TREES AND SHRUBS FOR LARGE TOWNS. 



81 



On the other hand, there are plenty of trees of moderate 

 dimensions and of habit of growth suitable for association with 

 architectural features of whatever style, harmonising or contrast- 

 ing with them as may be desired. The difficulty in many cases 

 arises from the circumstance that, owing to the small demand for 

 them, nurserymen do not grow them in sufficient quantities. 

 But if a demand were to spring up, commercial instincts may be 

 trusted to supply the requirements with very little loss of time. 

 Another difficulty, perhaps even more prevalent, but one, fortu- 

 nately, capable of more ready solution, is the general ignorance 

 of the extent and variety of our resources. How many town 

 gardeners and professional planters visit the arboretum at the 

 .Royal Gardens at Kew with the object of gaining information 

 on these points ? Not many, it is to be feared. They will 

 flock to see an excruciatingly glaring bit of bedding-out, they 

 will admire a blaze of Ehodoclendrons in flower, they will 

 gloat over Standard Koses, rave over Dahlias, and manifest 

 symptoms of hallucination in regard to Cattleyas or Chrysan- 

 themums, but they will ignore the existence of fine trees 

 and flowering shrubs. No one of sense will disparage any 

 one of these beautiful things ; it is the indiscriminate and dis- 

 proportionate attachment to some of them that is objection- 

 able, as leading to the neglect of others equally entitled to 

 admiration. The recommendation to visit a well-stocked arbore- 

 tum like that at Kew, or a nursery where trees and shrubs are 

 made special objects of attention, is one, therefore, that should 

 commend itself to town gardeners desirous of making the best of 

 their opportunities and resources. While the arboretum and the 

 nursery should be visited for the purpose of selecting subjects 

 suitable by their dimensions, habit, and form for the purpose 

 intended, other visits should be paid to the parks, squares, and 

 streets of our large towns, especially those which have been 

 planted for some years, with a view of ascertaining what trees 

 and shrubs do best in such situations. 



In visiting old-established gardens, like that at Fulham 

 Palace for instance, which is famed for its interesting trees 

 planted by Bishop Compton about 1685, it must be remem- 

 bered that at the time when those trees were planted the condi- 

 tions were much more propitious to healthy growth than they are 

 at present. Trees of the same kind planted in that locality now are 



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