248 



SHRUBBERIES AND FLOWER-GARDEX9. [CHAP, 



great Park, immediately adjoining that barrenest of all spots, 

 Bagshot Heatii, there are laurels of eight-aud-twenty feet high ! 



I never saw them anywhere so large as there. Portugal 



Laurel. — Lat. Prunus Liisitanica. Another evergreen, and 

 common enough in England. It is from Portugal, and blows a 

 white flower in June and July, and then produces blackish berries, 

 thinly disposed on its flower-stalk. It will grow to twelve or fif- 

 teen feet high (and much higher when raised from seed), forming 

 a round head like an apple-tree, and having a not inconsiderable, 

 though very short, trunk. Propagated from layers or seed ; the 

 seed should be sown as soon as ripe in beds. Any soil almost 

 will suit it, but it likes a good deep one best. Laurel^ Alex- 

 andrian. — Lat. Ruscus racemosus. An evergreen shrub from 

 the south of Europe, w hich is about tw o feet high, blow s, in June 

 and July, a flower of a yellowish colour, and the fruit is a beauti- 

 ful red berry. It is propagated by seed, but most commonly by 

 separating the roots (which should be strong) in February or 

 jNiarch. It likes a sandy earth, and will thrive in a shady situa- 

 tion. 



375. LIME-TREE.— Lat. Tilia Europcea. A hardy tree of 

 England, France, Sweden, and other parts of Europe. It would 

 grow to a good height, except that it is generally kept short in 

 gardens, that the branches may grow thicker and form a shade. 

 Blows a yellow flower in May and June. Propagated by cut- 

 tings, and sometimes by seed, and likes a soil of good depth. 



376. LILAC, common. — Lat. Syringa vulgaris. A shrub from 

 Constantinople, about twelve feet in height, blows, in May, a violet- 

 coloured, or white flower. — Lilac, Chinese. — Lat. S. Cki?ie?isis. 

 A shrub originally from China. Has a violet-coloured flower. 

 Not so tail as the foregoing. — Lilac, Persian. — Lat. S. Per- 

 sica. A shrub from Persia, about eight feet high, and, in 

 May, blows a light purple flower. They are all to be propagated 

 by shoots, suckers, or layers, and they like good deep soil. 

 They are very proper for shrubberies, but the first sort in parti- 

 cular is too tall for the fronts of them. 



377. LOCUST.— Lat. Pseudo -acacia. A timber-tree of North 

 America, which I mention here on account of its being one of the 

 most ornamental of our tall shrubbery trees, both owing to its 

 handsome foliage, and its handsome and abundant clusters of 

 white flowers. It is propagated from seed, which is sometime? 



