WISTARIAS AS STANDARDS AND BUSHES, 



3*3 



But perhaps the most novel form of 

 the Wistaria is that of a bush or small 

 standard. Nothing is easier than to have 

 even very small plants which every year 

 will be covered with bloom, and when 

 we see them closely these plants show a 

 disposition to flower abundantly on the 

 old wood. In fact, it is rare to see them 

 flowering anywhere else but on the old 

 wood, resembling in this respect the ma- 

 jority of fruit trees. We must therefore 

 induce certain parts of these plants to 

 mature their buds ; this is easily done by 

 breaking off the growing shoots a little 

 above their insertion, so as to transform 

 their base, as we do when we similarly 

 break off the buds of Apple and Pear 

 trees. Ifthe shoots have not been broken 

 off sufficiently short, we may, during the 

 pruning season in spring, cut back al- 

 most to the old wood. So treated it is 

 possible to have Wistarias which are not 

 more than 5 feet in diameter and height, 

 although over twenty years old. Every 

 year at flowering time, notwithstanding 

 this change of form, they disappear for 

 a fortnight under a mass of bloom, and 

 form one of the most beautiful effects. 

 By planting alternately the forms with 

 blue and white flowers we increase their 

 beauty by the pleasing contrast of colour. 

 French gardeners are particularly clever 

 in their management of trained plants 

 of all sorts, and though in some cases 

 the natural beauty of the plant is spoiled 

 by such treatment, this way of growing 

 theWistaria deserves to be better known, 

 for few plants are finer in standard form, 

 or more easily trained to it. There are 

 indeed many ways of enjoying the beau- 

 ty of this Queen ofclimbing shrubs. B. 



THE EASTERN CYPRESS 



( Cupressus sempervirens) . 

 This lovely tree is, unfortunately, not very 

 hardy in our country, and, although often 

 planted in mild districts, it is seldom seen in 

 others. But here and there we have been 

 struck by its beauty; as lately at Ickworth in 

 Suffolk, which at first sight might not seem to 

 be a county in which one could expect this 

 tree to attain to any size. But the trees at Ick- 

 worth are very fine and the effect they give to 

 the garden quite distinct and charming. So 

 that here we have encouragement that, where 

 the soil is warm and free as in Suffolk, and the 

 climate not too severe, this effect of the Eastern 

 Cypress may be enjoyed. In our country it 

 rarely grows to any great size, but there are 

 trees in Italy and the East known to be many 

 hundreds of years old (as at Rome and in Lom- 

 bardy) and 1 00 feet or more in height, perfectly 

 erect, and beautiful as in the Guisti Gardens at 

 Verona. The received opinion now is that in 

 all the countries where it now grows so freely, 

 to the west of Greece and Turkey, it has been 

 introduced. A statement by Pliny, that in his 

 time there were standing at ? Rome some Cy- 

 presses that were even more ancient than the 

 city itself, would seem rather to lead to the in- 

 ference that our tree must have been native 

 there; for although there had been some at- 

 tempts at colonisation or settlement between 

 Greece and Italy prior to the arrival of y£neas 

 in Latium, they do not seem to have been of 

 such a character as would have included horti- 

 culture as one of their elements. Still, on the 

 other hand, Pliny tells us, without qualifica- 

 tion, that the Cypress was introduced from 

 Greece to Tarentum. 



This Cypress has been grown in England 

 for 300 years at least, but there are a few trees 

 of great age. There are two varieties of this 

 species distinguished by their habit of growth, 

 a difference which becomes more distinct as 

 the tree gets older, one upright the other 

 spreading and forming, when old, something 

 like a head. In former years it used to be a 

 vexed question whether these two were dis- 

 tinct species or only varieties, but there is 

 scarcely any question as to this now. We have 

 become more familiar with the vagaries of the 

 Cvpress tribe, and we know that similar differ- 



