./:iiiiifiry  1,  1S03. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
9 
haxilm  out  flat  upon  the  ground  to  pick  them  ;  but  this  was 
among  seed  Peas  grown  at  a  distance  from  a  house  ;  they  do 
not  often  venture  into  the  garden  proper. 
I  mentioned  the  sparrow’s  predilection  for  fruit  buds,  but 
must  own  that  the  bullfinch  goes  beyond  him  in  this  respect, 
being  the  worst  sinner  the  gardener  has  to  contend  with  in 
this  particular  line,  and  the  destruction  a  pair  can  bring  about 
in  a  short  time  is  astonishing.  The  bullfinch  is  amongst  the 
most  handsome  of  British  birds,  and  with  the  above- 
mentioned  exception  his  character,  if  not  “  bearing  the 
strictest  investigation,”  is  fairly  up  to  the  average ;  but 
one’s  natural  leaning  towards  a  charming  exterior  cannot 
blind  one  sufficiently  to  accept  the  suggestion  sometimes  held 
out,  that  “  he  is  only  seeking  for  insects  ”  when  disbudding 
Plum  trees  (fee.  ;  a  theory  often  put  forward,  but  for  which 
I  have  never  heard  a  shadow  of  evidence.  In  many  country 
gardens  surrounded  by  woods  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
wage  a  war  of  extermination  against  “  Bullj^  ”  or'give  up  any 
idea  of  a  fruit  crop.  Anyone  with  a  fairly  quick  ear  can 
easily  distinguish  the  call  of  a  bullfinch  from  any  other  note, 
and  by  repeating  it  two  or  three  times  a  shooter  can  almost 
invariably  briug  one  within  easy  range.  — (A  paper  read  at  tlie 
Horticultural  Club,  March  11,  1902,  by  Charles  E.  Pearson, 
F.R.H.S.,  M.B.O.U.) 
(To  be  continued.) 
- - 
The  Intruders  of  a  Garden. 
Perhaps  we  should  term  them  the  objectionable  features  in  a 
garden,  for  its  features  do  not  depend  so  much  on  the  site  of  the 
land  as  on  the  Vegetation  that  covers,  or  partially  covers,  the 
ground.  Now,  the  intruders  of  a  garden  are  many  and  various. 
In  some  instances  they  are  animals — as  cats :  sometimes  they  arc 
human — as  boys,  both  great  and  small.  Visits  from  these  in¬ 
truders  are  more  or  less  spa.smodic,  but  others  are.  for  all  we 
know,  constantly  falling  on  our  favoured  garden.  These  are  our 
microbe  and  fungi  visitors — some  friends,  some  enemies.  The 
gods  of  the  ancients  are  nothing  to  the  microbes  of  the  present. 
They  are  worshipped,  admired,  and  magnified;  but  the  ordinary 
person  may  disregard  them.  Not  so  the  fungi.  They  come  to 
stop,  disfigure,  and  kill.  Sometimes  persons  with  good  inten¬ 
tions  do  their  best  to  domesticate  these  to  a  nourishing  food  of 
gelatine,  bread,  and  other  things.  But  it  is  no  u.se  ;  they  are  a 
tribe  of  parasitic  fiends. 
Coming  to  the  worst  of  garden  intruding  plants,  we  find  they 
possess  at  some  stage  of  their  lives  an  appearance  that  does  not 
Irespeak  of  intruding  propensities.  They  arc,  in  fact,  plants 
that  are  invited  into  the  garden,  but  which,  being  left  to  them- 
selve.s,  overrule  all  and  disfigure  much.  In  departments  out¬ 
side  the  gardening  world  we  may  notice  several  similar  cases,  all 
of  which  illustrate  the  proverb,  “Evil  is  wrought  through  want 
of  thought.”  In  the  animal  world  the  rabbit  in  Australia  and  the 
squirrel  in  our  own  country  are  painful  instances  where  the  in¬ 
troducer  little  thought,  or  perhaps  even  dreamed,  of  what  evils 
they  were  the  originators.  Likewise,  the  Canadian  water  weed 
was  anything  but  a  desirable  addition  to  our  .streams  and  lakes. 
Nowadays  the  absence,  or  otherwise,  of  inelegant  features  in  a 
garden  depends  chiefly  on  the  person  who  first  planned  or 
planted  it.  For  of  most  subjects  planted  in  gardens  the  large 
majority  stop  there  until  they  are  dead;  and  even  when  they 
reach  this  last  stage  they  often  remain.  It  is  easier  to  add  to 
a  garden  than  to  take  away  from  it.  As  this  is  so,  most  people 
pursue  the  facile  way  with  often  unhappy  results,  the  last 
course  being  often  the  wisest. 
Few  gardens  there  are  that  have  not  in  some  part  or  other 
some  intruders  which  could  be  done  without.  Overcrowding,  the 
hiding  of  good  trees  and  shrubs  by  those  that  are  not  so  much 
to  be  called  common,  but  what  are  very  nearly  ugly,  is  preva¬ 
lent.  Monotony  is  only  another  form  of  this  evil.  A  mono¬ 
tonous  landscape  is  the  opposite  to  one  formed  of  a  few  .simple 
materials  strongly  grouped.  In  a  formal  flower  garden  monotony 
may  easily  occui%  more  so  than  in  landscape  work.  For  in  land¬ 
scape  one'  alters  or  improves  that  found  in  Nature  ;  but  in  the 
flower  garden  the  art  must  be  manufactur(>d  throughout,  and  it 
may,  most  likely,  be  copied  largely  or  wholly  from  other  folk.s’ 
goods. 
When  a  person  is  ill  he  is  doctored;  if  insane,  he  is  watched 
and  kept  under  supervision.  A  sick  plant,  too,  is  specially 
tended,  sprayed,  or  encouraged,  but  the  imbecile  rmriegations 
are  too  often  at  “large”  in  our  gardens,  there  being  too  many 
of  them,  that  the  spotty  mixtures  of  green,  yellow,  and  rvliite 
arc  anything  but  pleasing.  So  many  have  the  Latin  name  of 
the  nobler  metals — gold  and  silver  -  attached,  that  some  gardens 
should  be  an  Eldorado  in  colour.  But  such  colours,  good  enough 
at  close  quarters,  o,nd  adorning  small  plants,  are  capable  of  spoil¬ 
ing  what  would  otherwise  be  a  good  bit  of  sc.-^nery.  The  good 
effects  of  tin'  restful  green  tones  may  be  verified  by  visiting 
some  of  the  best  garden  scenery  throughout  the  country,  where 
nothing  else  but  bhmding  colours  may  be  found,  creating  a  grand 
whole.  V  bar  has  been  said  against  speckled  variegations  in 
landscapes  may  gfmerally  be  applied  in  the  opposite  direction 
when  formal  gardens  are  considered.  Too  often  among  the. 
choicest  bedding  designs  may  be  found  near  intruders,  in  the 
shape  of  common,  dull  coloured  shrubs  and  trees. 
If  shrubberies  are  re((uired  near  pretty  flower  gardens,  either 
to  conceal  paths  or  drives,  or  to  afford  shelter,  let  all  trees  and 
shrubs  be  of  the  showiest  kinds.  Let'  the  Hollies  be  silvered  and 
gilded,  the  Welgelas  rich  yellow,  the  Elders  cut  leaved,  th(‘ 
Yew.s  golden,  ami  when  big  growing  trees  are  needed  in  close 
proximity,  let  the  Ash  be  weeping,  the  silver  Birch  pendulous, 
the  Beech  jiurpled,  and  the  Oak  evergreen.  And  in  the  search 
for  showiest  hues,  let  not  the  greys  be  forgotten.  The  Lavcnd.er, 
grown  as  a  “regular”  crop,  for  the  ‘■ake  of  its  flowers  alone,  is 
flat,  regular,  and  uninteresting.  With  age,  however,  the 
Lavender  becomes  picturesque — a  miniature  of  a  gnarled  Oak — 
and  in  this  .state  it  is  a  A’aluable  addition  to  a  shrubbery,  especi¬ 
ally  on  dry  soils'.  Another  “  grey  ”  plant  of  much  value  is 
Retinospora  squarrosa.  Two  mistakes  in  this,  for  this  Conifer 
is  not  a  Retinospora — there  is  now  no  plant  that  may  legally 
bear  this  title — and  it  is  only  called  grey,  for  it  has  near  a  dozen 
hues,  according  to  site  and  season. 
We  cannot  call  the  variegated  forms  of  our  dwarf  plants — • 
herbaceous  or  otherwise — intruders.  They  arc  easily  managed, 
so  that  it  is  by  no  means  difficult  to  abolish  any  that  are  too 
prominent  for  the  purpose  required.  Some,  too,  make  all  possible 
tracks  to  depart  from  their  variegations,  and  enter  into  the 
vigorous  green  state.  To  name  a  ferv  of  such  ;  the  Aucuba-leaved 
Daisy,  the  variegated  Mossy  Saxifrage,  the  London  Pride,  and  the 
Arabis  albida.  Turning  from  the  variegations,  which  some  call 
“  freaks,”  somei  “  .''ports,”  and  while  some  are  far  above  calling 
them  anything  at  all,  some  other  plants  lie  between  the  ground 
waiting  for  notice.  One  of  these  is  the  Monkshood,  which  is 
innocent  enough  to  all  appearances,  but  which  has  proved  a  fatal 
bite  to  a  good  many.  Aconitum  Napellus  is  common  u.sually  in 
all  gardens,  and  as  it  is  included  in  the  “  best  ”  collections  of  her-  ' 
baceous  plants,  this  dangerous  root  is  alwa5's  being  replanted. 
It  is  A'cry  well  to  pull  up  a  root  of  Horseradish  from  a  well-dug 
kitchen  garden  border,  and  expound  on  the  differences  between 
it  and  the  Aconitum.  and  dilate  on  the  stupidity  of  folk  who  have 
eaten  of  the  bad  for  the  good. 
Biut  what  about  Horseradi.sh  as  often  seen — not  in  a  garden, 
but  outside  it,  the  only  place  it  is  deemed  worthy  of?  In  such 
places  a  pick,  rather  than  a  fork  or  spade,  is  the  tool  I’equired 
to  lift  it,  and  the  roots,  all  coming  into  contact  with  hard  stones, 
will  be  found  of  all  sorts  of  shapes.  Therefore,  in  small  gardens, 
where  crops  struggle'  as  miniature -“  mixed  forests”  rather  than/ 
“pure,”  what  wonder  if  fatal  mixtures  occur?  The  enumera¬ 
tion  of  “intruders  ”  is  by  no  means  finished.  It  is  always  a  tah% 
without  end.  The  gardexi  lias  its  active  enemies — weeds,  that 
to-day  are  small  and  to-morrow  aret  large.  It  has  its  passive 
intruders,  such  as  large  trees,  which  rob  the  culturM  plants  of 
sunshine  and  nourishment.  If  persons  dwelling  in  the  suburban 
villa  do  desire  something  very  lofty  arising  in  front  of  their 
windows,  it  is  safer  to  erect  a  flagstaff  than  to  attempt  to  make 
a  record  in  arboriculture  by  a  .shaky  Ash  tree,  which,  should  a 
severe  gale  arise,  is  quite  likely  to  be  found  lying  pr-ostrate  upon, 
through,  and  mixed  up  with  the  fragments  of  the  fifty-guinea 
favourite  conservatory.  There  is  also  the  matter  of  perfume. 
Thick  lines  of  Sweet  Peas  near  a  dwelling  prove  too  much  of  a 
good  thing  for  many.  But  tastes  (is  this  right?)  differ  xvidely 
on  this  point.  Certainly  the  flowers  of  the  Elder  and  Cow  Par¬ 
snips,  which  form  conspicuous  objects  in  not  aj  few  small  gardens, 
are"  to  most  persons  “  liighlv  perfumed”  in  the  Avrong  direction. 
—  D.  S.  Fish. 
- - 
THE  MISTLETOE. 
From  the  remotest  anticjuity  the  Mistletoe  has  evidently 
founcl  more  than  ordinary  notice  among  almost  eimry  race  and 
nation.  In  our  own  country,  from  untold  ages,  it  inust  have 
performed  a  prominent  jiart  in  the  religious  ceremonies  of  our 
ancestors,  a  fact,  doubth'ss,  accounting  for  the  no  ordinary  estccni 
in  Avhich  ue  ourselves  of  to-day  hold  this  curious  prodig;^’  of 
Nature.  We  are  told  that  the  priests  of  the  ancient  Britons 
held  the  Mistletoe  among  the  most  saci'ed  of  their  religious 
things.  The  sixth  day  of  the  moon,  nearest  to  March  10, 
was  observed  as  tliat  on  wliich—perhaps  the  greate.st  event  of 
the  year — the  ceremony  of  cutting  the  Mi.stleloe  took  place.  A 
priest — probably  an  .\rehdruid — ascended  the  .«acred  Derw,  on.- 
Oak  tree,  arrayed  in  long,  snoAvy  Avhit(',  spotless  vcvstments.  and, 
Avith  a  golden  sickle-shaped  knife,  cut  down  the  holy  plant,  Avhich 
fell  into  a  spotless  Avhite  cloth,  held  beloAV  by  other  priests  to 
receive  it.  It  is  very  remarkable  the'  extreme  care  Avith  Avhich 
they  thus  lierformed  the  ceremony.  Some  have  thought  that  the 
