1893.] ESSAYS. 79 



with its rich yellow flowers hanging in pendant racemes, which blos- 

 soms in May, is the pride and glory of the lawn. There are many 

 more which I might mention ; indeed, there are so many that a lover 

 of flowers has hard work to make a choice, if he has room for only a 

 few. 



Midway between the ornamental tree and the blossoming plant is 

 the flowering shrub. On account of their beauty and the abundance 

 of their flowers, shrubs are prime favorites with nearly everybody, 

 and can be found in the home grounds of almost every residence of 

 the most moderate size. Every flowering shrub has a beauty peculiar 

 to itself, and standing alone is an object worthy of attention, but for 

 pleasing and picturesque effect it should be grouped with other 

 shrubs. They may properly be grouped in the same manner as trees, 

 the fine and more fragrant species being placed near the house, and 

 the larger and more hardy along the walks and the remote parts of 

 the grounds. They can usually be used to the best advantage in 

 giving fulness to the groups of trees and effecting a union between 

 the grounds and the buildings. 



They do not, like trees, shut out the view, and therefore they can 

 frequently be used with good effect where trees would be an objec- 

 tion. When arranged with good taste along the margins of a walk 

 or road they increase the picturesque beauty of the grounds. Fortu- 

 nately there are so many different kinds of shrubs, from the early 

 blooming forsythia to the late blooming althaea, that there is no 

 trouble in having rich and beautiful shrubbery during the whole sum- 

 mer and autumn. With a little care in the selection, clusters of 

 bright and perpetual blooming shrubs may be made to ornament the 

 home grounds with a variegated beauty from spring to winter. 



Flowering plants are not so lofty as flowering shrubs and trees, but 

 they produce larger and more beautiful flowers. They come to 

 maturity sooner, and are more manageable. They furnish bouquets 

 for our use on divers times and occasions, and consequently seem to 

 be more intimate friends and acquaintances than the flowers on trees 

 and shrubs. Their arrangement on the home grounds must depend 

 largely upon the size and situation of the grounds. When the 

 grounds are extensive and park-like, flower gardens of French, Ital- 

 ian or English design may be planted and maintained with symmetri- 

 cal patterns and figures, and outlined with fanciful borders. But 

 flower gardens of this kind are generally out of place around the 

 dwellings in this part of our country. Very few of our lawns are 

 large enough to warrant such a display of artistic decoration, and 



