ON THE CULTURE OF HARDY DECIDUOUS 

 AND EVERGREEN SHRUBS. 



" I like a shrubbery, too, it looks so fresh ; 

 And then there is some variety about it. 

 In spring, the Lilac and the Snowball flower, 

 And the Laburnum, with its golden strings 

 Waving in the wind ; and when the autumn comes, 

 The bright red berries of the Mountain-ash, 

 With pines enough, in winter, to look green, 

 And show that something lives." 



THE flower-garden will be incomplete without a shrubbery. 

 A collection of shrubs and trees, embracing the different vari- 

 eties to be obtained at our nurseries, will add much to the 

 interest of the pleasure-ground. They should not be planted 

 at regular distances, or in straight lines, as in that way they 

 look too set and unnatural ; but, when grouped together, the 

 various sorts gracefully intermingled with the taller species in 

 the background, they present, at all seasons of the year, an 

 interesting sight. 



Shrubs are divided into two classes Deciduous and Ever- 

 green. Deciduous shrubs are those which lose their leaves in 

 autumn. However uninteresting the naked branches of this 

 class of shrubs may appear, to the careless observer, when 

 denuded of their foliage, they are not devoid of beauty to the 

 lovers of nature ; but, when mingled with evergreens, are 

 pleasing even in winter. The twigs of some species are red ; 

 others yellow, or various shades of brown ; and then many 

 species are covered with a profusion of berries, of different col- 

 ors, which, contrasting with the evergreens, give a lively look 

 to the shrubbery, even in the most dreary months. 



The culture of hardy shrubs is, in general, simple and easy. 

 The chief things to be noticed are, the proper season for 

 planting, the situation in which the plants will thrive, the 



