THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, .Tear 21, I860. 
259 
that carriage-drive being lined with evergreen shrubs, which 
the proprietor insisted at the time of planting to be brought 
so much forward at the convex part of the curve, to shut out 
the corner of his home from roadside lookers-on, that after the 
lapse of a few years the shrubs encroach so far as to kill the 
turf or other live edging which forms their legitimate boundary 
—by-and-by the road becomes narrowed ; and eventually, some 
wet evening at the end of summer, the overhanging boughs 
shed their dripping load on some passer-by, who has suffi¬ 
cient influence to persuade the proprietor to have some of 
them removed or otherwise cut. Then comes the difficulty; 
for no one, however skilful, can effect the desired alteration 
without rendering the whole an unsightly object for some time; 
and this is often rendered still more so by being done at the 
wrong season. For be it remembered that it is evergreen shrubs 
we have to deal with, and not deciduous ones which may be 
cut with little difference in effect from October to the end of 
March:—Evergreens, that have been crowding on each other 
are different, as shall be explained. 
When a mass of evergreens have been grown some years 
together the bottoms of most of them get naked, and what leaves 
there are, are at the points and if the shelter which these 
plants give each other be removed, they are unable to stand the 
I severity of the season; or, in other words, if we remove all the 
plants surrounding the one intended to be left—say in Novem¬ 
ber, it is ten to one but the winter will destroy, or at least dis¬ 
figure, the one remaining; while all the winter, and most part 
of the next summer, the whole has a mostmiserablo appearance. 
To avoid this, and also to make the unsightly period as short as 
possible, it is better not to cut anything down except in spring, 
the middle or end of March being a good time. The severest 
weather will be over then, and the growing period following 
soon after, the shrubbery quickly assumes its wonted summer 
garb; or, if the plants be much cut down, some summer-flower¬ 
ing plants inserted amongst them give the border a more 
pleasing appearance. But nothing must interfere with the 
growth of the shrubs. Creepers must not overrun them; nor 
i must tall-growing plants, as Dahlias, Hollyhocks, &c., pre¬ 
vent their branches having full play in growth, especially in 
the autumn, when they require ripening to harden the young 
wood and foliage against the coming cold of winter. At the 
same time it must be observed that a judicious thinning ought 
to take place as well as a cutting down, the more common 
things being sacrificed, which in most cases is the common 
Laurel. But it is wrong to cut away all the deciduous plants; 
as Lilac, Syringe, Laburnum, and some others, are amongst the 
most handsome flowering shrubs we have, and they must always 
be allowed a place. Common Laurel to a certain extent maybe 
removed, but not on too wholesale a fashion, as this plant’s 
I capabilities for effecting a quick and good shelter entitle it to 
respect. But as local circumstances usually point out the 
plants to be preserved, it is only necessary here to give a few 
remarks on the more common evergreen shrubs likely to want 
trimming in some way or other, premising that the shrubbery- 
border, or belt, be composed of various kinds of shrubs, all 
more or less injured by their crowding on each other. 
Laurel, common. —Nothing in the evergreen way bears cutting 
down better than this shrub. It is certainly best to leave a 
branch or two with green leaves on it, and to cut the other 
either with the axe or saw down to about a foot from the ground ; 
taking care to leave the cut part smooth, and not split down¬ 
wards by cutting in that direction. To secure a branch with a 
few leaves on it to act as a sort of “ feeder ” to the plant, it is 
! good practice to select an outside one, and to peg it to the 
ground by a hooked stick. This remark is equally applicable 
to all evergreen shrubs, and the pegged-down branch often fills 
up an unsightly gap. Plants of Laurel cut down and taken up 
may often be divided, and if they have good roots may make 
excellent plants. A dry soil suits the Laurel best. 
Portugal Laurel. —This is a much more difficult plant to train 
into all the purposes we want of it, it being equally impatient of 
the knife and spade—in fact, it transplants badly:—the best 
time, perhaps, being September or May; but I have never been 
successful with it, although I have planted the common one 
every month in the year. Nevertheless, the Portugal Laurel 
will sometimes do well when cut down ; and some plants here 
bear systematic pruning tolerably well, but as a rule, it ought 
not to be cut, and the plant can rarely be improved in appearance 
by doing so. It likes a stiffer soil than the common one ; and 
when in health nothing can be more handsome. In planting, 
let it stand well back in the shrubbery, and let its outline be 
fairly and fully seen. The Common Laurel ought also to stand 
well back, and to fill up any openings that may be advisable to 
block out from view. 
Laurustinus .—This favourite, flowering in autumn, winter, 
and early spring, has also the advantage of being converted into 
any shape; and, unlike the last-named shrub, is often the 
better for a little pruning at the proper time, as it has a tendency 
to become what gardeners term topheavy—the top or head 
enlarging much faster than the bottom branches grow. To 
prevent this, shortening in the head at times during the growth 
will do. As the plant bears the knife admirably, and when cut 
down speedily becomesa good useful bush again, it should have 
a place near the front, but not exactly in the line nearest the 
road or walk. It will grow on most soils, but likes a dry one best. 
Holly .—The common variety, or, in fact, the whole of the 
family, are too handsome to be mutilated by the knife; and as 
they rear their heads over that of most other shrubs, let them 
have fair play at the bottom. The back of a shrubbery for the 
common, and the centre for the variegated kinds, will be the 
proper place. A rather stiff soil suits them best; but they are 
sometimes met with in a wild state on dry peaty soils: the 
latter, however, is an exception. The Holly transplants best in 
May, but it does not so speedily assimilate itself into its new 
quarters as some shrubs; but when ouce established it is a long- 
lived healthy tree, and when loaded with berries forms an object 
of interest, recalling to mind scenes of festivity and rejoicing 
widely different from those associating themselves with the tree 
which follows. 
Yew .—This venerable tree ought never to be crowded into 
the mixed shrubbery. An isolated spot for it on the lawn is 
more befitting so sombre an individual; but it is perhaps the 
most tractable of all our evergreen shrubs or trees, and rarely 
succumbs to any description of treatment that leaves it some of 
its green leaves. Yew hedges of great antiquity abound in 
various places; and Yew trees almost co-eval with civilisation 
are also to be met with in places, but more especially in grave¬ 
yards, where they stand in their hallowed sanctuary, connecting 
the past with the present. One of the most remarkable trees of 
this kind is not more than a mile from this place, being at 
Loose churchyard. The main bole of the tree is about ten 
feet high, but has long been hollow—in fact, a mere shell, with 
four or five openings into it, but all uniting at top. The cir¬ 
cumference of this trunk at the narrowest part, between the 
root-claws and the breaking out of the limbs, is upwards of 
thirty-three feet, and some of the limbs (also hollow) must be 
near twenty; but the head of the tree is as healthy as it possibly 
was three or four centuries ago, and spreads over a large space 
of ground. The soil it is growing in is dry, with abundance of 
limestone in its immediate neighbourhood, if not also underneath 
it. Steep, almost inaccessible hills of a dry or chalky nature, 
are the birthplace of the Yew; but it will thrive pretty well on 
clay as well. The slow growth of the Yew unfits it for the 
mixed shrubbery, as it would speedily bo overrun; and to plant 
it in tbe front would be to subject it to removal at a time when 
it was of most consequence to let it stand. It is therefore 
better as a single specimen plant; and, when wanted, it makes 
an excellent and durable hedge. J. Robson, 
{To be continued.') 
GLADIOLUS COLVILLII SPOET. 
I HAVE not seen any of the race sport in full like the specimen 
sent by “ W. G. •” but in that section of the family it was not 
unusual to see one or two “ seifs,” or plain-coloured flowers, on 
a spike occasionally ; but no whole spike with “ seifs ” like this 
is on record, as far as I am aware of. 
It proves two things, and it may prove a third, which needs a 
proof. The first two are, that Gladiolus flowers bear carrying 
better than all other flowers after being cut; and that the flower- 
spikes of Gladioli will continue to flower, after being cut and 
carried a thousand miles, if they are placed in water in-doors, 
or in moist soil out in the garden, just as well as they. 
Tricks upon travellers after this fashion are not uncommon 
among gardeners, although we seldom hear of them. I think I 
have told how Suchct, the gardener of the Emperor of the French, 
managed to dress up the shrubberies and bare places with cut 
flowers of Gladioli when Queen Victoria visited Fontainbleau, 
and made such a display with them that Her Majesty took to the 
fancy, and had Suchet’s collection over to Osborne to begin with. 
And in the olden times, when flower gardening began to flourish 
