288 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



the trees closer together, and so gain- ( 

 ing those stately columns, good effect, 

 and timber if we want it. If there is not 

 room to group each kind of tree sepa- 

 rately there is no reason why different 

 Pines should not be grouped together. | 

 Much of the time and energy of writers 

 and students is wasted in the attempt to j 

 draw distinctions where none exist, and | 

 from the abysmal profundities of Kant 

 to the last issue of some publications i 

 dealing with the simple facts of country 

 life this needless confusion exists. At- j 

 tempts are made to set up distinctions 

 in kind where it is only a question of 

 degree. We have the hen to eat and 

 the exhibition hen, which proved so dis- 

 tressing a bird to Sir Henry Thompson; 

 we have men endeavouring to separate 

 garden from exhibition Roses ; critics 

 who write of all sorts of "schools" in 

 art instead of showing the harmony j 

 with Nature of all true work in art; | 

 and now books of woodcraft show the 

 same mistaken tendency, and instead 

 of making writings about wood work 

 simple and clear, a jargon of German 

 and bad English is used to make them 

 as obscure, pedantic, and learned-look- 

 ing as possible. The tree growing by 

 itself, as our English trees often do, 

 is discussed on " arboricultural princi- 

 ples"; trees growing over the fence in 

 the wood are grown under another set of 

 principles called " sylvicultural." This 

 and much like talk is very apt to confuse. 

 Some of the noblest trees for beauty as 

 well as size are in the forests, and I would 

 much rather have Oaks from the forest 

 of Marly or Bercy in the pleasure-gar- 

 den than any merely bushy tree usu- 



ally grown therein. All this tall talk 

 simply means that the greater trees of 

 the northern forest should be grown as 

 they are found in natural forests gener- 

 ally; i.e.y close enough together to get 

 the true form and stature of the central 



i*t ^f«, 



stem. w 

 CESTRUM (CLUSTER FLOWER). 



Some half-century ago many of these beautiful 

 South American shrubs came first to this coun- 

 try, and were for a while much grown, but the 

 desire for soft-wooded and hardy plants has in 

 a measure ousted them from gardens. As wall 

 or pillar shrubs they are handsome, easy to 

 grow, and free in flower at a time when flowers 

 are getting scarce, so that where room can be 

 spared, the best of them are quite worth a place 

 under glass ; but being strong growers, whe- 

 ther planted out or grown in pots, they must 

 have room in which to develop. Their pendant 

 branches, bearing heavy clusters of flowers, are 

 brilliant and graceful, their colour ranging 

 from white and orange to crimson, purple, scar- 

 let, or blue. As pot plants they may be grown 

 in the open during summer and early autumn, 

 and in mild districts some of them may be 

 planted out against a sheltered wall, or the co- 

 lumns of a sunny verandah ; but they are best 

 as pot plants, or grown in a good greenhouse 

 or conservatory border, where they can receive 

 abundant air and sun during summer, ample 

 root space, and a genial winter temperature. 

 When fully grown they should be well cut 

 back each spring, as soon as growth begins ; 

 strong new shoots from beneath are thus en- 

 couraged to replace the old wood, which never 

 flowers well a second time. Being gross feeders 

 they should be topdressed and richly fed when 

 in active growth, lessening supplies towardsau- 

 tumn, when the growths ripen and the flowers 

 appear. On the Riviera (where they are best 

 known under their old name of Habrothamnus) 

 they form beautiful bushes reaching 12 to 15 

 feet in height, and flowering in the greatest 

 profusion, the flowers coming in the autumn 

 in great tassels from the end of every shoot, be- 

 neath which the stems are weighed down ; and 

 again in spring, when smaller clusters appear 

 from every joint and side-shoot. In many cases 



