180 
GARDEN SCENERY. 
had been occasionally added. The shoots of these shrubs usually die down, afte 
blooming, till November, and are cut back either before, or after winter. But tin 
last season being so mild, and they retaining life and moisture, it was determined t<! 
try the issue ; and now they are clothed with the healthiest foliage and blossom 
This is the first time that the interesting fact has been witnessed here ; and as th< 
result is very gratifying, we allude to it, in order to obviate that premature, anc 
needless winter cutting back, that possesses no other advantage than the earl} 
removal of some dry-looking rods, which, it is now certain, may occasionally revive 
to new and increased vigour. 
As evergreens, in groups, it will be safe to recommend Garrya elliptica, and 
Berberis Aquifolium ; they are extremely ornamental at all times : all the evergreen 
Berberry-shrubs are also desirable, and will grow well in loam. 
Mr. Loudon’s closing remarks are so judicious, that every cultivator of experience 
and observation must coincide with them. Referring to the importance of a dry 
soil, or what is pretty nearly the same thing, or better — one rendered dry by deep, 
efficient draining — he says, “The great mischief to all tender plants is produced by the 
late hoar-frosts in March and April, which are generally followed by very hot, sunny 
days ; but when exotics are planted in a genial soil, placed on a very dry subsoil, 
and in a warm, sheltered situation, they ripen their wood so well in autumn that they 
are much better conditioned to resist hoar-frost, and that scorching of the leaves 
which is produced by succeeding sunshine, than such as are planted in rich 
soils.” 
We have been taught by experience, that winters so severe as those of 1838, 
1841, and 1844-45, can, and do, kill the Arbutus, Bay, and Laurestine ; hence 
would prefer not to hazard any really tender shrubs in the open garden. We possess 
beauties enough in the American tribes, the Ghent, and other hardy Azaleas, the 
Rhododendrons, Vacciniums, Berberis, Cotoneaster, Aucuba, and many other of our 
old evergreen favourites ; and among the deciduous tribes, the several ornamental 
Ribes, Calycanthus, Staphilea, Gleditscliia, Robinia, Cliimonanthus, Glycine, 
Fuchsia, &c., &c. — without risking the safety of more delicate exotics which 
properly belong to the Conservatory. 
Some persons dispute the taste of filling a lawn with parterres ; and, to speak 
truth, we have witnessed so manifest an improvement in a noble property by the 
removal of all masses of flowers from the grand lawn, leaving that, in its amplitude, 
relieved only by a few magnificent trees, that we are inclined to restrict parterre- 
planting to small home-law T ns, or to detached portions, isolated from those of great 
extent by tasteful hedges, to which access is given through verdant openings of 
evergreen shrubs, or by arches overgrown with ivy. With such arrangements, a 
small extent of ground can be made to offer every variety of horticultural beauty that 
the eye of pure taste could require. 
