NOTES ON INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS. 



557 



gardens, no fences, no walls, no shrubbe- 

 ries — a beautiful valley with the sky rest- 

 ing on its rim, and nothing in it save one 

 fairy palace. The simplicity of the thing 

 enchanted me, and, in all my yearnings af- 

 ter rural seclusion, this vision of old travel 

 has, more or le^s, colored my fancy. You 

 see what I mean, with half an eye. Gar- 

 dens are beautiful, shrubheries ornamental, 

 summer-houses and alleys, and gravelled 

 paths, all delightful — but they are, each and 

 all, taxes — heavy taxes on mind, time, and 

 " dollar." Perhaps you like them. Perhaps 

 you Avant the occupation. But soiyie men of 

 small means, like a contemplative idleness 

 in the country. Some men's time never 

 hangs heavily under a tree. Some men 

 like to lock their doors (or to be at liberty to 

 do so,) and be gone for a month, without 

 dread of gardens plundered, flowers trod 

 down, shrubs browsed off by cattle. Some 

 men like nothing out of doors but that 

 which can take care of itself — the side of a 

 house or a forest-tree, or an eld horse in 

 a pasture. These men, too, like that which 

 is beautiful, and for such I draw this pic- 

 ture of the cottage insoudeuse. What more 

 simply elegant than a pretty structure in 



the lap of a green dell ! What more con- 

 venient ! What so economical ! Sheep 

 (we may " return to muttons") are cheaper 

 " help" than men, and if they do not keep 

 your greensward so brightly mown, they 

 crop it faithfully and turn the crop to better 

 account. The only rule of perfect indepen- 

 dence in the country, is to make no " im- 

 provement" which requires more attention 

 than the making. So — you are at liberty 

 to take your wife to the springs. So — you 

 join a coterie at Niagara at a letter's warn- 

 ing. So — you can spend a Avinter in Italy 

 without leaving half your income to servants 

 who keep house at home. So — you can 

 sleep Avithout dread of hail-storms on your 

 graperies or green-houses, without blun- 

 derbuss for depredators of fruit, without 

 distress at slugs, cut-worms, drouth, or 

 breachy cattle. Nature is prodigal of flow- 

 ers, grapes are cheaper bought than raised, 

 fruit idem, butter idem (though you may'nt 

 think so,) and as for amusement — the man 

 who can not find it between driving, fish- 

 ing, shooting, strolling, and reading, (to 

 say nothing of less selfish pleasures,) has 

 no busirfess in the country. He should go 

 back to town. 



NOTES ON INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRTTBS. 



BY S. P. BUCKLEY, YATES Co., N. Y. 



There are many indigenous shrubs and 

 trees in different parts of the United States, 

 which have never been cultivated, or but 

 partially cultivated, in this country. To as- 

 sist our gardeners and amateur florists, who 

 may perhaps be induced to bring some of 

 them into general cultivation, we propose. 



rist as being worthy of cultivation, nor haA^e 

 their precise localities often been indicated. 

 For the present we shall confine our notice 

 to such as are not mentioned, or if mention- 

 ed, merely named as varietes, in " BroAvn's 

 Trees of America;" Ave mean those species 

 which belong to genera already published 



in a series of articles, to describe them, and \ by Mr. Browne, and Avhich it would seem 



indicate their localities, Avhich Ave have ob- 

 tained from personal observation during bo- 

 tanical tours in various sections of the U nited 

 States. That they have been described in 

 various botanical works is well known to 

 every botanist, yet not described in such a 

 manner as to arrest the attention of the flo- 



should not have been omitted in a Avork 

 professing to treat of the trees of America. 



RIIODODKXDRON PUXCTATUM. 

 (Andrews, in Botanists' Repository, 36.) 



Leaves perennial, ovafc-lanceolate, acute 

 at both ends, smooth ; under side of leaves, 

 pedicels and calyx, punctate, Avith resinous 



