SHRUBS BELONGING TO THE ROSE FAMILY. 45 



general color and effect of the blossom. The Rose 

 family is separated into three distinct divisions : these 

 are the Almond or Plum, the Rose, and the Pear 

 sub-families. 



Belonging to the first subfamily (Plum) are a few 

 very familiar roadside characters : the first of these is 

 the common wild plum (Primus Americana). Near 

 some old farmhouse one is pretty sure to find this 

 small tree in a neglected condition among the wild 

 shrubbery. It bears its white flowers and dull-green 

 leaves simultaneously in early spring ; the orange-red 

 translucent fruit, about the size of a large cherry, is 

 ripe in early September. The skin is tough but the 

 flavor is pleasant. The tree is scarcely fifteen feet 

 high, and is picturesque to the last degree in either 

 blossom or fruit ; its thorny and scraggy character is 

 quite in keeping with the air of desertion attached to 

 the weather-stained lonely old house near by. On 

 the road which winds about the southern slopes of 

 Mt. Prospect, in the township of Holderness, ~N. H., 

 there is just such a picturesque abandoned, farm- 

 house, with its cluster of wild plum trees near by, 

 which is as beautiful in May as it is in late August. 

 In blossom or in fruit the tree is always a striking 

 subject for the artist's pencil. 



Beside the road not far from the sea a spreading 

 shrub, usually two or three feet high, which bears 



