44 THE BOOK OF SHRUBS 
during the spring months as not to need a word of 
praise being said in their favour. It is, however, 
necessary to point out that the laburnums in cultiva- 
tion differ so widely in their beauty and effectiveness 
that special care should be taken in their selection. 
Although thousands of unflowered seedlings are annually 
planted, they are utterly unfit for the garden, but seed- 
lings that have flowered are admissible when they 
produce racemes equal in size and colour to the finest 
forms that can be obtained under name. The difference 
in the cost of a seedling and a named variety will be a 
few pence only and not worth being taken into con- 
sideration. The Scotch laburnum (L. a/pinum) and its 
varieties, Parksi and Watereri, are somewhat more erect 
in growth than the common laburnum, and are two or 
three weeks later in flowering; the flowers are of a 
deep golden hue and produced in racemes ranging from 
twelve to sixteen inches in length. The two finest 
forms of the Common Laburnum (L. vulgaris) are 
giganteum, distinguished by the large size of its racemes, 
and pendulum, a weeping form, very graceful in habit, 
and remarkable for the freedom with which it blooms 
and the size of the racemes. 
The laburnums will thrive in soils of all descriptions, 
and they are very effective whether arranged in groups 
or planted singly on the lawn or in the shrubbery. In 
comparatively small gardens they should be planted 
singly and in positions where they have room to develop 
their natural characteristics. The choice varieties can 
be readily multiplied by budding or grafting, and large 
trees of inferior forms can be speedily changed in char- 
acter by grafting. Laburnums should not be planted in 
meadows or paddocks, because the seed pods are poison- 
ous to cattle and many animals have died from the effects 
of eating pods that have fallen among the grass. 
Macno.ias.—The deciduous Magnolias that attain the 
