Shrubs and Vines | 
and, though abundantly used and beautiful for Christ- 
mas decorations, is manifestly inferior to the foreign 
sorts. 
A closely related shrub, but deciduous, and popular 
for winter decoration, when its leafless branches are 
loaded with red berries, is the winterberry or black 
alder, a native growth, and a familiar object to those 
who explore the woods in autumn. 
The most polite way to warn off intruders upon your 
grounds is by a hedge. Fences are semi-civilized and 
only fit for cattle. Stone walls must have their asper- 
ity tempered by vines and mosses to be picturesque. 
Hedge-rows are one of the most beautiful devices of 
English scenery, but one looks upon the high bare walls 
there as a personal affront; whereas a hedge is such a 
gracious refusal of admission that it pleases rather than 
offends. 
Among many shrubs used for the hedge, privet is one 
of the commonest, a genus with no American represent- 
ative. Its many species are not as distinctive as in 
some genera, but the genus-type is strongly marked— 
leaves small, long-oval, entire, opposite and of firm 
texture, in some species glossy, in the South evergreen, 
and remaining fresh in the North long after most other 
leaves have fallen. Delightfully clean and fresh in ap- 
pearance, hardy, quick-growing, accommodating them- 
selves to all soils and conditions, the privets are a 
good-natured folk, adept in finding the pleasant side of 
every situation—the result of good health as much as of 
grace of heart. If not trimmed, the abundant small 
white flowers in panicled clusters, often fragrant, are a 
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