118 



THE . FLOWEH GAEDE^. 



amuse himself with, by hybridizing and raising new 

 varieties ; as the parts of fructification are easily come- 

 at-able, they seed freely, and the result has not to be 

 waited for long. 



Guelder Rose — Snowball-tree — Viburnum Opulus — is 

 remarkable for the globular heads, consisting entirely of 

 the white sterile blossoms, which, in the wild state, grow 

 around the fertile ones. In this phase, it is called the 

 Double Gruelder Rose, and produces none of the bright 

 crimson berries which are so great an ornament to the 

 original shrub, and are so welcome to birds in hard 

 winters. Flourishes in a deep moist soil ; is easily pro- 

 pagated by cuttings, layers, and suckers. V. edule, from 

 South America, produces bright-red eatable fruit; how nice 

 it is, the writer cannot say. V. Tinus, the Laurustinus, 

 is a deservedly popular evergreen, flowering in winter ; 

 but bears slight frosts better than severe ones. In the 

 south of France it attains the height of twenty feet and 

 more. There are several varieties. Propagate by layers, 

 but better buy of nurserymen. V. odoratissimum is a 

 sweet-scented greenhouse shrub, which bears the winters 

 of Cornwall and Brittany. V. Lantana, the Wayfaring 

 Tree, with black berries and cottony heart-shaped leaves, 

 is hardy ; so is V. Lentago from North America. Other 

 species are, V. cotinifoliwn, prunifolium, pyrifolium, 

 nudum, plicatum (hardy, from China), macrocephalum 

 (ditto, sent by Fortune, — has heads of white flowers at 

 least as big as Hydrangeas), cylindricum, and ame- 

 thystinum. 



Heath — JErica. — A family, rather than a genus, of low, 

 twiggy, tufted shrubs, with curious and beautiful flowers, 

 many of which look as if they were moulded in wax or 

 blown in glass, and are one of the choicest ornaments 

 of our Grand Horticultural Exhibitions. It is a pity 

 that by far the great majority, from the Cape, will not 

 stand our winters. In pots, Heaths must have heath- 

 mould of course; be kept never too wet nor too dry, 

 in a house by themselves, exposed to no sudden changes 

 or extremes of temperature, and have the gardener's 



