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EuRAL ADORNMENT. — Nothing contributes more to tbe appreciation 

 of a rural home than its surroundings. Nothing is more seriously missed 

 by the early settlers iu a uew country, especially by the female members 

 of a household, than the shrubs and flowers which they have left behind 

 them in their early homes. How many a heart has longed for the famil- 

 iar lilac-bush with its early, handsome, and fragrant clusters of Howers. 

 What sweet memories of the ever-pleasing and beautiful rose-bush ; or. 

 of the old-fashioned snow-ball, with its masses of snowy flowers con- 

 trasting so finely with its dark green' foliage ; or the modest, unobtru- 

 sive little wax-bush with its pearly blossoms, and iu due time its strings 

 of snow-white berries which refuse to drop from the slender twigs long 

 after the frost has stripped the green leaves. 



Notwithstanding the absence of these and many other memory-hon- 

 ored shrubs and flowers in the frontier homes, very much may be done 

 to substitute for them native plants of i)erhaps equal value. There is 

 a patch of wood not many miles distant from any settler where some 

 shrubs may be procured which will relieve the garden or yard of its 

 uakeduerss, and lend beauty and attraction, perhaps quite equal to those 

 favorites which are now beyond reach. The kind of such shrubs will, 

 of course, vary in different localities. 



South of latitude 40° few western woods are destitute of the flower- 

 ing dogwood, Cornus florida^ and the red-bud, Cercis canadensis, two 

 shrubs which flower in company in early spring, and present the greatest 

 contrast of color, the one a pure white, and the other a perfect blaze of 

 scarlet ; one to be succeeded by bright red berries, which last until win- 

 ter, the other by clusters of long jiods which hang gracefully beneath 

 the leaves, and still persist when autumn has bared the branches of their 

 handsome heart-shaped leaves. In localities where these cannot be pro- 

 cured their places may be supplied with several of the smaller kinds of 

 dogwood which abound in every forest, or with some of the viburnums 

 which are equally common, and form attractive shrubs, some of them 

 with rather showy berries. 



The wahoo, Euonymus at}'opurpureus,\\ith. its small dark purple flowers, 

 is very showy in autumn when loaded with its curious crimson pods. 

 Smaller ornamental shrubs may be found in most localities. Among 

 these we may mention the shrubby johnswort, Hypericum prolificum, 

 which furnishes an abundance of rich yellow panicles, or iu northern 

 localities its place may be supplied by the equally handsome shrubby 

 cinquefoil, Fotentilla fruticosa. 



Nor need our lady friends be wholly without roses. South of latitude 

 40°, iu rich bottom lands, the climbing rose, Bosa setigera, parent of sev- 

 eral beautiful cultivated varieties, is abundant, and will show its appre- 

 ciation of the kind hand which shall transplant it to the warm side of 

 a cottage, by sending up amazingly vigorous shoots, which, in a few 

 years, will perfjectly embower and beautify tlie home. 



Farther north the swamp-rose, Bosa GaroUna, or even the early wild 

 rose of the prairies and hills, Bosa.blanda, will well repay cultivation. 



The variety of shrubs may be further increased by the wild hydrangea, 

 which is sometimes nearly equal to its exotic relative, and is much more 

 hardy; also, by several species of spirea, particularly Spirea opuUfolia 

 and Spirea salicifolia, which is extremely common in rich lowlands 

 everywhere. 



The wax-bush, or snowberry, Symplioricarpus racemosus, is native in 

 some portions of Wisconsin and Minnesota, where it is also accompanied 

 by an allied species, the wolf-berry, S. occidentalism which has larger 

 flowers and very similar white berries; while more southward, in Illi- 



