26 



THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE. 



interest ; it might be improved and added to from time to 

 time^ but the original expense would be nearly all. 



Pass by this rather sheltered nook^, and come to a gentle 

 knoll in an open spot. Here we will make a group from 

 that wonderful rosaceous family which does so much to 

 beautify all northern and temperate climes. And what a 

 glorious bouquet it might be made, with American and 

 European hawthorn s_, double cherries^ plums_, almonds, pears^ 

 double peaches, &c., need hardly be suggested. You would 

 here have a marked family likeness prevailing in the groups^ 

 quite unlike the monotony resulting from planting, say, five 

 or six thousand plants of Rhododendron in one spot, as is 

 the fashion with some ; for each tree would differ conside- 

 rably from its neighbour in flower and fruit. Then, having 

 arranged the groups in a picturesque and natural way, we 

 might finish off with a new feature. It is the custom to 

 margin our shrubberies and ornamental plantings with a 

 rather well-marked line. Strong-growing things come near 

 the edge as a rule, and many of the dwarfest and prettiest 

 spring- fiowering shrubs are lost in the shade or crowding 

 of more robust subjects. They are often overshadowed, 

 often deprived of food, often injured by the rough digging 

 which people usually think wholesome for the shrubbery. 

 Now I should take the very best of these, and extend them 

 as neat low groups, or isolated well-grown specimens^ not 

 far from, and quite clear of the shade of, the medium-sized 

 or low trees of the central groupings. The result would 

 be that choice dwarf shrubs like Ononis fruticosus, Prunus 

 triloba, the dwarf peach and almond, Spirsea prunifolia fl. pi., 

 the double Chinese plum, and any others of the numerous 

 fine dwarf shrubs that taste might select, would display a 

 perfection to which they are usually strangers. It would 

 be putting them as far in advance of their ordinary appear- 

 ance, as the stove and greenhouse plants at our great flower 

 shows are to the ordinary stock in a nursery or neglected 

 private garden. It would teach people that there are many 

 unnoticed little hardy plants which merely want growing in 

 some o|)en spot to appear as beautiful as any admired New 

 Holland plant. The system might be varied as much as 



