EVERGREEN SHRUBS 125 



hardy under the stress of American seasons ; certainly 

 not as hardy as deciduous shrubs. There is no intention, 

 on the author's part, to discourage the planting of ever- 

 green shrubs. Far from it, for he would plant just as 

 many as he could afford, with due respect to the appear- 

 ance of the place ; but he would do it always with the 

 feeling that they should be set in sheltered places, and 

 under the protection, but not shade, of neighboring trees, 

 and he would feel proportionally proud if he succeeded 

 in growing them, and not too much cast down if he did 

 lose one now and then. 



It would be only fair, after making such a broad 

 statement about the tenderness of evergreen shrubs, to 

 produce at once the apparently necessary exception to 

 every rule, in the instance of the two special hollies of 

 America and Japan, known respectively by the name ilex 

 opaca and ilex crenata. It may be said, without fear of - 

 contradiction, that these hollies, when they are once suc- 

 cessfully transplanted and vigorous, are entirely hardy, 

 and in the case of the Japanese species the transplanting 

 is easily effected. The American holly is shy in this re- 

 spect, and needs coaxing, by transplanting at an early age, 

 but, like its Japanese relative, since it does not come 

 to maturity early, it retains its full beauty for a long 

 period of time. If the reader wishes to realize what its 

 beauty can become under favorable circumstances, he 

 should visit some of the natural holly groves of New 

 Jersey, and see, in March, when vegetation is all dor- 

 mant, a number of hollies, twenty feet high, bearing 

 large, picturesque, shining leaves, disposed in graceful 

 masses, and further adorned with numerous large, 

 bright-red berries, borne in full beauty from the past 

 fall. It is hard to conceive of any sensible reason that 



