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THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



employment of golden Elder and the spotted Aucuba ; the proper use for the former is not to 

 dot it about among other shrubs, but to mass it boldly in a sunny place where it can be seen 

 from a distance. It must not be forgotten that all trees and shrubs with golden foliage (the 

 Aucuba alone excepted) require unimpeded light and air to bring their colouring to perfection. 



Before I bring this chapter to an end I should like to add a few lines about the use of 

 WEEPING TREES in a garden. I know they are not universal favourites, but in my judgment 

 they are a very pleasing addition if their places be well chosen. They are not suited to belts or 

 shrubberies, as they take up a great deal of room, and suffer more in appearance from contact 

 with others than do trees of erect habit; in fact, unless I could give a weeping tree the space 

 on which to stand absolutely clear, 1 would rather be without it. Their proper place is on turf 

 as specimens, and preferably on a slope or bank and near the edge of water. Some of the 

 more beautiful are Sophora japonica, Gleditschia Bujoti pendula, Lime, Birch, Beech, 

 Elm, especially Ulmus Petersii pendula, a far preferable form to the ordinary weeping Elm, which 



DO V ASTON YEW ON BANK. 



partakes too much of the formal shape of an open umbrella, and perhaps prettiest of all the 

 seeping Acacia. It is well in buying weeping trees to choose them with as high a standard as 

 possible, as the boughs damage both the turf and themselves as soon as they touch the ground 

 Having now fulfilled the task which I set myself of saying something about the planting 

 removal, pruning, and arrangement of trees, together with some notice of the kinds most 

 suitable for an English garden, 1 feel that the time has come for me to conclude. 1 am very 

 conscious that all that I have written is sadly deficient in literary grace. There are no 

 quotations from Theocritus, or Milton, or Spenser, or Bacon; no fine writing about "the 

 immemorial Elms," or how "the rude and moss-grown Beech o'ercanopies the glade"; 

 instead, there is a succession of bald facts, of the truth of most of which I have satisfied 

 myself by actual experience, extending over about a quarter of a century, as an amateur 

 arboriculturist; hence arises the obvious result that what I write cannot interest anyone except 

 those who have the same tastes and pursuits. However, should any of my suggestions prove 

 useful, I shall be more than content. 



