EVERGREEN SHRUBS 



THERE is a charm about evergreen shrubs that 

 attracts every one ; why, it is difficult to say. 

 Perhaps it is a kind of artistic quality and 

 dainty disposition of the leaves that is peculiar to the 

 race, and which certainly does not pertain in the same 

 degree to other inhabitants of the lawn. Then, more- 

 over, it is a common fancy with people whose knowledge 

 of plants is limited, that they must have evergreen 

 leaves in large quantities on their lawn, in order to 

 prolong its beauty throughout the winter, forgetting 

 that a birch, or red-twigged dogwood, or a great, naked, 

 sturdy oak will be able to easily enter into comparison 

 with the finest evergreen shrub for the award of superi- 

 ority in picturesqueness and abiding charm. Further- 

 more, we should remember that there are deciduous 

 shrubs which in the American climate grow better and 

 bloom more freely than they do abroad, and that are al- 

 together quite as picturesque-looking as the evergreens, 

 even in winter. 



The reason that has induced the author to dwell thus 

 at length on the comparative beauty of deciduous and 

 evergreeen shrubs, is that we will be obliged to confess, 

 as to usefulness, that evergreen shrubs are not always 



