354 Foreign Trees and Pla?its [July, 



gentlemen's gardens ; and there is no doubt that many shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants, which we never think of attempting to grow 

 except under protection, might, with a very little care and attention, 

 become permanent denizens of our gardens and shrubberies. Pro- 

 bably few are aware that the common Camellia will stand with 

 impunity an ordinary English winter. Mr. Mongredien says that 

 " if protected during the first two or three years after being planted 

 out, and when once established, it proves in the climate of London 

 quite as hardy as the common laurel, and blooms as profusely as in 

 a conservatory. It is true that, from its habit of flowering early 

 in the spring, the blossoms are sometimes damaged by the nipping 

 easterly winds, but this occurs only in unfavourable seasons ; and 

 even if the tree never flowered at all, its lovely foliage would still 

 make it one of the most beautiful evergreens of which our gardens 

 can boast. A plant of the variety Donkelarii has stood out for 

 twelve years in a garden at Forest Hill with a northern aspect, 

 without the slightest protection during the severest winters, and 

 now forms a good-sized bush, densely clothed with magnificent 

 foliage. The Camellia ought to be planted out in every garden, 

 and with a little attention for the first year or two, it would prove 

 quite hardy, at least in the more southern counties, and each 

 season it would increase in attractiveness." 



The climate of the south of England is far more congenial to 

 the introduction of foreign trees and shrubs than that of the 

 northern counties, not from the greater severity of the winters in 

 the north, for the minimum temperature of the year is often as 

 low in Kent or Hampshire as in Yorkshire or Northumberland, 

 but from the shorter and cooler summers. Many plants absolutely 

 require a considerable period of high temperature to enable them to 

 ripen their wood sufficiently to withstand the winter frosts, and 

 especially to induce them to flower. In many parts of Scotland, 

 however, the climate is as favourable to horticulturists as in any 

 district of England. In the Duke of Sutherland's estate at Dun- 

 robin, on the east coast of Sutherlandshire, Hydrangeas, myrtles, 

 and other half-hardy plants, grow as freely and as unchecked out 

 of doors as they do in Devonshire or Cornwall. The equalizing 

 effect of the Gulf Stream on the temperature is no doubt the cause 

 of this special immunity from frost. The proximity of the sea- 

 coast is not generally favourable to the growth of trees and shrubs, 

 not so much from the saltness of the air as from the prevalence of 

 high winds, which are very injurious to growing vegetation. Young 

 and tender shoots which will bear a moderate amount of cold, will 

 sometimes be scorched as if by fire by a tempestuous night. 



Mr. Mongredien's book is intended as a repertorium of every- 

 thing connected with the choosing, planting, and treatment of Eng- 

 lish and foreign trees and shrubs, and contains an immense mass 



