FLOWERING AND ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 25 



Flower beds should be kept free from weeds, and 

 watered occasionally in the summer. In the autumn 

 they should be covered with straw or light litter ; this 

 should be taken off in the spring, and the ground 

 should be hoed and dressed in such a manner as to 

 enliven the earth around the roots of the plants, as 

 also to give the whole a neat appearance. # 



FLOWERING AND ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. 



arbrisseaux d'ornement. 



Shrubs are so closely connected with flowering 

 plants, and indeed so many of them are embellished 

 with flowers, that they may be considered as essential 

 to the completion of an ornamental garden. They are 

 all perennial, and are divided into two classes, decidu- 

 ous and evergreen ; the former lose their leaves in 

 the winter, the latter only shed them when others 

 are ready to supply their places. Shrubs are not only 

 necessary to the embellishment of a flower garden, but 

 many kinds of them are eligible for hedges to it, and 

 may be planted at a trifling expense. These hedges 

 should be frequently trimmed and trained, the sides 

 cut even, and the tops sparingly clipped, so as to 

 make them ornamental, as well as useful, and also to 

 increase the vigour of their growth. When the hedges 

 become open or naked at the bottom, they should be 

 plashed down ; this is done by cutting the branches 

 half through near the ground ; they will then bend 



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