NATIVE PLANTS 



are a thousand-fold more dainty and beautiful. 

 In fall, when the berries ripen, they make the 

 shrub most attractive. The Elder is very easy 

 to transplant, very easy to grow, and adapts 

 itself readily to any soil. 



The Sumach is a strikingly beautiful shrub. 

 During summer its tufts of long leaves are 

 suggestive of the fronds of some of the larger 

 ferns. In fall it takes on the richest shades 

 of red, yellow, maroon, and bronze. A bush 

 of it always makes me think that Mrs. Brown- 

 ing must have had it in mind when she wrote 

 that line in " Aurora Leigh " about 



"The wayside bush afire with God." 



We have but one other native plant that 

 can equal it in splendor of autumn coloring, 

 and that is the Ampelopsis, or Virginia 

 Creeper. When the Sumach bears fruit it has 

 an additional attraction. Its berries are small 

 individually, but there will be hundreds in a 

 cluster, and the velvety coat of glowing crim- 

 son which incases them makes the spikes in 

 which they are borne a striking feature of dec- 

 oration, especially if the plant is so placed that 

 it can have the background of an evergreen for 

 the display of its beauty. As this plant often 



37 



