ies. 
SHRUBS FOR FARM HOME DECORATION. 831 
from the ditch and twelve inches apart, set two year old plants of 
the purple barberry. After these have reached a height of two or 
three feet, they may be sheared into a hedge, and if this is continued 
every June we will soon havea beautiful border to our road that 
will elicit a feeling of pleasure every time we pass. Or, if our road- 
way is not limited, a pleasant variation would beto plant the bar- 
berry on the side toward the house and on the further side put in 
some of our common staghorn sumach. This is arapid spreader 
from the root and if confined toa strip, say three feet wide, will, 
with its brilliant leaves and showy berries, make a pretty outside 
border. This variety of sumach is valuable, too, for bare gravel 
spots and steep slopes where sod will not easily cling. It hasa 
rugged, penetrating root, which with its spreading growth formsa 
harbor for the sod. 
The first place we usually strike on approaching the farmhouse 
is its side door, which most frequently takes the place of the front 
door in town and should be made as inviting as possible. A clump 
of golden elder should here find place. Attaining to a height of 
six to eight feet, it will with a little judicious training growintoa 
well shaped head of yellow richness, vieing with Alaska’s fields of 
gold. 
Near the horseblock, somewhere, with an evergreen background, 
if possible, put in specimens of spiraea Van Houtii, which, in 
latter June, blossoms into a symmetrical mass of white fluff. After 
you have seen this bloom, you will want to set the whole place out 
to spiraea Van H. But don’t overdo it; six or a dozen more, at the 
most, will be enough. 
Now, stepping around into the front yard, we find we have a large 
margin of space to fill in order to nicely define the grass piot in the 
center. Here we would wish to find some of the other varieties of 
spiraea,in order that we may have successive blooms of this valua- 
ble shrub, of which there are at least fifty distinct varieties. The 
varieties prunifolia, billardi, sorbifolia, and rotundifolia will give 
this effect, the last named being especially valuable, with round 
glossy leaf and flowers in large heads. Here let us also have at 
least two specimens of Philadelphus, or mock orange, which we 
learn to prize not alone for its beautiful early summer flowers, but 
as well for its rich perfume. 
Two well known members of the viburnum family are the snow- 
ball and the high bush cranberry, the latter particularly desirable 
for its clusters of bright scarlet berries, which hang on way into 
winter. 
Euonymous, variously known as spindle tree and burning bush, 
is a symmetrical and upright shrub, valuable for its fine foliage 
and peculiarly shaped red berries in midsummer and fall. 
Prunus trilloba is one of the best of the flowering plum class, with 
beautiful double pink flowers in June. 
Icannot refrain from mentioning one class of roses which may 
very properly enter the ranks of hardy shrubs, the Rugosa roses, 
which are highly ornamental on account of their good growing habit 
and beautiful glossy foliage. Rugosa rubra is a vigorous Japan 
