188 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



April 



last six M'eeks, Major General Boreas and all his 

 host have been here on furlough amusing them- 

 selves for the mere sport of it in piling it up in the 

 most inconvenient ways imaginable. Within six 

 feet of the room in which I wiite they have left a 

 pile ten feet deep before the door, and there are 

 many piles in the highways which would allow of 

 having a road cut through them sufficient for a 

 double team to pass out of sight a considerable 

 distance. Last night was the most severe within 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitant, the aforesaid 

 company doing their aivfulest, while the mercury 

 varied from 38° above to G° below zero. A towns- 

 man coming to the centre between seven or eight 

 o'clock in the evenins got his horse set in a drift 

 within ten rods of the main street, and while he 

 was going on for help through the flying snow, 

 lost the track, became exhausted and would have 

 perished, but for his protracted calls for assistance, 

 although on the corner of three streets and 

 houses all around. My neighbor the doctor says he 

 has a drift in liis garden thirteen feet deep ! Such 

 being the facts, shall we be branded "Secesh" if 

 we berate the blockade ? s.. N. 



Steady-habits, Feb. 24, 1862. 



CLIMBnSTG PLANTS. 



There is nothing that adds so much to the ex- 

 ternal appearance of a city residence as a climbing 

 plant or two. We know of no ornament so cheap 

 and tasteful, and none as equally appropriate to 

 the mansion and the cottage. There are climbing 

 plants hardy enough to live and thrive without 

 much care, and they require so little soil that every 

 one who has possession of a square yard of ground 

 can sit under the shadow of his own vine. The 

 cheerless expression of walls that present only a 

 succession of clapboards or bricks may be relieved 

 by these best of nature's ornaments. The drapery 

 of leaf and blossom about the windows, the vine 

 climbing up to the very eaves and thrusting its 

 tendrils into every crevice, the rustic trellis at the 

 doorway almost hid by the rich foliage, are evi- 

 dances of taste that should be multiplied. Mr. 

 Downing beautifully says, "What summer foHage 

 is to a naked forest, what rich tufts of fern are to 

 a rock in a woodland dell, what hyacinthine locks 

 are to a goddess of beauty, or wings to an angel, 

 the drapery of climbing plants is to cottages in the 

 country ;" and, he might have added, to residen- 

 ces everywhere. 



The following climbing plants will be found to 

 answer the requisitions in situations where hardi- 

 ness and vigorous and rapid growth are indispen- 

 sable. We rank the roses first, for no one ever 

 wearies of them. The Queen of the Prairies and 

 the Baltimore Belle are two fine varieties of the 

 ^Michigan rose. They are remarkable for the pro- 

 fusion of their flowers and the rapidity of their 

 growth, shoots of twenty feet in length in a single 

 year being not uncommon. The blossoms of the 

 Queen of the Prairies are a deep pink with a 

 white stripe in the centre of each petal, and so 

 very double that they look like large pouting buds, 

 rather than full-grown roses ; those of the Balti- 

 more Belle are almost white, and in large clusters. 

 Mr. Downing recommends the common Boursalt 

 rose, which he says "has long purplish shoots, fo- 

 liage always fresh and abundant, and bright pur- 

 plish blossoms in June, as thick as stars in a mid- 



night sky." The richest and prettiest Boursalt is 

 one called Amadas or Elegans. 



The Chinese Wistaria is another plant admira- 

 bly adapted for the decorations of dwellings. It 

 is perfectly hardy, a rank grower, and may be 

 trained over the whole side of a dwelling, or twine 

 about a single pillar. It requires some age and a 

 favorable location to flower, but the flowers are 

 worth waiting for. They hang in clusters, like 

 those on a locust tree, are from six inches to a foot 

 in length, and of a most delicate tint, between 

 light purple and white. When in full bloom, it is 

 one of the most beautiful flowering plants. 



For twining about windows, nothing is prettier 

 than the Chinese twining honeysuckle, {Lonicera 

 japonica, jlexuoso.) It blooms constantly nearly 

 all summer, and its fragrance is peculiarly pleas- 

 ant. It is not so hardy as the roses mentioned, 

 but may be cultivated with a little care. The red 

 and yellow honeysuckles, planted together, give a 

 very fine efiect, especially when trained on a lat- 

 tice. Mr. Downing speaks of the sweet-scented 

 clematis {C. Jlammula,) "as the very type of deli- 

 cacy and grace, Avhose flowers are broidered like 

 pale stars over the whole vine in midsummer, and 

 whose perfume is the most spiritual, impalpable, 

 and yet far-spreading of all vegetable odors." 



All these climbing plants may be trained on the 

 sides of dwellings by an occasional fastening to the 

 wall. The honeysuckles, being more fragile, need 

 the support of strong twine. All the preparation 

 necessary is to dig a trench a little distance from 

 the wall, fill it with rich soil, (for the richer it is, 

 the more luxuriant wiU be the growth,) and plant 

 the root, the cutting, or the seed, as the case may 

 be, and the thing is done. These may be obtained 

 at a trifling expense from any of the nurseries or 

 green-houses, and once obtained, your stock will 

 never need rencAving. They will add to the beau- 

 ty of the most delightful residence, and impart it 

 to those lacking in all ornament. The old house 

 which you begin to talk about tearing down, will 

 look quite well for a year or two longer, if you 

 will rejuvenate it by this drapery of living green. 

 The blank, broad side of a building which stares 

 into the street, with its great expressionless face, 

 will wear a very difierent countenance, if you Avill 

 build a simple trellis over the front door, and cov- 

 er it with some graceful creeper. 



There are situations where the European Ivy, 

 the American Ivy, and the trum])et creepers, {Big- 

 noiiias,) have a fine effect. This class of plants 

 help themselves in their upward course, fixing 

 their rootlets into the stone or brick wall. The 

 European Ivy is tender, but the American or Vir- 

 ginia creeper, and the trumpet creeper, will thrive 

 anywhere. They show to good advantage on the 

 rear of brick or stone cottages, on the side of some 

 old out-building which cannot be improved in any 

 other Avay, on a walled terrace, which often divides 

 the doorway from the garden, and on rude walls 

 and fences generally. 



We trust we have not wearied our readers with 

 this plea for ornament. Every consideration 

 which should lead to giving an air of cheerfulness 

 and repose to the apartments of a residence, every 

 motive v/hich impels us to beautify the walls that 

 shut the cold, common air of the world out, and 

 the genial, peculiar air of social enjoyment in, also 

 urges us to make our homes externally tasteful, 

 beautiful and characteristic. — Buffalo Courier. 



