nearly always is in
autumn) with its brilliant clusters of orange-red haws, it is one of the
most beautiful objects in the garden. It is quite hardy in the open, but
bears fruits more abundantly when planted against a wall. In that
position also it is more easily protected from birds, which soon destroy
the beauty of plants in the open. The variety _Laelandi_ is distinct
from the type, but hardier, and bears bright berries in abundance. The
Cockspur Thorn (_C. Crus-Galli_) has several varieties, all producing
pendent clusters of scarlet haws. The varieties like _pyracanthifolia_,
with narrow leaves and flat-topped habit, are the best in this respect;
they retain the fruits well into the winter, and are not eaten by birds
so freely as many are. The haws of _C. cordata_, the Washington Thorn,
are small, but a brilliant orange. _C. punctata_, _C. Azarolus_, and _C.
pinnatifida_ have the largest haws of any, and they are of a deep red,
but fall early; the two first, however, are variable, and forms with
yellow and other coloured haws belong to them. Those of _C. macracantha_
are bright red, and in favourable years are so plentiful as to make the
tree wondrously beautiful. _C. coccinea_ and _C. mollis_ have also red
haws, larger than those of _C. macracantha_, but they fall soon after
they are ripe. The Common Hawthorn is pretty, but more noteworthy is its
variety _aurea_, with bright-yellow haws. In _C. oliveriana_ they are
black. The Tansy-leaved Thorn (_C. tanacetifolia_) has large yellow
fruits, not badly flavoured, and with the fragrance of Apples. _C.
orientalis_ has haws of a bright sealing-wax red, but in its variety
_sanguinea_ they are of a deeper shade.

[Illustration: _BABYLONIAN WILLOW BY WATERSIDE (Kew)._]

COTONEASTERS.--Not enough use is made of Cotoneasters in gardens. They
grow well in almost any soil, and are all marked by elegant or neat
habit. They are very pretty when in flower, but it is in autumn, when
laden with fruits, that they attain their greatest beauty. One of the
tallest of them is _C. frigida_, and this bears a great abundance of
rich scarlet-red berries in flat clusters. In the nearly allied _C.
bacillaris_ they are almost black. _C. rotundifolia_ is a dwarfer shrub,
but the finest of all the Cotoneasters for its fruit; it grows about 4
feet high, and has small, very dark green, persistent leaves; the fruits
are about the size and shape of the haws of the Common Hawthorn, and are
brilliant