliage, is an excellent and distinctive shrub for a 

 sunny wall. I have lost this good European, and must renew 

 my acquaintance. 



Melaleuca, of Australia, has failed me too often. I have tried 

 various species, and M. hypericifolia really looked happy until 

 there came a winter that struck death through his coverings. 

 Now another species is wrestling with another winter, and offers 

 little hope, though under a snug west wall in peat. Perhaps the 

 peat is the mistake, and a drier compost would suit it better. 



Melia floribunda will, I trust, prove hardy. It is a variety of 

 M. Azedarach, and had that good plant's fragrant lilac blossoms, 

 and bipinnate foliage. I have but a little piece, and suspect it 

 is a slow grower in our climate. M. Azedarach y the bead tree, is 

 beautifully figured in the "Botanical Magazine," and has long 

 been a common object of cultivation in the East and through 

 South Europe. The nuts are threaded for rosaries, " to assist 

 the devotion of good Catholics, for which purpose they are 

 peculiarly suited, having a natural perforation through the centre," 

 says Curtis. What we want, however, is a nut to assist the 

 devotion of bad Catholics. 



Melianthus major is among the most beautiful shrubs for a 

 warm corner of the garden and its mass of great glaucus foliage 



