26 WOOD AND GAKDEN 



able for their beauty in winter, when their extremely 

 graceful shape, less visible when in loveliness of spring 

 bloom or in rich bounty of autumn fruit, is seen to 

 fullest advantage. 



Few in number are our native evergreens, and for 

 that reason all the more precious. One of them, the 

 common Juniper, is one of the best of shrubs either 

 for garden or wild ground, and yet, strangely enough, 

 it is so little appreciated that it is scarcely to be 

 had in nurseries. Chinese Junipers, North American 

 Junipers, Junipers from Spain and Greece, from Nepaul 

 and Siberia, may be had, but the best Juniper of all 

 is very rarely grown. Were it a common tree one 

 could see a sort of reason (to some minds) for over- 

 looking it, but though it is fairly abundant on a few 

 hill-sides in the southern counties, it is by no means 

 widely distributed throughout the country. Even this 

 reason would not be consistent with common practice, 

 for the Holly is abundant throughout England, and yet 

 is to be had by the thousand in every nursery. Be 

 the reason what it may, the common Juniper is one 

 of the most desirable of evergreens, and is most un- 

 deservedly neglected. Even our botanists fail to do 

 it justice, for Bentham describes it as a low shrub 

 growing two feet, three feet, or four feet high. I quote 

 from memory only ; these may not be the words, but 

 this is the sense of his description. He had evidently 

 seen it on the chalk downs only, where such a portrait 

 of it is exactly right. But in our sheltered uplands, in 



