56 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



double yellow form. It is more vigorous and 

 hardier than the whites, and its flowers are 



borne in larger and more 

 Varieties. numerous clusters. They 



come in May in long sprays 

 of flowers about the size of a double Cherry, 

 faintly fragrant, and beautiful when cut, the 

 pretty divided foliage being light and grace- 

 ful. The small double-flowered white kind 

 also does well in many places and is quite as 

 pretty as the yellow, though not quite so hardy, 

 with foliage of a lighter green, and flowers 

 borne in looser trusses of fewer but more frag- 

 rant blossoms, their odour being compared to 

 Violets ; one form in which it is more marked 

 is known as odoratissima. Fortune's large- 

 flowered Banksian, though a big grower, is not 

 so good, its flowers being less graceful and not 

 so freely produced. The simple-flowered forms 

 of the small Banksiansdonotseem to be grown 

 in England, though the single yellow is fairly 

 common in the south of France and very pretty 

 in effect. In growth it is not so vigorous as 

 the double kind, and is therefore of less value 

 for English gardens, attractive though it is in 

 form. B. 



THE LOCUST TREE {Robinia)* 

 Though old trees in English gardens, 

 which have passed through periods of 

 neglect, the Locust Tree in its many 

 forms is beautiful, and the introduction 

 of new kinds has increased its value. 

 From a planting and landscape-garden- 

 ing point of view the trees are precious 

 for their fine fresh verdure in summer 

 and autumn, distinct in that way from 

 any trees, and the form of old Locust 

 Trees in groups is very nne, and quite 

 apart from that of other trees. Some 

 of the newer varieties are very little used 

 as yet in planting in our islands, so their 

 values are little known. Hardy and free 

 in most ordinary soils, they are most 

 useful to those who have to plant on 

 poor, dry, and hungry ones where other 



trees might starve. Few trees have had 

 to endure more in the way of ill-timed 

 pruning, which destroys their charac- 

 teristic beauty of outline. The habit of 

 grafting many of these kinds has much 

 to answer for in this respect, for the 

 wood of the Locust Tree snaps easily in 

 i rough wind and that often at the point 

 of union ; in order to reduce this risk 

 of damaged heads they are often cut in 

 rather closely, although at the loss of 

 much of their beauty and flower. This 

 trimming can easily be avoided , at least in 

 the lower growing kinds, by pinching 

 the young shoots while still tender, at 

 intervals during the summer. This gives 

 but little trouble, and the habit of the 

 plants is improved, with a greater show 

 of flower as the result ; for such fragile 

 kinds as the Hairy LocustTree this way 

 of growing is often the secret of suc- 

 cess, and gives a very different result to 

 the usual harsh clipping during winter. 

 Warm light soils are best for all kinds of 

 Robinia, though they will grow in al- 

 most any ground that is not constantly 

 wet,and they are never finer than in times 

 of drought ; but they should not be ex- 

 posed to rough winds, nor do they grow 

 so freely further north as in the south 

 of England. The common form of Ro- 

 binia is naturalised over a great part of 

 Europe, being very common in France. 

 The four or five species are all from 

 North America as native to the Eastern 

 and Southern States ; only one kind is 

 found in the west. 



The Rose Acacia [Robinia hispidd). — For 

 beauty of flower this is the best species, its 

 pendant racemes of rosy-purple flowers freely 

 borne during early summer, in rich contrast 



* With coloured plate from a drawing by H. G. Moon at Kew. 



