DECIDUOUS SHRUBS OF THE FARM 



145 



spiraea and blueberry and other small-leaved things. The 

 twigs of azalea, witch-hazel, the hobble-bush, the spreading 

 dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) and other shrubs of the shade 

 tend to spread in horizontal strata; those of the New Jersey 

 tea and of willow and others that grow in the sunshine, to rise 

 erect. Buckthorn and prickly ash and brambles stand with 

 all their naked thorniness revealed. There is the utmost 

 diversity of habit, even among those near of kin. Among the 



PIG. 57. Diagram of the growth of shrubs, showing annual increments, a, an old 

 shoot of maple-leaved viburnum, b, a young shoot of the same, c, a four-year-old 

 shoot of sumac, d, a two-year-old shoot of black-berried elder. 



honeysuckles are arrant stragglers (Lonicera sulUvantii] and 

 compactly-growing bushy shrubs (Lonicera canadensis) . 

 Some shrubs, like azaleas and blueberries, attain their full 

 stature by slowly-added annual increments, and others, like 

 elder, shoot up stems to full height in a single season. In 

 several genera of shrubs, such as blueberries and sumachs, 

 there are both giants and dwarfs. 



All shrubs are underlings; they cannot compete with the 

 trees. Once in possession of the soil, they can keep trees out 

 only by forming so dense a shade that no tree can get a start. 

 Once an oak or a maple gets its head above the common level 



