342 



MV GARDEN. 



Fig. 78s.-^Bryonia dioica. 



advice, I procured some, and found the statement to be correct. We 

 have now generally a good brood of young swans, which feed so 

 greedily upon this weed, that but little remains in my water. The 

 female plant alone exists in this country, and the flower is shown in 

 the wood engraving. 



Amongst the climbing plants we have the Bryony {Bryonia dioica, 

 fig. 785), a plant which, when old, has a root as large as two or three 



parsnips. Its growth is particularly elegant, 

 and an occasional plant is welcome amongst 

 the shrubs. 



Not so beautiful in growth, but having a 

 finer effect in fruit, the Nightshade {Solanum 

 Dulcamara, fig. 786) rears itself over the shrubs, 

 and produces its enticing scarlet bunches of 

 poisonous berries. It is so great an ornament 

 amongst shrubs, that I have not the heart to 

 extirpate it. 



We have two beautiful flowering plants which are great pests, as 

 they will make their appearance where they 

 are not wanted. One is the common Convol- 

 vulus, or Bindweed, which in my garden attains 

 the height of twenty feet in a single season, 

 and then sends forth its charming white flowers. 

 The best way to destroy it is constantly to 

 pull off its young shoots during spring and 



summer. Doing this once or twice will not Fio. 786.-SoIanum Dulcamara 



hurt the plant, any more than we hurt our asparagus plants by 

 decapitating them ; nevertheless, by perseverance the plant becomes 

 exhausted. The other climbing plant which is a great pest to us is the 

 Wild Hop, as it will pertinaciously grow over our hedges. It is very 

 beautiful, but destroys the hedge, and so we are obliged to treat it as 

 we do the Wild Convolvulus. 



We are also troubled in places with that most exquisite flower the 

 Lesser Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis, fig. 787). Tliis grows in the 



