THE "ILLINOIS WAY" OF BEAUTIFYING THE FARM 



23 



77. High Bush Cranberry in Flower (Viburnum Opulus) 



78. High Bush Cranberry in Fruit 



One of the most valuable shrubs for year-round beauty. It blooms in May. The large showy flowers are sterile; the inner ones make fruits. The autumn foliage is bright red, 

 and the scarlet berries are attractive all winter, as they are not eaten by birds. Many people now prefer this to the snowball because of its fruits. It is not troubled by plant-lice as 

 the snowball is. This shrub is native to Illinois and can be easily told by the maple-like, or three-fingered leaves. 



In the meadow, too, it is perfectly practicable to have daffo- 

 dils and poet's narcissus by the thousand, as English farmers do. 

 These fragrant yellow-and-white flowers bloom in April and 

 May, and do not interfere with the hay crop. You can mow 

 the hay at the regular time without hurting next year's crop 

 of flowers, for the daffodil leaves turn yellow and fall while 

 the bulbs are ripening for next year. There is an old field 

 near Trenton, N. J., where daffodils have multiplied without 

 care for over a hundred years. (See Fig. 70.) Daffodil bulbs 

 cost only two or three dollars per hundred, which is two or 

 three cents apiece. If you like, you can get your money back 

 in six months, for you can cut and sell three dollars' worth of 

 flowers without harming the bulbs. But you won't want to. 

 You will prefer to enjoy the flowers in the meadow. The 

 bulbs of the poet's narcissus (see Fig. 72) cost only half a 

 cent apiece, and five dollars invested this fall will give you a 



thousand flowers next May. Why not buy some of the bulbs 

 this fall and make a trial? 



6. Winter Gardens for Illinois Farmers 



You can make an outdoor winter garden for $3 to $5 that 

 will pay back its cost in cash in two years, to say nothing of 

 the pleasure it will give you. Get a dozen kinds of shrubs 

 with brightly colored twigs, such as the red-stemmed Illinois 

 rose; the red, purple, and yellow dogwoods; the salmon, blue, 

 and golden willows; the green forsythia, kerria, and memorial 

 rose; and they will give you a fine show of color the very day 

 you plant them in the fall or early spring. Take orders for 

 them, if you like, as a certain farmer in Dixon does. Any 

 nurseryman will be glad to give you a commission, and your 

 winter garden will pay its own cost. 



79-80. The Silky Dogwood for Your "Illinois Border" 



This shrub (Cornus Amomum or sericea) is famous for its winter beauty, the purplish red branches being second in vividness only to the Siberian red dogwood. I he bush grows 

 3 to 10 feet high and blooms in June or July, about a month later than the Siberian. The berries are pale blue, sometimes bluish white. Native to Illinois. Plant silky dogwoods near 

 your house, in your lx>rder, bird-garden, or winter garden, and enjoy their gorgeous color every sunny day from November to March. See page 26, first paragraph. 



