196 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 15, 1891. 
qualities of different Grasses and other plants used in the food of the 
more valuable domestic animals, and was published in 1824, The 
record is a marvel of patient care and minute accuracy, and the work 
has been of untold benefit to this and other countries. It is the 
pioneer work of its kind, the foundation on which others are based, 
and led to the method becoming established of converting pastures 
into food stores by well selected herbage plants instead of more or 
less poverty stricken weedy wastes, the result of thoughtless inaction 
and lack of knowledge. The projected fruit experiments remind of 
the valuable work of Sinclair, whose name is apt to be forgotten in 
the lapse of years. He was a gardener of great attainments, and so 
would appear to have been his successor, Mr, Forbes, who conducted 
experiments with Willows, Conifers, and Heaths, producing respec¬ 
tively the Salictwn Wohurnense, the Pinetum Wohurnense.^ and the 
Ericetum Wohurnense^ also after a tour on the Continent he prepared 
the Hortus Wohurnensis —a catalogue of plants grown in, also con¬ 
taining plans of the gardens of "Woburn. 
It will be apparent that Woburn is historic as a seat of horti, 
agri, and abori-cultural education, and is, therefore, singularly 
appropriate as the new fruit station to meet the needs of modern 
times. The present Duke of Bedford would seem to have inherited 
the tastes of his great grandfather, the famous Duke John, and 
being still in youthful manhood may do good service to his country 
in the arts of peace after his training in the art of war. With 
his charming Duchess the Duke lives a happy domestic life on 
his fine estate, both seeking to do good to those around them. The 
new undertaking will be watched with interest, and may have 
important and far reaching results. 
EVERGREENS. 
Evergreens ! With what a sense of grateful repose the eye 
turns to them during the stern reign of winter! We never 
perhaps quite realise how much they mean to us during the gloomy 
months extending to nearly half the year until entering some 
demesne in which their merits have not obtained for them that 
liberal place they deserve ; or on the larger scale, some tract of 
wind-swept country destitute of Fir plantations, and the friendly 
shelter they afford. The latter are, of course, outside the range 
of a gardener’s work ; it is the domain of our neighbour, the 
forester. We are each and all of us practically confined to a little 
world of our own ; but that does not debar us from taking an 
occasional look over the garden wall, where sufficient is generally 
found to satisfy the most ardent worker. A few light touches of 
the pen on this large subject must leave many thoughts unex¬ 
pressed. I need not dwell on the subject, which has been so 
recently treated in these pages—viz., that of affording nourishment 
to shrubs and trees by manuring them ; but I can add my testi¬ 
mony to the great value of the practice so advised in a department 
which has ever been one of prominent interest in my gardening life. 
Truly it is taking me a long time to tune my pipes, but the music 
book is so vast one hardly know which page to open ; but I turn 
to the great members of the family, the Conifer©, which have for 
some years received much attention, and many of which have now 
proved themselves eminently suited to our variable climate, though 
with the more recent introductions it will be the pleasing (it is to 
hoped) experience of future generations to note their established 
characters. 
In the accumulated wealth now to be found in the nurseries 
some difficulty may result in selecting evergreens, and due con¬ 
sideration of soil and locality are necessary to obtain good results. 
More especially is this required with the tree forms. In the infant 
stage all may go on swimmingly, but as they go up and away from 
the friendly shelter of their neighbours, and strike down for 
stronger food, they behave accordingly, and it may be the dis¬ 
agreeable thought crops up that the selection has not been a happy 
one, too plainly evident by some specimens not only turning up 
their nose but their toes as well. Some there are, happy children 
of Nature, that adapt themselves in some degree to all circum¬ 
stances. It is not easy, either with these little fellows, 3 or 4 feet 
high, or even less, at planting time, to realise what they will 
attain at maturity. In the hurry and pressure of work we may 
perhaps pick up the telescope required for the long mental vision 
of a century hence, and look through the wrong end. 
Examples of such mistakes are to be seen, and a Cedar or 
other stately tree finds a place where there is only room for a 
Laurel. The Cedar of Lebanon is a tree that will brook no rival, 
and if planted near a residence, villa or otherwise, though it may 
have room to grow, its dignity is such that the dwelling will be 
dwarfed by comparison ; nor even in the company of their first 
cousins is the acme of effect attained, but a group in the distance 
of an open stretch of park does, and plone does them justice. A 
solitary specimen, grand though it be, looks lonely. I have 
thought, and others may have thought so too, that there is some 
subtle influence, je ne sais quoi, pervading the silent life of trees 
tending to give them the air of thriving best in the company 
of their fellows, but, as with us, they must be kindred spirits. 
Influence of soil has a marked bearing on the character of trees ; 
the limestone seems admirably adapted to the wants of the Silver 
Fir tribe, especially I have noticed this in Picea nobilis to such an 
extent that visitors have remarked the highly glaucous tiiit 
resulted from their being a distinct and superior variety, but it 
was not so. 
To skip many pages of my imaginary book and come to what 
may be termed evergreens proper, the Laurel, the common Laurel, 
so common, but so beautiful in the winter, 
“ When suns no longer shed life-giving beams 
Through Nature’s tears, the polished Laurel gleams 
And wields a power 
To steal the sadness from stern Winter’s re’’gn. 
Till Spring returns with ‘ all her varied train ’ 
Of leaf and flower.” 
This must claim the first place, forming, as it generally does, 
the groundwork of our shrubberies. Setting aside its designation 
of “ common,” it is an important factor not only in the kept 
grounds, but through many demesnes large patches are found. It 
has many qualities, all good ones I think, and is incomparable when 
used en masse for its bright and cheerful tone in a landscape, and 
not any of our evergreens are more amenable either for covering a 
given space in the shortest time or being kept within certain 
bounds if so desired. In shrubberies that hedge-like cropping 
sometimes practised results in a stiff and formal appearance not 
natural to them, and far better is it to check their exuberant 
growth by taking out the strong points with the lopping shears. 
A long stretch of shrubbery with adequate depth offers a fine 
field for a masterly hand in either planting or improving; an 
undulating front line, with here and there the bold sweep of an 
open bay, in which Daffodils or other hardy flowers massed give a 
happy effect. The grouping of evergreens in distinct varieties, too, 
adds a charm with its rhythmical tones of colour, from the deep 
funeral note of the Yew to the light cheerful tint of the Griselina. 
Where limited space does not allow of the broader lines being 
carried out, the dot or mixed system is to some extent unavoidable 
in obtaining variety. In this system much of pleasing interest ia 
to be found, but whilst adapting itself to some circumstances, it is 
not the ideal for an extensive demesne. But large or small, a 
well kept shrubbery on a winter’s day is always viewed with 
pleasure. Clean to a fault some are kept, and the natural fertilisers 
and foot-warmers—the leaves—are carefully scraped off and carted 
away, hence the necessity sooner or later for feeding of some kind, 
or starvation sets in, and the denizens of the shrubbery do not have 
that happy look that well-fed beings, animal or vegetable, should 
have, and if they cannot have that, I am inclined to say we should 
be better without them. 
As temporary inmates of the flower garden, during the winter 
some of the more refined of our evergreens adapt themselves 
admirably. Small plants of Retinospora in variety or the different 
Thujas relieve the flatness of the beds and give variety. After 
several seasons of this work, and the consequent autumn and spring 
shifting it entails, they can then be relegated to more permanent 
situations in the shrubbery or ornamental grounds. In the vicinity 
of large cities and manufacturing towns more than ordinary 
circumspection is required in selecting suitable evergreens for 
planting. A tolerably safe guide should be in note what has 
already succeeded, and what has not ; beyond that, planting must 
be to some extent experimental, the more fastidious of the ever¬ 
green family being left for those places where smoking is not 
allowed. 
Last, but not least, are those evergreens which in their season 
of gorgeous inflorescence stand unrivalled—the Rhododendrons. 
In a limestone country I had some difficulty in endeavouring to 
establish some in a shrubbery. Get peat, may be said ; yes, but it 
was easier to talk of peat than to get it. Leaf mould was the next 
best thing. With that as soon as they felt the lime-impregnated 
soil, thus far would they go and no farther ; yet in the woods of 
the same estate they flourished by thousands. The secret did not 
want much discovering, for it lay on the surface in the annual 
crop of leaves, which not being in the kept grounds offended no 
one. And did these flourishing Rhododendrons root down ? no. 
