STANDARD PORTUGAL LAURELS AND RHODODENDRONS. 
59 
Our readers may not all be aware that to effect this end more permanently, or 
at least create an allusion to Italian scenes by having lines of round-headed ever- 
green trees on each side of the principal lawn fronting the mansion, an effort has 
been successfully made at Chatswortli and other places to train Portugal laurels to 
a single stem, from six to eight feet in height ; and afterwards induce them, by 
slight primings, to form a large, dense, and somewhat globular head. From the 
slow progress of the tree, and the check which frequent pruning must naturally 
occasion, many years are required to produce a perfect specimen of the class ; yet, 
when that period has elapsed, and the object is attained, all who have recently 
visited Chatswortli will agree that it is a system eminently worthy of imitation : 
for not only are the trees thus procured well adapted to the situations we have 
named, but they are also valuable for planting in rows down each side of the 
central walk, or in the middle of other compartments, of the flower-garden, since 
they add an air of liveliness to it through the winter which it would otherwise 
wholly want. 
The preparation of trees of this kind is extremely simple. As soon as they 
are ready for removing from the seed-bed, those most likely to answer the purpose 
are selected, and all their branches cut off closely save the central one. The same 
operation is performed subsequently late in the autumn of each succeeding year, 
and if the young stem is inclined to be weak, or does not grow erectly, it is sup- 
ported by a stake. When the requisite height is reached, the main shoot is then 
shortened ; and by a little judicious annual reduction of the branches, a bushy 
compact head is obtained in a few years. 
It has been suggested that a species with lighter green foliage, and greater 
rapidity of growth, as the common laurel, would, if grafted standard high on the 
Portugal laurel, have a more interesting appearance, and realize the intention much 
more speedily. The common laurel is, however, from its straggling habit, and the 
disposition it manifests to display its naked branches, totally unfit for the purpose ; 
wdiile the objection that always attaches to grafted plants, would apply to this 
with increased force. It would be seen by every one that the process of bringing 
it to that state was entirely artificial, and the appearance would ever be unnatural 
and monstrous. In the Portugal laurel, on the contrary, the trees look as natural 
as is at all to be desired, and their stems have a very proportionate thickness to 
the bulk of their summits. 
Besides the Portugal laurel, we have to notice some specimens of standard 
Rhododendrons in the garden of R. Barclay, Esq. Bury Hill, near Dorking, with 
which we w r ere greatly pleased in the autumn of 1839. Mr. Scott, the experienced 
gardener at that place, informed us that the only attention they had received was 
a slight pruning in the early stages of their growth. All the side shoots were cut 
off, and the stems were from four to five feet high, with fine branching heads 
three or four feet in diameter. These were quite young plants ; and there can be 
no doubt that, when they arrive at a greater age, they will be magnificent objects. 
