236 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



spikes, loosely set with rosy flowers, appear in 

 the autumn, but the plant rarely blooms in 

 Britain. S. Europe. 



Armed Acanthus (A.spinosus).—& hand- 

 some plant of fine habit, with much-cut leaves, 

 the divisions of which end in short white spines ; 

 the foliage remains fresh all winter in mild 

 seasons. The spikes appear in August, reach- 

 ing 5 or 6 feet, with small purplish flowers 

 thickly set ; leaves and stems slightly hairy. 

 S. Europe. 



List of Species. — Acanthus arboreus, Egypt ; Barteri, 

 tropical Africa ; candelabrum (unknown) ; ca'pensis, South 

 Africa ; carduaceus, Himalayas ; Dioscoridis, Syria ; ebrac- 

 tcatus, tropical Asia ; hirsutus, Asia Minor, ilicifolius, tro- 

 pical Asia ; imbvicatus, Further India ; Kirkii, Angola, 

 leucostachyus, East India; longibracteatus, Burmah ; longi- 

 folius, South Europe ; longipctiolatus, Burmah ; mollis, South 

 Europe ; montanus, tropical Africa ; niger, Portugal ; niti- 

 dus, tropical Africa ; polystachyus, tropical Africa ; rubens, 

 North America ; spathularis, North America ; spinossissi- 

 mus, S. Europe ; spinosus, Europe ; syriacus, Syria ; tetra- 

 gcnus, Abyssinia; vents (unknown) ; volubilis, East India. 



THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL. 

 HOME LANDSCAPE AND HOME 

 WOODS. FURTHER NOTES ON 

 THE OAK. 



In the journalistic English of the day and 

 in many books with much pretence of 

 "science "-the use of long words is tak- 

 ing hold so deeply that confusion arises 

 from it. There is a mania for needless 

 definitions, and it is common nowadays 

 to speak oi" sylviculture" and " arbori- 

 culture" 'as if they were different things. 

 In a recent and otherwise interesting 

 book by Mr. E. Step there is an apt ex- 

 ample of this tendency in the use of the 

 terms " mercantile" and "aesthetic" in 

 speaking of two points of view from 

 which to regard forestry : — 



" But, after all, it is the trees that have been planted by 

 Nature that give the greatest pleasure, apart from commer- 

 cial considerations — the lonely Pine, that grows in rugged 

 grandeur on the edge of the escarpment where its seed was 

 planted in the crevice by the wind ; the Oak that grows out- 

 side the forest, where a squirrel or a jay dropped the acorn, 

 and where the young tree had room all its life to throw out 

 its arms as it would ; the little cluster of Birches that springs 

 from the ferns and moss of the hillside. All trees so grown 

 develop an individuality that is not apparent in their fellows 

 of the timber forest ; and however we may delight in the 



peace and quiet of the forest, with its softened light and 

 cool fragrant air, we can there only regard the trees in a 

 mass. . . . Nature mixes her seeds and sows them broad- 

 cast over the land she intends to turn into forest, that the 

 I more vigorous kinds may act as nurses, sheltering and pro- 

 tecting the less robust. . . . The timber-producer aims at 

 so controlling the struggle for existence that the survival of 

 thefit is maintained from start to finish. He plants his young 

 trees in regular order, putting in nurses at intervals and 

 along the borders, intending to cut them down when his 

 purpose has been served. The timber trees are allowed no 

 elbow-room, the putting forth of lateral branches is dis- 

 couraged, but steady upward growth and the production 

 of ' canopy ' is abetted." 



But forests of both kinds are beautiful 

 — natural and planted — and there is no 

 hard and fast line between the two, al- 

 though, as in all living things, there is 

 some difference in degree. Nature plants 

 not only the "lonely Pine " but also the 

 vast forests of Canada, California, British 

 Columbia, Auvergne, and many other 

 countries. Some of the most beautiful 

 woods in Kent, Sussex, and Hants are 

 for use only, undergoing periodical cut- 

 tings. None the less, whether in effect 

 upon the landscape or examined closely, 

 they are beautiful, though there may be 

 bad as well as good ways of managing 

 them. Oak woods may occupy broken 

 ground (the best place for them), and 

 often no good "rides" are ever made 

 through them, the only means of access 

 being the tracks made by keepers. By 

 planninglines of access in such woods it 

 is easy to open them up in beautiful ways 

 without lessening the value of the tim- 

 ber, the soil of these rides being fully 

 used by the roots of the trees. This plan, 

 if well done, also gives us ready access 

 to the wild flowers of the district, which 

 are often far finer in their effect than 

 those of gardens. I remember being in 

 an Oak wood with the late Robert Mar- 

 noch, who knew as much about gardens 

 from the aesthetic point of view as any 

 man who ever worked in them. It was 



