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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and amethysts and rubies in a jewel. And first of all you must 

 have one or two specimens of Betinospora obtusa nana, a shrub 

 on which the light and shade glints more artistically than on any 

 other plant I know. It is quite perfect, with its soft, flat, spread- 

 ing branchlets. Then, amongst the other Eetinosporas, there are 

 plumosa aurea, obtusa aurea, obtusa gracilis aurea, and pisifera 

 aurea, all with a charming golden hue upon them ; B. ericoides, with 

 a claret-brown mossy appearance ; and B. leptoclada, a dark 

 purply green, and one of the most quaint, old-fashioned looking and 

 slow-growing shrubs possible. Amongst the Cypresses there is 

 also pyraim&alis alba, a very pretty feathery and slightly varie- 

 gated shrub ; Laiusoniana aurea, by far out and away the best 

 golden shrub I have yet met with ; L. nana, a perfect little ball 

 of vivid green, and of very slow and stunted, but most healthy- 

 looking, growth ; and L. argentea, with a most lovely weeping 

 habit. These I fancy are the best. Thujopsis compacta is another 

 charmingly soft-looking, feathery plant, much in the same way 

 as the last-named Cypress. I pass on to the Hollies ; and 

 amongst the common green many varieties will at once be seen 

 in any nursery plantation raised from seed, varying in colour 

 from bright green to almost black, and some with a bronzy 

 hue upon them, varying also not inconsiderably in the breadth 

 of the individual leaves. Here, again, as with the Lawson's 

 Cypress, make a good selection of all sorts. Amongst the 

 variegated Hollies there stand out pre-eminently Golden Queen 

 and Silver Queen, the leaves of which are perfect pictures in 

 themselves, but Waterer's Golden I find of better and more 

 compact growth, though not quite so beautiful ; you must have all 

 three. Then there are Ilex myrtifolia and laurifolia, both with 

 leaves of most vivid, shining green, and Hodgin's and Shepherd's 

 Hollies, both with magnificently broad and almost black-green 

 leaves ; none must be missing. Osmanthus ilicifolius must by 

 no means be omitted. It is of slow and compact growth, and 

 some of its varieties have leaves of a most glorious bronzy 

 purple colour, and shine with a perfectly metallic lustre, like 

 brown steel. The Golden Yew makes a very fine pot plant, and 

 so does the Irish — better, indeed, than the common Yew does. 

 There is one plant which I like very much, but have left till last 

 because I am told that it is not frost-proof, and this obviously is 

 a sine qua non in winter gardening ; but with me it has stood 



