DWARF EVERGREENS FIT FOR PLANTING ON LAWNS. 
89 
dendron^ Kalinia latifolia and hirsuta^ nearly all the hardy Heaths, many of the 
species of Andro?neda and Vaccinium, Gaultheria skallon, and even Daphne 
laureola^ with several others that are related in habit. 
None can conceive but those who have witnessed, the astonishing difference in 
the effect of a specimen of any of these kinds when planted in an ordinary border, 
and when placed solitarily on a lawn. Independently of their greater vigour in the 
latter case, resulting from the more constant moisture preserved about their roots 
in summer, their outline is wonderfully improved ; their lower branches either 
become prostrate, or so dense as to conceal the stems ; there are fewer interruptions, 
from decayed or imperfectly formed shoots, to the continuity of their surface ; they 
are far more symmetrical ; the observer may walk round them and discover equal 
beauty on all sides ; and their appearance at all times, but particularly while they 
are flo^vering, is considerably more interesting from having a light green ground 
about and beneath them. 
So repeatedly has our attention been arrested by objects of this description in 
various parts of England, that the mention of individual instances will perhaps be 
deemed unwarrantable. We have nevertheless the best motives for pointing out 
the beautiful Heaths, Rhododendrons, &c., in what is called the Rock Garden at 
Blenheim ; similar plants at Nuneham, in Oxfordshire ; and fine specimens of 
Kalmia latifolia and its allies in Lady Tankerville's villa, Walton- on-Thames, and 
of Gaultheria shallon^ at Mrs. Marryatt'^s, Wimbledon. 
The popular belief is that Rhododendrons, Heaths, and those plants on which 
the epithet " American " is commonly bestowed, will not flourish in anything but 
moor or heath soil. Nothing could be more at variance with the truth. The 
extensive experiments unconsciously made on almost every large estate throughout 
the country — than which no criterion could be less fallible — prove the direct 
converse of that impression. It has, however, been most freely diffused ; and as 
simple contradiction will never suffice to remove it, we would urge all to try it for 
themselves. 
Soil alone has been shown to be of very little importance in the out-door 
cultivation of these plants. Any sort of loam, and even a stiff clayey earth, has, 
in some localities, proved the most appropriate. Whereas, when planted in the 
soil obtained from moors. Rhododendrons can rarely be kept alive through the 
summer months without copious artificial waterings, and they never attain that 
beauty which is common to them in a more retentive earth. 
A point of much greater moment tlian the above, is their position with respect 
to the distant umbrage and protection of tall plantations. It may be said that the 
tribe on which we are now writing will grow freely in exposed situations ; but 
with just as great propriety might it be averred that succulents w41l flourish in a 
shaded house. We do not, either here or on any occasion, recommend a system 
of treatment by which an inferior degree of attraction may be gained. Our design 
is to explain how things may be brought to the highest perfection. And with tliis 
end in view, we possess a preference for at least a partially sheltered and secluded 
