248 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



tlie woods are still gleaming with the variegated tints of the 

 sprouting foliage, you may behold, rising up in solitary 

 brightness, arrayed with a profusion of white flowers and sil- 

 very green leaves, the tall branches of the swamp pyrus, a 

 shrub that bears the earliest flowers and fruits of the forest. 

 The pyrus is the forerunner of many beautiful flowering 

 shrubs. After this appear in succession the common thorn, 

 with its white rosaceous flowers in lovely circular clusters ; 

 the barberry, with its golden racemes fringing the branches 

 from their extremities, almost to their roots ; the wild dwarf 

 cherry, with its spikes of gaudy but delicate blossoms ar- 

 ranged fantastically at right angles with the twigs that sup- 

 port them ; — all these appear one after another, until at length, 

 as if nature was desirous of concentrating all our admiration 

 upon a single plant, appears the beautiful Canadian rhodora, 

 which marks the era of the departure of spring, and the com- 

 mencement of the reign of summer. 



In striking opposition to the scenes I have described, we 

 may observe in different parts of the country a densely wood- 

 ed swamp, with the tops of the trees hardly towering above 

 the level of the surrounding landscape, covered with the dark 

 green sombre foliage of junipers and cypresses. Even this 

 renders the remaining prospect more cheerful, by acting as a 

 foil to the pleasant scenes that everywhere surround us. 

 The very notes of the birds seem to harmonize with the char- 

 acter of the wood, and serve to enliven the contrasts that are 

 presented to the eye. In the open flowery plain we hear 

 thousands of chattering and musical birds — the wren in the 

 gardens, the merry bobolink in the grassy meadows, and the 

 oriole among the blossoms of the fruit trees, while from the 

 dark cypress groves we hear the scream of the jay, the cawing 

 of the raven, blended occasionally with the liquid notes of 

 ^the Sylvias and solitary thrushes. 



By making such observations, one may be satisfied that 

 upon our barren hills nothing could be substituted, that would 

 equal in any respect of beauty and ornament, the trees and 

 shrubs which are indigenous to the situation. The practice 

 of Great Britain, operating as an example to American 



