1 86 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



NATIVE SHRUBBERY IN ORNAMENTATION. 



I.YCURGUS R. MOVER, MONTEVIDEO. 



Some years ago the word went forth that the Norway spruce 

 trees in Central Park in New York were failing. It had taken a 

 half century to prove that a foreign tree was not adapted to Ameri- 

 can conditions. It is now some years since this society ceased to 

 recommend Norway spruce for general planting. The white spruce 

 was found to be better adapted to our climate. Likewise it is now 

 pretty generally admitted that a cottomvood — poor as it is — is a 

 better tree than a Russian poplar. For planting on a western 

 prairie a silver maple is a far safer tree than a Norway maple. We 

 are likely to find that a Pinus ponderosa is a safer tree than a 

 Scotch pine. A red cedar is more to be depended upon than an 

 European larch. The choke cherry of Minnesota is a hardier shrub 

 than the bird cherry of Europe. For a long period of time plants 

 have been adapting themselves to their environment. Through a 

 natural selection extending over a long period of time the fittest 

 have survived. It stands to reason that in any neighborhood the 

 shrubs best adapted to that neighborhood will be found growing 

 in the woodlands nearest at hand. The native shrubs will be those 

 best adapted to withstand the peculiar local climatic conditions. 

 They will not be so apt to be found uncongenial to the soil of the 

 neighborhood. 



Our native forests and shrubberies are disappearing at so rapid 

 a rate that it will be found worth while to preserve at least a few- 

 specimens as a curiosity. 



On the prairies of western Minnesota and South Dakota there 

 was one shrub that had kept up the fight between the little groves of 

 timber and the encircling prairie from: time immemorial. This was 

 the wolfberry (Symphoricarpos occidentalis); and it will be found 

 to be a very good border shrub even now. It will grow, too, with- 

 out coaxing and will rejoice at good cultivation. The botanists 

 credit Minnesota with three other species of Symphoricarpos, all of 

 which may be safely planted. 



The prairie flora is fast disappearing— has gone, we may say. 

 The first settlers who went on the prairies would never have thought 

 of preserving that omnipresent prairie shrub, the shoe-string 

 (Amorpha canescens), but now when it is so nearly exterminated 

 a few specimens may well be preserved in the shrub border. The 

 more rare fragrant false indigo (Amorpha nana) is a desirable 

 dwarf border shrub, although I have never seen it mentioned in a 



