THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
limbs, which are also fringed with great masses of 
the yellow berries of the bittersweet, and clusters 
of white clematis seeds. A little while ago a group 
of red-fruited wild cherries stood out in rich relief 
on a knoll in the valley; but now the birds have eat- 
en the cherries, and are chattering and feasting to- 
day in a half-dozen mountain ash trees that fill a 
hollow near the mill. Our home world is wonder- 
fully supplied with blossoming shrubs; and I never 
discovered half of them until I began to make a 
collection. 
I recommend the following, that you will find 
generally wild about New England and the Middle 
States — the barberries; the dogwoods, in five or 
six varieties; the wild plums and the wild cherries; 
the elder, the filbert, and the rubus in variety. Be- 
sides these the thorns are, many of them, exceed- 
ingly beautiful, and the double ones as well as single 
ones have found their way into the woods. The 
Tartarian honeysuckles are naturalized over quite 
an extent of territory, and many of the spireas that 
are scattered everywhere are beautiful indeed. For 
early Spring bloom the ribes in variety are very 
fine; also the mahonia, a native evergreen shrub. 
The fly honeysuckle and the rock maple are found 
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