46 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



"We have many flowering trees and shrul^s, and from the early blossoms 

 of the Service-tree, to the Black Alder, glowing with berries of vivid red, 

 there is always among them beauty of flower, or fruit, or foliage. We 

 may see, 



'The snowy crown upon the Thorn, 



The Crab-tree's rosy torch of spicy bloom, 

 The Judas-tree, fresh from the baths of morn, 

 Light the faint emerald gloom.' 



"One of our commonest shrubs, the Biitton-bush, (Cephalanihus 

 occidentalis) is winning its way to public favor because of its season of 

 flowering, in July and August, and also 'because it thrives in almost any 

 situation, even under the shade of trees. 



"The Red-root, {Ceanoihus Amevicanus) so often seen by the roadside, 

 also blooms in midsummer, and has many clusters of peculiarly interesting 

 flowers. In early times the leaves of this shrub were used as a substitute 

 for tea and it is now often called New Jersey Tea. 



" Of our plants of climbing nature, the Virginia Creeper, and the feathery- 

 seeded Clematis, have already established themselves as favorite in city and 

 village. To these two the Bitter Sweet makes a fitting companion, and it 

 should stand equally well in our good graces. If you care for novelty, add 

 to your vines the Wild Bean, ( Apios fuberosa ) which blooms when flowers 

 are scarce, and is unique in both flower and fragrance. 



"No rose is more beautiful in color than our climbing wild rose, in which 

 the delicate brightness of a newly opened blossom is enhanced by its semi- 

 spheric cluster of golden stamens. The species is interesting as being our 

 only native rose of climbing habit, and also in having been partly the orig- 

 inal of the well-known Queen of the Prairie. 



" The plants are so rarely found that even their existence as natives of 

 Michigan has been somewhat doubted, but for some time I have been the 

 happy possessor of one found growing wild in this county. 



" If yoii wish for ferns, Lenawee offers a number from which to choose, 

 unless, recognizing the beauty of all, you are not content with a selection, 

 but take home each species as you find it. Perhaps the list should be 

 headed by the Ostrich Fern, which, with its plume-like fronds, can well be 

 thought almost the loveliest of its order, though crowding close upon it are 

 the Lady Fern, and the Wood Ferns ; while the Maiden Hair is a creation 

 to speak of by itself, so dainty is it in form and substance. Its shining 

 stalks and spreading fronds are not only beautiful in their delicacy in spring 

 time, and in their maturity of summer growth, but often when fading to 

 their death they have shadings of such softness that even their decay seems 

 but a lovely transformation. 



"And now, for all the native plants of this county, including the many 

 which time has precluded me from mentioning, I invite your curiosity, 

 believing that, if you will seek them and know them, you will find them 

 to be of such beauty or interest, that they will permanently retain your 

 regard. 



"Memories of them lie in my mind as leaves lie in a book; and with 

 them are remembered the level pastures and the tangled thickets that edge 

 the Eaisin river, the peaceful beauty of the quiet woods, the undulating- 

 fields, the wandering brooks, and the dimpling lakes of Lenawee." 



