586 EVERGREEN TREES AND SBRUBS. 



The Variegated-leaved Box-trees, B s. argentea and B. s, 

 aurea, are, as their names imply, simply marked with white or 

 yellow-edged leaves. In the shade these markings are incon- 

 spicuous, and in the full sun they have not a healthy appearance,, 

 so that, on the whole, they are of less value than the un-variegated 

 sorts. There is a variegated-leaved boxwood tree in the old 

 Bartram garden, south of Philadelphia, which is eighteen feet in 

 height, twenty feet in breadth, with a trunk ten inches in diameter^ 

 the form resembling that of a common .afipte tree, but with light, 

 pendulous spray, and dfiUcate foliage, making altogether a very 

 charmiqg smsiA tree. It is probably about a hundred years old. 



The Dwarf or Garden Boxwood, B. s. suffruticosa, is usually 

 seen from six to eighteen inches in height, but grows to a massive 

 bush if allowed time for expansion. There is a specimen in the 

 grounds of Miss Price, at Germantown, Pa., eight feet in height 

 and twelve feet in greatest extension, that is an exquisite mound of 

 the richest verdure from the lawji to its crown. No other ever- 

 green shrubs form so naturally into smoothly-rounded surfaces, or 

 present such a velvety tone of foliage, as bid dwarf box-woods. 

 They rarely attain their full size, or best tone of color, except where 

 partially shaded, and are not quite hardy away from the sea-coast 

 north of Philadelphia, though grown with partial success in all the 

 northern States, and in Upper Canada. Edgings are made with 

 cuttings of one year's growth, and should be protected at the north 

 in winter for many years after they are set. June is the best time 

 for trimming them. The dwarf-box forms an exquisite little shrub 

 when grown alone, and is planted less than it deserves to be. 



THE RHODODENDRONS. Rhododendron. 



Rhododendrons are indigenous on both continents. They form 

 shrubs from one to ten feet in height, the breadth ordinarily about 

 equal to the height, with thick, glossy, smooth -edged leaves, of a 

 slender elliptical form, three to five inches long. Their flowers are 

 borne in terminal clusters close to the leaves, the separate flowers 

 varying from one inch to two inches in diameter, and the clusters. 



