Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



Japan and China, as usual, are our main resource for 

 ornamental hydrangeas. Worthy of mention, though 

 inferior, is our own oak-leaved — H. qtierdfolia — with 

 large sterile blossoms mingled with the fertile ones in 

 the same cluster. The process of cultivation always 

 tends to transform stamens and pistils into petals, mak- 

 ing the flower only for show, without the means of self- 

 propagation, resulting usually in such metamorphoses as 

 we find in the cultivated rose and chrysanthemum with 

 a multitude of petals. But there is a singular difference 

 in the process, in the hydrangea, wherein the flower's 

 force is expended in simply enlarging the calyx — it has 

 no corolla — instead of multiplying the number of sepals. 

 It may here be remarked, that while color and form — 

 mere sensuous beauty — may be equally appreciated by 

 all, intelligent interest in nature's processes of growth, 

 which afford a considerable part of the subject's at- 

 tractiveness, is quite impossible without an understand- 

 ing of structural botany ; and this is where the modern 

 "short methods" of nature-study reveal their super- 

 ficiality. 



Among the rugged, dark-green-foliaged shrubs and 

 trees, one of the most interesting and sometimes prac- 

 tically valuable genera is the alder ; too coarse-fibred 

 for good effect at short range, it can be massed along a 

 water-course, pond, or lake very satisfactorily ; indeed, 

 there is nothing that quite takes its place in that situa- 

 tion. Its growth is thrifty, and its compacted roots 

 prevent erosion of the shore. Our three native species 

 are all shrubs, with no conspicuous differences, and a 

 practical value of them all is their protection of tender 

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