230 LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 



which clothe with a rich verdure the rocks and precipices 

 that overhang the moving flood below. 



The berries which succeed these blossoms become quite 

 red and brilliant in autumn ; and, as they are plentifully 

 borne in little clusters, they make quite a display. When 

 the sharp frosts have lessened their bitterness, they are the 

 food of the robin, which, at that late season, eats them 

 greedily. 



The foliage in autumn is also highly beautiful, and must 

 be considered as contributing Jto the charms of this tree. 

 The color it assumes is a deep lake-red ; and it is at that 

 season as easily known at a distance by its fine coloring, 

 as the Maple, the Liquidambar, and the Nyssa, of which 

 we have already spoken. Taking into consideration all 

 these ornamental qualities, and also the fact that it is every 

 day becoming scarcer in our native wilds, we think the 

 Dogwood tree should fairly come under the protection of 

 the picturesque planter, and well deserves a place in the 

 pleasure-ground and shrubbery. 



The wood is close-grained, hard, and heavy, and takes 

 a good polish. It is too small to enter into general use, but 

 is often employed for the lesser utensils of the farm. The 

 bark has been very successfully employed by physicians in 

 Philadelphia, and elsewhere, and is found to possess nearly 

 the same properties as the Peruvian bark. Bigelow states 

 in his American Botany, that its use in fevers has been 

 known and practised in many sections of the Union by the 

 country people, for more than fifty years. 



Besides this native species there is an European 

 dogwood (Cornus mascula), commonly called the Cornelian 

 cherry, which is now planted in many of our gardens, and 

 grows to the height of twenty or thirty feet. The small 



