DECIDUOUS SHRUBS 



IT is rapidly coming to be an accepted theory that 

 American trees and shrubs should, to a great ex- 

 tent, inhabit American lawns. Some persons go 

 so far as to almost assert that nothing but American 

 trees suit American lawns, but the continued employ- 

 ment of such trees as the Norway maple will serve to 

 disprove the theory as one to be universally applied. 

 However, be that as it may, there is no doubt that many 

 hardy native shrubs grow remarkably well together, and 

 blend their several attractions in a thoroughly harmoni- 

 ous and natural manner. 



Ranking high among such American shrubs comes the 

 common alder of the fields and woods, alnus incana. It 

 is an early spring-blooming and swamp-loving plant, and 

 thrives better in wet places than almost any other shrub. 

 The early effect of its satiny leaves pushing out when 

 little vegetation has as yet commenced to move, makes 

 one of the chief beauties of spring, and in late fall, on the 

 edge of winter, a few yellow flowers will already appear 

 on the alder, as if it were the intention of the plant to 

 announce, in a slight and uncertain way, what it proposed 

 to do, in a full and effective manner, as soon as spring 

 appeared. Alders transplant and grow well, branch sym- 



