1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



325 



and rapidly. It blossoms early, and bears 

 abundantly fruit agreeable to the taste, and 

 furnishing the best native remedy known for 

 autumnal diseases. Itu leaves, the reddish- 

 brown color of its branches and its shadiness, 

 make it always a beautiful tree ; and it is such 

 a favorite with caterpillars that it attracts 

 them from the trees of the orchard. It does 

 nut create caterpillars, it only draws them 

 away from other trees, and thus very consid- 

 erably lessens the labor ol' those who are care- 

 ful to destroy the caterpillars' nests when they 

 first appear, as the greater part of them will 

 always be found on these wild cherry trees. 



Few persons are aware of the great number 

 and variet}-, and singular beauty of the shrubs, 

 under shrubs and climbers, that grow naturally 

 along the borders or in the openings of the 

 primeval forests in every State of New Eng- 

 land. There are ten or eleven whortleberry 

 bushes, — huckleberries or blueberries, — from 

 four inches to ten feet in height, with delicate, 

 pearly blossoms, bright handsome, often per- 

 ennial leaves, and, in most instances, some of 

 these clothe the ground under the pine woods 

 with delicious fruit and a carpet of rich colors. 

 Many of these would be worth cultivating if it 

 were only for the beauty of their tlowers and 

 foliage. For their fruit they have already 

 been recommended. 



The American Rhododendron ; the two spe- 

 cies of Azalea ; the Rhodoiva ; the three Kal- 

 mias, — the mountain Laurel, the Lamb-kill and 

 the Glaucous, — with the Ledum, all natives of 

 Massachusetts, constitute a family which, in 

 beauty of tlower and of foliage, does not yield 

 to any family in the temperate zones. Most of 

 them are known and cultivated, and are objects 

 of admiration in the "American gardens" in 

 Europe, as they are, in a lower degree, in this 

 country. Nobody knows of more beautiful 

 lloweiing shrubs than the Kalmias ; why should 

 they not be brought near the homes of all sen- 

 sible people, who desire that their children 

 should grow up with a taste for the beautiful 

 in nature ? The native Spireas. — Meadow 

 Sweet and Steeple Bush — are as valuable as 

 are any of the foreign species which are much 

 sought for. 



Seven or eight species of Viburnum, — the 

 Holible bush, Cranberry tree, Arrow wood, of 

 several sorts, the Sheepberrv, the Mayberry 

 Tree, the Withe-Rod, are all native and all 

 beautiful for their tlowers and for their leaves. 



It was the loss of some tine specimens of one 

 or two of these plants which made me regret 

 particularly the destruction of the road-side 

 beauties on the AVorcester Turnpike. I know 

 not now where to find, growing wild, within 

 the distance of an afternoon's drive, the Hob- 

 ble bush. Viburnum Lantanoides, with its 

 beautiful flowers, its dark crimson berries, and 

 its exceedingly rich leaves. 



Of the Cornels or Dogwood Family, much 

 resembling the Viburnums, there are six spe- 

 cies of delicate looking shrubs, from the Cor- 



nus Florida, — Flowering Dogwood, — making 

 so fine a show in flower and in fruit, and often 

 rising to more than twenty feet in height, 

 through the Round-leaved, the Red Osier, the 

 Panicled, the Alternate leaved, down to the 

 delicate Silky Cornel, or Kinnikinic, and the 

 pretty little Bunch Berry or Dwarf Cornel 

 Berry. All these are deserving of cultivation, 

 and, when once planted, will need little care ; 

 some of them propagating themselves rapidly 

 by suckers. 



The Roses commend themselves. We have 

 found growing, as if wild, three of which are 

 natives, the Early Wild Rose, flowering in 

 May and June ; the Swamp Rose, in August ; 

 the Shining Rose, remarkable for its rich, 

 dark colored, shining leaves ; and the Sweet 

 Briar, very beautiful both in tiower and in 

 fruit, and extremely well suited to form a 

 hedge. 



But for this purpose, we have, also grow- 

 ing wild, besides the Buckthorn and Prickly 

 Ash, four species of thorn, — the Cockspur, the 

 most beautiful of all, the Scarlet-fruited, the 

 Pear-leaved, and the Dotted-fruited, besides 

 the Hawthorn of Europe, so extensively intro- 

 duced. All these make very handsome little 

 trees, when growing singly, and are particu- 

 larly fit to be so treated. IMore beautiful than 

 them all, is the Small jMagnolia, — the Glauca, 

 — which may be cultivated without difficulty. 

 The Bladder-nut is a handsome native, strik- 

 ing from its leaves and curious inflated seed 

 vessel. 



The Mountain Ash is too well known to 

 need to be mentioned. But the Shad Bush, or 

 Wild Sugar Pear, ought to be pointed out and 

 planted tor its beauty and its fruit, as ought 

 the Beach Plum and the Canada Plum. Three 

 or four native species of the Sumach are con- 

 spicuous for the richness of their foliage and 

 their fruit, and are very hardy. Two others, 

 wonderfully beautiful, one of them a climber, 

 must be avoided on account of their poisonous 

 qualities. 



But we have, to take their places, several 

 plants originally, like ourselves, foreign, but 

 now completely naturalized. Such are the 

 Privet, the Virginia Fringe Tree and the two 

 Lilacs, the coumion and the Persian. 



Of native climliing plants, we have some of 

 the most beautiful that are anywhere to be 

 found ; all of them hardy and easily grown. 

 Among these, one of the most deserving of no- 

 tice is thelloxbury Wax-work, or Staff Tree. 

 Climbing upon a wall, a trellis, or the trunk 

 of a tree, it has, with its opening, orange 

 colored pods and scarlet seeds, a tine j)ictur- 

 es(]ue effect. The Virginia Creeper is too 

 well known to need to be recommended. It 

 is here and in foreign lands very exten- 

 sively cultivated, and sjieaks for itself on the 

 walls of most of our churches, and as an orna- 

 ment to many private houses. 



We do not make sufficient use of our native 

 grape vines. They are a beautiful co\ering 



