rowths from 4 to 5 feet in height, each of which will
furnish fine heads of deep-pink flowers during summer, and its
beautiful, warm-looking, nut-brown wood in winter is among the most
richly toned of all the barks which are used to produce effect, and yet
when grown in the ordinary way, and partially pruned down, as we in
nearly all cases see it, it produces miserable flowers, and the wood is
uninteresting. About every third or fourth year after pruning give a
surface dressing of half-decayed manure and loam in equal proportions.
The prunings should be tied up and saved for staking purposes; they are
of the utmost value for all kinds of slender-growing plants. _S.
callosa_ also makes a fine bed, and is very effective during late
summer; its large heads of deep-pink flowers render it most conspicuous;
they are produced when the others are past their best. It should be cut
to the ground every third year. _S. prunifolia flore-pleno_ is a very
beautiful form, flowers freely in March and April, and its foliage
assumes lovely tints in the autumn. It is of very graceful habit, and
well suited for banks or overhanging rocks. It should be moderately
pruned each year, and when it attains to a leggy appearance cut hard
back. _S. canescens_ (syn. _flagelliformis_) makes splendid beds owing
to the pretty arrangement of the foliage. This should be pruned to the
ground annually.

SYMPHORICARPUS RACEMOSUS (the Common Snowberry) is generally regarded as
an almost worthless plant, but when in a sunny open position on
well-trenched land and cut close to the ground each year, large beds are
most attractive in autumn and winter, as by such treatment the growths
will become thickly studded with pure white fruits. _S. orbiculatus
variegatus_ is a very pretty, somewhat slow-growing golden-leaved shrub,
and should be planted in an open position. It has a tendency to revert
back to the green form. Shoots of the type should be kept cut away. This
should be slightly pruned in spring, and when leggy cut to the ground.

EVERGREENS

BERBERIS (syn. MAHONIA) AQUIFOLIUM, or Holly-leaved Barberry, is too
well known to need much description. It is one of the most useful and
accommodating of shrubs, and will succeed in almost any soil, and either
in the open or under the shade of trees is quite at home. For clothing
banks few things can equal it, and when thus used should be pruned close
to the ground after flowering. It should be planted when in a sm