392 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
and becoming deciduous when exposed. It does 
not mind the smoke of towns, and will thus help 
to make green the most dismal corners: whilst, 
if it be provided with good and moist and very 
loamy soil, it will thrive to perfection; and though 
it becomes deciduous in open places, it will make 
amends for its loss of winter foliage by thicker 
clustering and taller growth in the succeeding 
spring and summer. It can be raised from 
seed; but a speedier method of propagating it 
will be to plant its cuttings. 
As we commonly see it in town gardens, cut 
into unnatural shapes, the Privet is but a bushy 
shrub; allowed free play it will become a Tree, 
and though small in stature—not often exceeding 
ten feet in height—a thing of beauty. Its leaves 
are arranged on their stems in opposite pairs, are 
smooth on their surfaces, rather dull than glossy, 
with entire or even edges, small and_lance- 
shaped, having conspicuous mid-veins proceeding 
in almost straight lines from their very short stalks 
to their pointed apices—the branch veins not being 
very conspicuous. Its funnel-shaped four-petalled 
flowers are borne on compound racemes—main 
