272 PLANTS PROPER FOR UNDERWOOD, 



be used with great success to adorn the woodland. 

 One of these is the common purple Lilac, which is 

 easily propagated, very hardy, grows well under the 

 shade of trees, and is by no means delicate with re- 

 gard to soil. This shrub may be planted at any 

 time, from November to March, and should be from 

 two to three feet high when removed from the nur- 

 sery. Twenty or thirty plants of it put into rich 

 garden soil will, in the course of a few years, furnish 

 as many suckers or offsets as will be sufficient for a 

 considerable extent of woodland. In the latter it is 

 not necessary to plant the lilac very thick, for it has 

 a great tendency to increase, and one set will soon 

 fill the ground with its suckers to a considerable dis- 

 tance all around it. It is its prolific nature that ren- 

 ders it peculiarly valuable for dwarf underwood ; as 

 by means of it the bare appearance which is so of- 

 fensive to the eye in grown wood may be remedied 

 quickly, and at a trifling expense. When in bloom, 

 it looks extremely gay ; and though its commonness 

 takes away from its effect when we see it in a gar- 

 den or shrubbery, nothing can be better calculated 

 for enlivening the gloom and loneliness of a forest. 

 The lilac should be planted in pits, and the offsets 

 should not be too much divided. 



The dwarf Laburnum is another species well qua- 



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