THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL. 



best in all northern countries. The White 

 Poplar is beautiful in colour as a river- 

 side tree, and superb in form when well 

 grown . The supposed pyramidal variety 

 of it is not so good or so lasting. The 

 Green Poplars of the French rivers are 

 also beautiful, though none are quite so 

 pretty as the common Aspen. TheLom- 

 bardy Poplar is sometimes very fine in 

 valleys near water, but is apt to sicken. 

 The Grey Poplar comes next to the 

 White in beauty, and the Black Poplar 

 is often grand beside water. 



Some of the American marsh trees 

 are very pretty near water, in particular 

 the one called the Tupelo, of which there 

 is a fine tree at Strathfieldsaye, lovely in 

 colour in autumn; but the summer leaf- 

 ing trees of the American woods have 

 been much neglected since the vogue for 

 planting Conifers came in, so that we can 

 point to few examples of good results in 

 our country. 



The Western Arborvitae and the 

 Hemlock Spruce thrive in wet ground, 

 as does the Norway Spruce and the Sitka 

 Spruce. We resort to trees of the Pine 

 tribe to clothe sandy or stony hills, but 

 it is as well to know that we are not 

 obliged to confine ourselves to Willows, 

 Alders, and Poplars, on low and wet 

 land, if for any reason we prefer ever- 

 green trees. In southern parts of Britain 

 where (after its first youth is past) the 

 Norway Spruce is often a failure, it will 

 yet grow well trees beside streams and 

 in wet bottoms. The Sitka Spruce — a 

 valuable tree — is good also, and the 

 Douglas Fir thrives in the hollows of wet 

 woods. Even the Silver Fir, a tree that 

 is not always happy in stiff and dry soils, 



we have seen making a fine growth near 

 water, and our native Yew is not averse 

 to the waterside where dense evergreen 

 covert is desired. The Red Cedar also 

 grows well near water and gives dense 

 cover. S. 



The "Laurel" a Usurper. — The late E. W. 

 Cooke, the artist, has a few words about this 

 which cannot be too often repeated: — "There 

 is no plant perhaps that deserves the title of 

 'usurper' more than what is generally called 

 the common Laurel. No doubt this fine, free- 

 growing evergreen is one of the most desirable 

 of shrubs when kept in its appropriate place, 

 viz., where it has ample space— in large shrub- 

 beries, or under trees on the margins of woods 

 and copses, or flanking the carriage drive and 

 boundary fence; for nothing can be better as a 

 dense lowbackground, a shelter from winds, or 

 a screen from unsightly objects and buildings, 

 offices, &c. In accordance with the ordinary 

 ideas of gardening, this shrub is the first ob- 

 tained from the nursery, as it is also the cheap- 

 est, to adorn the approach to the dwelling or 

 the limited garden at the rear. Placed usually 

 in the very front of the border, and quite close 

 to the walk, it grows most rapidly into a vigor- 

 ous shrub, its shoots often attaining in a single 

 season to 3, 4, or even 5 feet in length. It is 

 impossible to exaggerate the evil of which this 

 rampant shrub has been the cause; the smaller 

 conifers, such as Thujas, Junipers, and delicate 

 Cypresses, as well as Bays, Laurustinus, Arbu- 

 tus, Rhododendrons, and Roses, and other re- 

 fined and compact shrubs, are constantly found 

 to be quite hidden or destroyed by its wealth 

 of shoots. I must confess that I have enjoyed 

 the utmost satisfaction in ordering h undreds to 

 be cut down and carted away, thus not only 

 developing to the view many better things, 

 but opening the finest vistas and distant peeps 

 of scenery. This vaunted, self-called Laurel is 

 really no Laurel at all; it is simply a species of 

 Cherry [Prunus Laurocerasus) , and has no right 

 to trench upon the classical, noble family of 

 ' Laurus,' which, without doubt, is one of the 

 most valuable in the vegetable kingdom, being 

 spicy, warm, fragrant, and including Laurus 

 nobilis, or Sweet Bay." 



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