208 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Mr. Wilcox: In regard to the white ash of our New England 
hills, I would say that the shrinkage in weight just about cor- 
responds with the shrinkage in dimensions. A foot of ash 
lumber, green, weighs about five and a half pounds, and a foot 
of it dry, weighs within a few ounces of the same. There is 
practically no shrinkage in weight in the white ash, but from 
what I have observed, I think there is considerable variance in 
the green ash. 
OUR NATIVE SHRUBS. 
MISS SARA M. MANNING, LAKE CITY. 
Let us seek a few of the shrubs of our state in their homes, for to those 
who love the wild flowers, nothing is more fascinating than studying 
them in their native haunts. 
In earliest spring the Service-berry blossoms along the streams; its 
clustered flowers are snowy white; its leaves are coated with a fine white 
wool, as though to protect it from the still lingering cold. 
At about the same time, the Leatherwood is covered with a profusion 
of clear, yellow flowers, soon to be followed by the light green leaves. 
This shrub grows in a dense globular form. While rather rare in many 
parts of the state, it is common in the forest to the northward. 
With it, in the cool northern woods, and occasionally throughout the 
state, is found the Leather-Leaf, a little shrub which opens a raceme of 
pure white flowers, from the tiny buds formed the previous autumn. It 
has thick, brownish evergreen leaves and slender, declining branches. 
In the damp moss of the meadows, a trifle later, are beds of Labrador 
Tea. The underside of the yellowish green leaves has a brown, woolly 
covering, the branches are thickly strewn with small bunches of white 
flowers. 
Another shrub of the bogs is the Wild Rosemary, low growing, with 
narrow, glaucus, green leaves, and showy clusters of pink and white 
fiowers. In autumn the leaves become a rich, red purple, and, remaining 
all winter, make a pleasing contrast to the snow-covered ground. 
Again, in the cool, dark shade the green moss is studded with the white 
flowers or scarlet berries of the Wintergreen, or, in dryer places, a creep- 
ing mat of Prince’s Pine wreathes the ground, its flesh-colored flowers 
violet-anthered. These dainty little evergreens come near being herba- 
ceous plants. 
We must not forget the shy Arbutus, for where in all the wildwood is 
another flower so sweet? How it always awakens memories of the old 
home in New England, as we find it creeping about beneath the shelter- 
ing pines, with its red-brown, hairy leaves and rose-tinted blossoms. 
