36 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



and Araucarias, these last grown, as is usual also 

 in Belgium and in the south of France, from 

 cuttings. Tastes will differ in such matters,but 

 a few stray seedlings amongst the rest were far 

 more graceful in appearance than the stiffer 

 large-leaved plants, which throw a rank of 

 heavy leaves from the very base ; true this con- 

 ceals the pot but it gives the plant an artificial 

 appearance. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect 

 of the existence of this and other huge plant 

 factories is, that they prove that the love of 

 plant and flower has taken a firm hold upon 

 our city populations, and cannot fail to react 

 insensibly to the well-being of the nation. In 

 view, also, of the enterprise and method dis- 

 played in this great plant-growing centre, it is 

 refreshing to learn that, spite of hostile tariffs, 

 foreign customers are not wanting for produce 

 of so uniformly high a standard, making it cer- 

 tain that in the event of the enforced lowering 

 of such barriers our growers need not fear to 

 hold their own with continental nurseries. — B. 

 The Garden of Damascus. — "Wild as the nighest 

 woodland of a deserted home in England, but with- 

 out its sweet sadness, is the sumptuous Garden of 

 Damascus. Forest trees, tall and stately enough, if 

 you could see their lofty crests, yet lead a bustling 

 iife of it below, with their branches struggling 

 against considerable numbers of bushes and wil- 

 ful shrubs. High, high above your head, and on 

 every side all down to the ground, the thicket 

 is hemmed in and choked up by the interlacing 

 boughs that droop with the weight of roses, and 

 load the slow air with their damask breath. The 

 Rose trees which I saw were all of the kind we 

 call damask — they grow to an immense height and 

 size. There are no other flowers. Here and there 

 are patches of ground made clear from the cover, 

 and these are either carelessly planted with some 

 common and useful vegetable, or else are left free 

 to the wayward ways of Nature, and bear rank 

 weeds, moist-looking and cool to your eyes, and 

 freshening the sense with their earthy and bitter 

 fragrance. There is a lane opened through the 

 thicket, so broad in some places that you can pass 

 along side by side — in some so narrow (the shrubs 

 are tor ever encroaching) that you ought, if you can, 

 to go on the first and hold back the bough of the 

 Rose tree. And through this wilderness there tum- 

 bles a loud rushing stream, which is halted at last in 

 the lowest corner of the garden, and then tossed 

 up in the fountain by the side of the simple alcove. 

 This is all. Never for an instant will the people of 

 Damascus attempt to separate the idea of bliss from 

 these wild gardens and rushing waters. — Eothen. 



THE GREATER TREES OF THE 

 NORTHERN FOREST.— No. n. 

 THE WHITE WILLOW [Salix 

 alba) . 



If asked to name our most beautiful 

 native tree I should name the White 

 Willow. It is not popular with planters, 

 but if one wanted to make a picture 

 of an ugly marsh or bare stream bank 

 where is the tree that would do it so 

 well in a few years ? Happily it plants 

 itself over the valleys and by the rivers 

 of nearly all European countries ; in the 

 valleys of France and in our country, 

 especially towards the east, it is abun- 

 dant. Whether we plant in woodland, 

 wet or marshy places, or beside pools in 

 parks, or by the side of streams, every- 

 where it helps us with good effect ; the 

 very opposite of the Oak in its elegance, 

 lightness, and colour. Where the tree 

 grows well by rivers or lakes, tall trees 

 of it may often be seen 80 feet high and 

 from 12 to 15 feet girth. Where dis- 

 tinct effects are sought from a planta- 

 tion it is necessary to keep off browsing 

 animals. I was once proud of putting 

 1,800 Willows beside the sources of the 

 upper Medway , but I did not count with 

 cows, rabbits, and water-rats, and I do 

 not think that more than two dozen of 

 the trees survive. 



If any thought of artistic planting, 

 in the best sense of what is right and 

 natural, ever enters the mind of men in- 

 stead of the muddle mixtures of our day, 

 the White Willow will take a high place, 

 for no "Olive silvery Sirmio" has a more 

 beautiful effect than the White Willow, 

 well planted, gives on marsh, river- 

 bank, or rich bottom land. It faces the 



