GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



this irreverent offspring must be sacrificed. Shrubs 

 of symmetrical habit should be kept in the right and 

 narrow path by judicious pruning. All dead and 

 unsightly wood should be removed without fail. Again, 

 with some shrubs, as the Forsythia, it is necessary 

 to remove the spent flowering wood as soon as the 

 bloom is over. Pruning, in truth, should be a matter 

 of special observation in connection with each shrub. 

 Experience alone teaches when and to what extent 

 they will brook shearing, and also that many prefer 

 to be left untouched. 



The Hercules club, Aralia spinosa, claims a certain 

 dominion over many garden builders, — not, however, 

 for its flowers, but for its extreme grace of personality. 

 Its enormous compound leaves are very picturesque 

 and the shrub grows rapidly into an imposing lawn 

 specimen. It is also much used at the back of lower 

 growing shrubs. It likes rich, somewhat dry soil and 

 does not care to encounter too strongly the atmos- 

 phere of the sea. When planted about two hundred 

 feet away from the water, I have noticed it cringe and 

 show exceedingly feeble spirits. Yet, the same shrub 

 and another that had died down to the ground came 

 up in renewed splendor when transplanted to the 

 outskirts of a garden at the rear of the house and 

 considerably farther back from the sea. 



Almost every group of shrubbery includes the 

 mock orange, known by its waxen, sweet-scented 

 flowers. Philadelphia coronarius is the one familiar 

 to all, recalling by its wafts of strong fragrance the 

 romance of many an old-time gateway. There are 



[68] 



