124 



THE ELOWER GARDEN. 



Devonshire. Large Orange-trees, in cubical boxes ? 

 sometimes as much as three or four hundred years old, 

 wintered in an orangery, and placed in conspicuous posi- 

 tions in the pleasure-ground during summer, form a 

 striking feature in Continental gardening. They belong 

 exclusively to the grand style of the Art, and demand 

 considerable labour for their removal to and fro, and 

 constant care in pruning and attendance. Those who 

 have seen the Orange-trees in the gardens of the 

 Tuileries and the Luxembourg at Paris will not easily 

 forget their effect. The best Prench gardening-books 

 should be consulted by those who desire to learn full 

 details of their treatment. 



Lilac — Byringa vulgaris. — The common species has a, 

 pure white variety of less robust habit and growth. The 

 Trench have raised and cultivate several others, one of 

 which has leaves mottled with white and yellow. S. JPer- 

 sica, the Persian Lilac, is a smaller and slenderer shrub, 

 with looser, more drooping heads of flowers, more aro- 

 matically perfumed. This also has a white variety ; and 

 another, S. Sangeana, is highly esteemed. The Persian 

 Lilac forces well, both as pot-plants and to furnish cut 

 flowers for bouquets. Less known Lilacs are S. dubia, a 

 native of China; S. JosiJcce, discovered in Hungary, in 

 1828, by the Countess Eosalie Josika. S. JEmodi, a new 

 Himalayan species, resembles the Persian Lilac, but with 

 more numerous flowers. The Lilacs produce plenty of 

 suckers, and are propagated still more rapidly by layers : 

 the rarer kinds are grafted on the common. 



3£ezereo?i. — See JDaphne. 



Myrtle — Myrtus communis (of which there are broad- 

 leaved, narrow-leaved, variegated, and double-blossomed 

 varieties) — in point of hardiness is much on an equality 

 with the Camellia, resisting the winters in many parts of 

 Cornwall, Devonshire, and Ireland, with this difference, 

 that, flowering later, it blooms safely and abundantly in 

 the open air. In most parts of England, Myrtles must 

 be kept in the greenhouse during winter. The single 

 flowers produce berries, from which seedlings may be 



