106 



PEACTICE OF GARDENING. 



blossoms, but by the constant verdui'e of their foliage, 

 throw a charm over the winter scene, when all nature 

 around appears desolate and inanimate. These, there- 

 fore, should be cultivated in preference to any deciduous 

 flowering shrubs, as it is important, in a small garden, 

 to grow only such plants as wHl afford the gi-eatest variety 

 of ornamental objects at all seasons of the year. 



The larger kinds, such as common laurels, Portugal 

 laurel, holhes, sweet bays, arbutus or strawberry tree, 

 bos, and others, though all of them exceedingly orna- 

 mental, are too large to be numerously admitted into small 

 gardens, except their growth be constantly checked by 

 annual pruning. Still, the dwarf kinds of hollies, the 

 strawberry tree, and the box, and, in warm districts, the 

 sweet bay, generally grow sufficiently small for gardens 

 of moderate size, while the Portugal laurel and the 

 common hollies may be pruned into any form according 

 to taste, as also may the box or yew ; but the common 

 laurel generally grows too straggling to be worthy of intro- 

 duction into small shrubberies. All these may be -pro- 

 pagated with facility by layers, and will thrive in almost 

 any soil, provided it is not too dry ; a moderately stiff 

 loamy soil being most suitable. 



In planting out evergreens, it is important that this 

 operation should be performed in the autumn or winter 

 months (from September to November is the best time) , 

 and that particular care should be taken not to injure the 

 root-fibres in removing them, as well as to take them up 

 with as much earth as possible about the roots. By 

 attention to these particulars, and choosing a dull and 

 cloudy day for planting them, they may be removed with 

 safety, even though they should be twenty feet in height ; 

 but small plants will undoubtedly succeed best. If the 

 numerous interesting species of pine, fir, and cypress 

 may be allowed a place in the garden, the two former 

 can only be multiplied either by seed or inarching, and as 

 the latter is by far the most expeditious method, it must 

 be performed by an experienced gardener, and the plants 

 so treated will need shading till they have become firmly 

 united. In other respects, they require precisely the 

 same treatment as those before mentioned. 



