For edgings to square or oblong beds intended for tulips, ranunculuses, or similar plants, thin boards painted of a lead colour, are perhaps better than any other. Edgings to endure only for one season are sometimes formed of annual plants, sown in the spring ; such as the dwarfish stock (Malcomia maritima, 11. K.), or candy-tuft, purple or white, (Iberia umbellata.) 465. A simple and elegant edging may be formed of sheep's-fescue (Fcstuca ovina,) the very fine foliage of the plant being highly ornamental. In the extensive nur series at Gateside, Newcastle, this sort of verge has been adopted, F. du•iuscula being mixed, however, in some places, with the true sheep's-fescue. if very carefully sown or planted in a narrow straight line, it has a slender linear appearance, and does not occupy more space than a small box edging. For a temporary edging, another kind of grass, the large cow-quakes, (Briza maxima,) is sometimes very happily employed, tnc loose racemes, with their nodding spikes, having a pleasing and uncom mon effect. If sown in autumn, soon after the seeds ripen, the plants become larger and stronger than those sown in the spring. Common grass verges can scarcely be less than a foot in breadth, and are not therefore adapted for small bottlers: if formed of fine turf laid upon sand to keep the plants dwarfish, such simple verges are very proper for the margins of shrubbery borders.
Evergreens.
466. Near the house, and about the flower garden, ever green shrubs should abound. There should be at least one evergreen for two deciduous shrubs. The transplant ing of evergreens requires some attention. It is often de sirable to have them at once of considerable size ; and fine large specimens may sometimes be found in public nur series, or in market gardens. A year before these are to be removed, the roots should be cut, by passing a sharp spade all around and below them; thus encouraging the setting out of new and tufted roots, and greatly facilitating the subsequent removal of the plant. The roots of any kind of evergreen should be as little as possible exposed to the air. Nicol, in his Calendar, makes some judicious observations on the best time for transplanting of ever greens: He prefers the middle or end of April, or rather the precise time when the plant begins to grow for the season, when the buds swell, and the new leaves are about to be unfolded : the roots are then also in an active state, and if the transplanting be speedily accomplished, no check is sustained. Next to this late period of the spring, the beginning of August is a good time ; for a second growth then takes place, as careful observers must have remarked, occasioned perhaps by the showery weather which generally occurs at that season.—Only a very few of the principal hardy evergreens can here be noticed.
467. Of the Alaternus (Rhanznus alaternus) there are several varieties, particularly the jagged and the plain leaved, and the gold and the silver variegated. Resem bling this is the Phillyrea ; but the genera may at once be distinguished, without seeing the flowers, by observing, that in the former the leaves are alternate, while in the latter they are opposite. Of phillyrea there are three
species, privet-leaved (P. media). ',mow-leaved (P. an gustifolia), broad-leaved (P. latifolia), and several varieties of each of these : these were, in former days, among the most favourite tonsile evergreens.
The Chinese Arbor vit? (Thuja orientalis) and the American (7'. occidentalis) are large, and rather suited for extensive shrubberies. The same may be said of the com mon laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), and the Portugal laurel (P. lusitanica.) 468. The Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis), which is a con siderable tree in the south of Europe, appears but as a shrub in this country, producing its flowers only in shel tem) situations and good seasons. The common laurel above mentioned, we may remark, is often mistaken for the bay, and regarded as the plant Nvhich furnished crowns for the Roman heroes. The error is perhaps fortunate, our bays thus escaping mutilation on occasions of public rejoicing. There is no however, that it was the sweet bay which furnished the wreath worn on the brow of the victor, and of the priestess of Delphi. The mistake has arisen from the bay having formerly been called laurel, and the fruit of it only named bayes. The Alexandrian Laurel (Ruscus racemosus) has also been mistaken for the heroic plant ; but although destitute of this honour, it is a most elegant shrub, worthy of a prominent station.
The different varieties of Laurustinus (Viburnum sinus) are rely ornamental, as they not only enliven the winter scene with their green leaves, but delight us with their flowers at that dead season. These last, however, are pro duced only in sheltered situations.
469. The Strawberry-tree (Arbutus unedo) is an elegant plant at all times ; but when at once covered with frUit and flowers, the appearance is not only beautiful, but curious. In Ireland, about the Lakes of Killarney, this species, which ranks as a shrub in Scotland and the north of Eng land, attains the size of a lofty tree. In the Transactions of the Dublin Society for 1806, a gigantic specimen is des cribed by Mr J. T. Mackay as growing in Rough Island, an islet in the lower lake, entirely composed of limestone. In 1805, this tree measured nine feet in circumference at two feet from the ground ; at the height of five feet it branches off into four limbs, each of which then measured two feet and a half in circumference ; from the base of the trunk to the extremity of the branches, the length was S6 feet ; and the tree has a fine spreading head. The andrachne (A. andrachne) is a beautiful shrub or small tree, but liable to be injured by severe frosts, and suited only to the milder counties of England and Ireland. • The superb Yucca, or Adam's needle, ( Yucca gloriosa) may here be mentioned, as it retains its leaves at all times. When in flower it makes a magnificent appearance. Young plants are at first rather tender ; but when fairly establish ed, they prove sufficiently hardy for the open border. A fine specimen has stood for about a century in the plea sure-grounds of Kilochan, belonging to Sir Andrew Cath cart in Ayrshire ; and it flowers every second or third year.