THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



361 



Court, or Irish Yew, and of this there are golden and 

 silver variegated forms. Fructu luteo only differs 

 from the common Yew in having "bright golden-yellow 

 instead of scarlet fruits ; when laden with its fleshy, 

 brightly-coloured fruits, this is very ornamental. 



Thuja. — The different species of this genus are 

 perfectly hardy in Britain, and thrive under very 

 varied conditions ; some of them are amongst the 

 most useful of evergreen shrubs, owing to the 

 numerous uses to which they can be put. 



T. gigantea, a fast-growing, tall, slender tree, with 

 glossy, bright green foliage, is a native of North- 

 western America, where it attains a height of 100 to 

 150 feet. Under cultivation in this country it is 

 very ornamental, planted either singly or in masses, 

 and is one of the best shrubs for forming quickly a 

 dense evergreen hedge. It does best in a damp soil, 

 provided it is not waterlogged. There are several 

 forms, differing slightly from the type in colour, 

 habit, &c. 



T. occidentalis is the common American Arborvitas 

 of gardens ; it has brownish- green leaves, which 

 become browner as winter approaches — it is only in 

 the growing season that the foliage is green. This 

 is found on the opposite side of the North American 

 continent to the previously-named species, and in a 

 wild state occurs in swamps and, along the rocky 

 beds of streams. It makes a small tree, with a 

 trunk one to three feet in diameter, and twenty to 

 fifty feet in height. Zutea and Vervaeneana are two 

 of the handsomest varieties, the young growths 

 being a fine golden - yellow. Pendula only differs 

 from the type in its curious weeping habit. 



T. plicata, the Siberian Arborvitas, occurs in 

 Siberia and North-west America. It closely re- 

 sembles T. occidentalis, but is a smaller and more 

 compact tree, more regularly pyramidal in outline, 

 and with shorter branches. Several forms of this 

 are in cultivation, but they are not striking enough 

 to merit special mention here. 



T. Standishii is a fine Japanese species with flat, 

 slender, pendulous branches, clothed with closely 

 imbricating, yellowish-green leaves ; it is said to 

 attain a height of from forty to sixty feet, according 

 to the soil and situation in which it grows. 



Thujopsis is a beautiful Japanese tree, with 

 leathery, bright green leaves — bright green above 

 and silvery beneath. "In a young state, until it 

 attains a height of from fifteen to eighteen feet, 

 nothing handsomer can be conceived ; the branches 

 assume a pendulous habit, the lower ones trailing on 

 the ground ; when it becomes a tree from forty to 

 fifty feet, its symmetry and beauty are much 

 diminished ; the lower branches die off, leaving but 



a mere tuft at top." It appears to prefer shady moist 

 situations, the foliage being more luxuriant than 

 when exposed to the sun. T. dolabrata is the only 

 species ; hetevirens is a smaller grower than the 

 type, with smaller, lighter green leaves ; variegala 

 resembles the type in habit, and only differs from it 

 in having the tips of - the branchlets pale yellow or 

 cream-colour. 



Tsuga. — The plants now placed here were for- 

 merly included under Abies ; there are half a dozen 

 species, two of them Asiatic and the rest North 

 American. The Himalayan T. Brwnomoma is only 

 hardy in the South of England ; the rest are interest- 

 ing ornamental evergreen trees, well worth growing, 

 and quite hardy. 



T. Canadensis is the common Hemlock Spruce ; in 

 a young state this is a beautiful tree of pyramidal 

 habit, though less handsome than its near ally, T. 

 Mertensiana, which grows to double the size ; in a 

 wild state the latter attains a height of from 100 to 

 200 feet, whilst the former hardly exceeds from 

 seventy to eighty feet. 



T. Hookeriana and T. Pattoniana are two nearly- 

 allied plants ; the first-named has glaucous, some- 

 what silvery leaves, whilst the latter has light 

 green foliage. 



T. Sieboldii is a beautiful small- growing Japanese 

 tree, with the habit and general aspect of the Cana- 

 dian Hemlock Spruce, but with larger leaves of a 

 brighter and more cheerful colour. 



THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



By D. T. Fish. 



THE FIG. 



A MAJORITY of the failures in the out-door 

 culture of the Fig have arisen from a slavish 

 adherence to in-door methods. Hence the wisdom of 

 starting on a radically different tack. For example, 

 under glass, as Mr. Coleman has shown, two or more 

 crops a year are the rule, in the open air one only. 

 Under glass the young shoots should be stopped 

 once or several times, out of doors they are best un- 

 stopped. In-door Figs in full bearing can hardly 

 be over-fed or over- watered ; in the open air, a 

 starving regimen is the key to success. Under glass, 

 good soil and liberal top- dressings are useful ; in the 

 open air, the soil cannot well be too poor or too dry. 



Site and Soil. — The warmer and drier the 

 former the better. A south wall, and a sloping- 

 bank, with a sharp pitch to the south or the south- 

 west, thoroughly drained, forms the best site. The 



