July 17.—The finely pinnate foliage of the Gieditsia "is very allractive these days, the young leaflets have a pleasing pinkish tint which blends nicely with the green oF the old [We have known this tree for many we have never seen it so attractive as the specimens are which are planted along one of Jour Avenues, Sophora japontea, another member of the family: Leguminosae, is now in Bower, The pendulous better known than the species: gardens. The tree ly a graceful one bearing ides of ellowish.white flowers which will followed shortly by peculiar" shaped pods:
is generally known as' the Pagoda tree and is extremely useful for planting as a lawn Epecinen, The odd-pinnate foliage is borne on graceful branches which will hang down to the ground if allowed to grow unchecked. We have seen several poor specimens however, and as the sophora is alveays planted in a conspicuous place, a poor specimen is always seen and liable to become an eyesore, When this tree has been permitted to get into a bad shape, it is better to replace it, oF, if there is sufficient live wood fat the (op, new shoots can be grafted on in the [Spring We saw a most attractive clump of [montbretia yesterday, the flowers were pee over stones placed at the edge of a pool The plants were growing in full shade and they appeared to have been in the same position for many years. This plant will be found in most catalogues under the name Triton'a, the name being derived from Triton, weathercock, in failuston to the fact that the "stamens of the Various species fre different directions. The [montbretia Is native to South Africa, but they stand our winters very well: the sword-like eaves and orange-coloured flowers are very tractive and hard to beat for indoor decora-
July 18—We were privileged to visit a most full spot yesterday and were reminded following lines which appear in one of Shelley's poems:
Tis the sweet solitude of this calm place, This intricate wild wilderness. of trees And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants, Eeave me: We drove along a countts road paved in the good old-fashioned way. just wide enough for {the car: we passed small vegetable plots plant~ Jed with colton, corn and. various Chinese vegetables and stopped at a humble shacic close toa marrow-covered grave-mound, We walked to a creek and rang a bell for the boatman. Two dogs were the first to make an appearance fon the opposite side; they ran down the steps the boat, barking In a friendly sort of way land bidding us welcome to somewhere new. We were paddled across and as we were climbing the steps we could hardly believe that we were only a few miley from the Bund. We were ata spot in one of the bends of Siccawei Creek known as Delaware Heights. The Chinese-style house was, we believe, built by. "Charles the First" of the "who do people." We know that It was later occupied by another _member of the same clan who is now "doing his bit" in far away England as an alr raid ware den, To him, the place will have sad memories fas well as pleasant. We admired the fine trees fon the north side of the house, there are Preudo-Acacias and Pterocarya stenoptera over [60 feet high: they. form a very effective windscreen. We saw little "monkeys" on the caves the building and a fine white "Jasmine"
bing over' the roof. We were told that It had been found necessary to out away a large part of this climber some years ago, but it ig still the largest. Trachelospermum. jasminotdes we have ever seen. When the plant ly in flower, the scent must be delightful. (To be continued.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.