90 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



are the Cape and Winter Jasmines, many Roses, For- 

 syth ia, the Fire-thorn {Pyr acanthus)^ and Cotoncaster, 

 whose soft berries, with a crimson bloom upon them, are 

 a pleasant change from the Firethorn's brilliant red and 

 the scarlet of the Holly. 



Roses certainly do better against wood than when 

 growing flush against the brick of any wall, especially if 

 it happens to be an old one : they keep more free from 

 insects. How different from Ivy, whose feelings are 

 deeply hurt and injured if it is torn from its dear walls, 

 where it so gladly feeds on lime and air, and makes a 

 clustered home for twilight moths. 



Jasmines and other plants that have the same habit of 

 growth must not be allowed to run too much to riot. 

 They should be well cut in every autumn, as soon as 

 frost is threatening ; the new growths of each recurring 

 season amply suflGice to provide the graceful trails that 

 hang about with great luxuriance, and will be full of 

 flowers. Two years running a pair of spotted fly-catchers 

 built their nests in the Jasmine-withes close to our 

 windows ; by June the new growths were already thick 

 enough to hold their tiny homes. 



A delightful plant to cover a house-wall, and one that 

 is quite content to live in London and its suburbs, is the 

 evergreen Magnolia grandifiora. Our own was planted, 

 in the first instance, against a south wall, where after- 

 wards we put a Passion-flower, and have now two kinds 

 of Jasmine. In this aspect the Magnolia did not thrive 

 at all. Then we moved it to the west, where it started 

 growth at once, and rose with wonderful rapidity house- 

 high and thickly branched. It is a lovely place for 

 blackbirds ; they never fail to build in it, so we get music 

 as well as scent ; but the birds have flown before the 

 flowers come. These bloom from August to October, 

 sweetening every dwelling-room that is near them, and 

 every one loves to watch the big white buds as they 



