HINDRANCES AND HELPS 



day on which I first visited My Farm, I de- 

 scribed the air as all aflow with the perfume 

 of purple lilacs ; and does he think that I would 

 ungratefully forget it, or forget the lilacs? 

 The Lilac is one of those old shrubs which I 

 cling to with an admiration that is almost rev- 

 erence. The Syringa (Philadelphus) is an- 

 other; and the Guelder-rose (Viburnum) is 

 another. They are all infamously common; 

 but so is sunshine. 



The Mezereum, the Forsythia, and the 

 Weigelia have their attractions ; — the Meze- 

 reum, because it is first comer in the spring, 

 and shows its modest crimson tufts of blos- 

 soms, while the March snows are lingering; 

 the Forsythia follows hard upon it, with its 

 graceful yellow bells ; and the Weigelia, though 

 far later, is gorgeous in its pink and white — 

 but neither of them is to be matched against the 

 old favorites I have named. 



Yet it is after all more in the disposition of 

 the shrubbery, than in the varieties, that a 

 rational pleasure will be found. It is not a 

 great burden of bloom from any particular 

 shrub that I aim at. I do not want to prove 

 what it may do at its best, and singly; that is 

 the office of the nurseryman, who has his sales 

 to make. But I want to marry together great 



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