STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 97 



111 a tall, clear vase for the dining table or living room and if 

 you have never used it before for decorative purposes you will 

 be delighted with the result. 



The tree itself has such a trim, neat habit that properly pruned 

 it is pleasing to the eye the year round. 



Our native hawthorne oi wild thorn is most exquisite in 

 bloom and especially so after the fruit is matured. The leaves 

 drop early in the season but the sharp thorns give an artistic 

 setting to the dark tipped scarlet berries. 



Another is the wild high bush crinjcrry. It bears transplant- 

 ing well and responds readily to cultivation ; the bush honey- 

 suckle, so universally planted, cannot compare with it, the 

 berries are a most brilliant red and the foliage remains on till 

 late in the autumn and after the first frosts lights up a perfect 

 blaze of glory in the sunshine. 



Multitudes of our native little brown birds in search of food 

 fill the branches of the Virginia creeper which partially covers 

 our house soon as the leaves have fallen. 



But the elderberry is the bush par excellence to entice the 

 birds around the premises, not only are the great creamy white 

 cym.es of bloom very eiTective, when seen at a distance, but later 

 as soon as the berries begin to turn purple the birds congregate 

 on them early every morning, before the sun has fairly risen, 

 the bushes will be actually blue, so many bluebirds come for 

 their breakfast, perfectly fearless of any one standing near or 

 passing by. This by no means completes the list of wild fruits 

 both useful and ornamental. I do not believe in a tangle of wild 

 shrubs about the house simply because they are beautiful grow- 

 ing in their native woods, but a few judiciously planted are most 

 attractive or when left to grow beside a country road where they 

 do no harm and are much more desirable than the worthless 

 alder bushes which spring up everywhere. 



Nature covers old walls and unsightly fences with clematis 

 and woodbine, young trees grow up and conceal the blackened 

 stumps of the denuded forest ; even on the barren desert where 

 there is a spring of water the weary traveller finds green grass 

 and the comforting shade of the palm. 



Life should not be all sordid and practical but in harmony 

 with nature's teachings, " beauty is an all-prevading presence " 

 and the more pleasing our surroundings the more enjoyment in 

 livinsf. 



