359 



The Arborvitse, especially the Asiatic section, are 

 very thrifty. No idea can be formed of the beauty 

 of a large and well grown Golden Arborvitse (Biota 

 aurea,) and it is well appreciated. We have many 

 specimens in this neighborhood ten feet in height, 

 well filled from the bottom, and as symmetrical as 

 if the topiary artist had taken great pains to train 

 it. For hedges, the Biota stricta is much used. It 

 does not brown in winter as Thuja occidentalis. 

 Seedlings from Biota aurea are now much used as 

 hedge plants. 



Biota Jilrformis pendula forms a singular tree 

 with its thread-like branches. B. Meldensis is of 

 most rapid growth, but liable to turn brown at the 

 first cold weather. The Thuja ericoides, of which 

 we have specimens five feet high, is a beautiful 

 dwarf variety, but also liable to brown in winter. 

 The Thuja gigantea, of which I have seen speci- 

 mens twenty feet in height, is a truly magnificent 

 tree, and of rapid growth. Thuja Lobbi is a sub- 

 variety of gigantea, very compact and beautiful. 

 But the King of all this class is the Libocedrus de- 

 currens. Nothing more admirable can be found. 

 One must see specimens twenty-five feet high, to 

 form a correct opinion of what this tree really is. 



The Callitris cupresaiformis, Frenela Yentenati, 

 Libocedrus Doneana, are liable to be injured by 

 spring frost. Our finest specimen of the former, 15 

 feet high, was entirely killed by a spring frost in 

 March. 



The Cryptomeria grows remarkably fast, but 

 turns brown in winter, and from that cause has 

 never been popular. The Callitris quadrivalvis rivals 

 in beauty with the Biota aurea, but it is sometimes 

 injured by spring frosts. 



For the Taxince^ we have few varieties that are 

 thrifty. The English and Iri.-,h Yews are of very 

 slow growth, and we can only grow the broad-leaved 

 sections with success. 



Podocarpus Japonica is very desirable, as it grows 

 quite rapidly. Torreya taxifolia^ a native of Flori- 

 da, seems to do best in its native locality. I have 

 never seen any good specimens as far North as 

 Augusta. 



But the great treasure of our horticulturists con- 

 sists in the endless varieties of 



BROAD LEAVED EVERGREENS. 



First, the \Acacia dealhata, as a tree of rapid 

 growth and exquisite delicacy of foliage, stands fore- 

 most. It will grow to twenty feet in height in 3 

 j^ears, and when loaded with its multitude of golden 

 flowers, contrasting with the Ashy hue of its foli- 

 age. The only regret we have, is that it is not 

 hardy everywhere. It was injured three years since 



in March. This is the only variety of its class that 

 is hardy here, although most of the Ingas are hardy 

 about Tallahassee. 



The Camellia stands the coldest winters uninjured, 

 and a specimen of twenty feet in elevation, well- 

 trained and covered with hundreds of flowers, is a 

 sight not uncommon in the vicinity of Charleston 

 and Savannah. The colored varieties are hardier 

 than the white, as regards resistance to frost in the 

 flowers, but the plant itself is never injured by frost, 

 although it suffers sometimes from the heat in sandy 

 soils. 



Many plants, like Ardisia, Abutilon, Acacia po- 

 pignac. Daphne odorum, etc., will stand through 

 our winters if they are planted on the North side of 

 a building, so as to keep the sun from them as much 

 as possible. In this way we are enabled to grow 

 many varieties of plants which would not stand if 

 planted where they have the full sun. 



The Cape Jasmine is much used as a hedge plant, 

 and can be trimmed in any shape. The dwarf va- 

 riety. Gardenia radicans, makes a neat plane for 

 edging large flower beds. Tiiey are most readily 

 propagated by layering. 



The Euonymus japonica is the general favorite as 

 a hedge plant, and extensively used for that pur- 

 pose. Many persons plant the cuttings, as prac- 

 ticed for the Boxwood at the North. 



The Ligustrums, Illicium, Photinea, make beau- 

 tiful evergreen trees ; the latter is particularly ef- 

 fective in the spring when covered with a multitude 

 of flowers. The Cerasus Caroliniensis, a native of 

 Georgia and South Carolina, is a beautiful tree, and 

 can be used to advantsge, either as single specimens 

 or as a hedge plant for tall hedges, such as to pro- 

 tect tender plants, or as screens for buildings, etc. 

 Cerasus Laurocerasus thrives admirably, but not so 

 with the C. Lusitania, which^is s metimes injured 

 by frost. Both are much attacked by a borer, sim- 

 ilar to that of the Peach. 



The plant that, with Euonymus, adapts itself best 

 to the topiary art, is the Pittosporum tohira which 

 is a most desirable variety. The green grows 

 with more rap.dity than the variegated. During 

 the winter and spring months our gardens are per- 

 fumed with the exquisite odor of the Olea fragrans 

 and it is justlj^^ a universal favorite. We have spe- 

 cimens fifteen feet high. 



But our fragrant shrubs do not end there. The 

 Laurustinus, Yiburnum odoratissimum and Mag- 

 nolia fuscata, each, in turn, by the abundance of 

 their blooms, lengthen the floAcr season from fall 

 until the deciduous spring bloomers commence to 

 give their treasures. Our king of Evergreen trees 



