Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



Japan and China, as usual, are our main resource for 

 ornamental hydrangeas. Worthy of mention, though 

 inferior, is our own oak-leaved H. quercifolia with 

 large sterile blossoms mingled with the fertile ones in 

 the same cluster. The process of cultivation always 

 tends to transform stamens and pistils into petals, mak- 

 ing the flower only for show, without the means of self- 

 propagation, resulting usually in such metamorphoses as 

 we find in the cultivated rose and chrysanthemum with 

 a multitude of petals. But there is a singular difference 

 in the process, in the hydrangea, wherein the flower's 

 force is expended in simply enlarging the calyx it has 

 no corolla instead of multiplying the number of sepals. 

 It may here be remarked, that while color and form 

 mere sensuous beauty may be equally appreciated by 

 all, intelligent interest in nature's processes of growth, 

 which afford a considerable part of the subject's at- 

 tractiveness, is quite impossible without an understand- 

 ing of structural botany ; and this is where the modern 

 "short methods" of nature-study reveal their super- 

 ficiality. 



Among the rugged, dark-green -foli aged shrubs and 

 trees, one of the most interesting and sometimes prac- 

 tically valuable genera is the alder ; too coarse-fibred 

 for good effect at short range, it can be massed along a 

 water-course, pond, or lake very satisfactorily ; indeed, 

 there is nothing that quite takes its place in that situa- 

 tion. Its growth is thrifty, and its compacted roots 

 prevent erosion of the shore. Our three native species 

 are all shrubs, with no conspicuous differences, and a 

 practical value of them all is their protection of tender 



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