248 GARDENS: THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



of the railway carriage, a long list of happy natural effects 

 can thus be noticed. This, of course, is a short cut, a 

 somewhat unromantic means to an end ; for quiet days 

 of exploration in woods and fields, of peaceful intercourse 

 with Nature, are the real and lasting lessons. Those 

 who wish to prepare for such observations should read the 

 chapter entitled " Flowering Trees and Shrubs and their 

 Artistic Use" in W. Robinson's "English Flower- 

 Gardens." 



Let us briefly pass in review a few notes made during 

 rapid journeys through France and Italy. Between 

 Dieppe and Paris, with all the excitement and delight 

 consequent upon arrival in a new land, have we not often 

 seen the masses of juniper and broom ? Beneath them, 

 tall green hellebores give relief from the whiteness of the 

 chalk soil. Then near Amiens .and Beauvais are large 

 groups of juniper between the narrow-cut terraces which 

 allow of cultivation upon the steep hillside, and with them 

 upon the banks are masses of Prunus, which has white 

 blossom in April and red-bronze foliage later in the year. 

 These, together with the light foliage of acacias, form a 

 very delightful colour combination. 



Near Etaples the bushes of Hippophce rhamnoides 

 (which sounds less formidable under its name of sea- 

 buckthorn), with their orange berries, remind us that this 

 shrub should be more largely planted in our south-coast 

 gardens. The woods, too, in the North of France are 

 full of a Salix repens, a bush with a dark green 

 appearance and a shiny leaf, somewhat resembling box. 

 A quantity of mistletoe upon the poplar-trees suggests a 

 profitable, and at the same time harmless, way of grow- 

 ing it, which is preferable to weakening the strength of 

 apple-trees. 



As we speed on near Paris, silver-stemmed birches, 

 elegant and graceful, spring from an undergrowth of 



