Summer Meeting. . 75 



wild bushes in the Botanical Garden of London and of Paris, which 

 people admire when seeing them for the first time as we do one from 

 Australia. We want new acquaintances and novelties, but for intrinsic 

 beauty we find species from the prairies and woods equal to any. 



So I mention some Missouri shrubs that we see often and do not ap- 

 preciate. Some species respond to cultivation and take on a new symmetry 

 and freshness, as for example the Buck bush. We have tramped over it 

 but it rarely calls the attention because it is so abundant. Still it is 

 handsome, and you can not kill it, it grows without trouble. Plant it 

 where it is at home and indigenous and it will make a perfect develop- 

 ment and look finer than an imperfect and undeveloped foreign variety. 

 An intrinsically beautiful but puny shrub grown poorly in uncongenial 

 soil is not as satisfactory as one at home in peace and prosperity. The 

 new growth on the Buck bush in spring takes on a pink tinge, the older 

 leaves are dark and glossy, rich and luxuriant, but fade again to pale 

 green and pinkish ; so we get all shades from sunshine to shadow. Grown 

 in blue grass it will be ragged, but grown in the shrubbery border it is 

 symmetrical. Another point of beauty is its fruit, so rich and prosperous 

 in quantity it suggests a land of plenty, another its beautiful color. It is 

 indeed a fit emblem of a rich state. 



The Flowering Dogwood develops finely on our Missouri streams 

 and blufifs. It is an early flowering shrub with white blossoms, and color 

 in the bracts under the flowers. This in comparatively small quantities to 

 make a mass is efl^ective with the Buck bush to hide the stems and fill in. 

 Red Bud is good for the main mass, with finer ones for the details of 

 planting and finishing. Elderberry, like Dogwood, gives a large amount 

 of color. It is not to be used close to the door step, but for screen to 

 hide the stable fence. The coarse foliage melts into fine lines when 

 at a distance. It is good for filling but not for fine detail. The fruit is 

 a rich wine color. The June or Service berry grows in the tree and 

 shrub forms. Put the tree in the rear and use the finer dwarf variety 

 fci filling and finishing. 



For fine detail St. Johns Wort is good. It has rich yellow florescence 

 and fine leaves, so that it bears close inspection and we do not need to 

 take only the distant view. It blossoms late after others cease to bloom. 

 [ wonder it is not grown more in the nursery. I remember a mass of it 

 in Brussels which was much admired because it was rare, while we 

 scarcely notice its beauty. The Butterfly Milk Weed has a luxuriant 

 growth of foliage and handsome inflorescence, in August and September, 

 after other things have blossomed. In rich soil it takes on an added 

 luxuriance, and it cultivated is not the same as iu the pasture, but a 

 Nvc-nder to your friends. 



