FEBRUARY 23 



wood from Viburnum plicatwn. The stuff cut out 

 makes quite a respectable lot of faggoting. How 

 extremely dense and hard is the wood of PhUadel- 

 phus! as close-grained as Box, and almost as hard 

 as the bright yellow wood of Berberis, 



Some of the Lilacs have a good many suckers from 

 the root, as well as on the lower part of the stem. 

 These must all come away, and then the trees will 

 have a good dressing of manure. They are greedy 

 feeders, and want it badly in our light soil, and surely 

 no flowering shrub more truly deserves it. The Lilacs 

 I have are some of the beautiful kinds raised in 

 France, for which we can never be thankful enough 

 to our good neighbours across the Channel. The 

 white variety, "Marie Legraye," always remains my 

 favourite. Some are larger and whiter, and have 

 the trusses more evenly and closely filled, but this 

 beautiful Marie fills one with a satisfying conviction 

 as of something that is just right, that has arrived 

 at the point of just the best and most lovable kind 

 of beauty, and has been wisely content to stay there, 

 not attempting to pass beyond and excel itself. Its 

 beauty is modest and reserved, and temperate and 

 full of refinement. The colour has a deliciously- 

 tender warmth of white, and as the truss is not 

 over-full, there is room for a deKcate play of warm 

 half-light within its recesses. Among the many 

 beautiful coloured Lilacs, I am fond of Lucie Baltet 

 and Princesse Marie. There may be better flowers 



