144 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
{Engraved for the American Agriculturist.) 
“ The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 
The Yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.”—M ilton. 
Our picture is a little tooleary, perhaps, for this 
month, in some parts of the North, but for our 
latitude, and all south of us, it gives the true spir 
it of the season. The Spring has come with all 
its joyous associations. The snow squalls are 
past, the April showers are over, and one may 
safely venture out for the day, without overcoat 
and umbrella. You have here, in the foreground 
a family group beneath two majestic trees stand¬ 
ing upon the banks of a stream. You see on the 
right a little patch of water with aquatic plants at 
the edge, and the dog who has just come out from 
a bath, as full of fun and frolic as the merriest 
biped in the company. The whole party are in 
motion, and the younger members have on their 
high heeled shoes. Every face wears the eager 
air of expectation, even the baby, who stretches 
up its little hand to the green boughs of the old 
oak, like older people, reaching after that which 
is too high for its grasp. They have gathered 
their spoils, cowslips from the brook, flowers 
from the hedges, evergreens from the woods, 
and are bound homeorto the village green, where 
they will meet other family parties and join the 
frolic around the May pole. You miss the hus¬ 
band and father in the group, and this is one of 
the excellences of the artist, for he shows his 
power in a picture quite as much by what he 
suggests, as by what he portrays. The fact is, 
the old gentleman has turned boy, and you will 
find him down the stream a few rods, where it 
plunges over a rocky bed, casting his fly for trout. 
A brace of speckled beauties, a foot long or more, 
are already in his basket, and he confidently 
expects a dozen from the same rapids. It is of 
no use to speak to him now, for he has glorious 
sport, and nothing short of a drowning child 
would call him off until his basket is filled. 
In the back ground you see other parties May¬ 
ing, the peaceful kine lying in the meadows, the 
green woods, the spire of the village church, and 
the distant hilltops, a scene of rural beauty that 
will make every citizen long to pack his trunk, 
and start for the country. The reality, we sus¬ 
pect is quite as pleasant as the picture ; and this 
month will find our readers, some of them in the 
far South enjoying green peas, tomatoes, and 
new potatoes, but the larger number, reveling in 
the vision of meadows in their freshest green, in 
blooming orchards and gardens, in the hum of 
bees and bird songs, wandering 
“ Through fields of floral silver and gold, 
Catching the apple tree’s breath and bloom.” 
Native Shrubs and Plants. 
The gardens and nurseries have already appro¬ 
priated most of our native plants which are val¬ 
uable for ornament; yet some may still be found 
in the woods which are worth transplanting. 
They will cost only the labor of digging up and 
resetting. We will mention a few: 
The Leather Wood, called Wicopy, ( Dirca pal- 
ustris.) This shrub grows from three lo six feet 
high. It is remarkable chiefly for the toughness 
of its bark. The Indians used it for cordage; 
millers and wood-cutters use it still for thongs. 
It has yellow flowers in April, before the leaves 
appear. The foliage is a fine, glossy green, 
wood white ant[ brittle. It has the singular prop¬ 
erty (for a vegetable; of sloughing, i, e., ol throw¬ 
ing off its dead wood. In transplanting, it is gen- 
nerally necessary to choose small specimens. 
The Azaleas, or wild Honeysuckles. This genus 
includes many beautiful species of shrubs grow¬ 
ing from three to eight feet in hight. The bot¬ 
anist Pursh, on first seeing the Azalea Calcndu- 
lacea exclaimed : “ It is the handsomest shrub in 
North America.” Of this species, there are three 
known varieties. A. Nudijlora , has flowers va¬ 
rying from nearly white to full red. Elliot says 
of this: “ It is one of the most beautiful plants 
which adorn the forests of this conntrv.” In trans¬ 
ferring these honeysuckles from the swamps 
where they chiefly abound, to our gardens, it is 
important to choose those which have grown in 
an open spot, and to be sure to take up the whole 
mass of roots and soil together, and set them out 
unbroken, if you would be sure of success. 
To our view, A. viscosa is not quite equal to 
nudijlora, but it blooms after that has faded, and 
its odor can not be excelled. Its flowers are 
white. A- glauca is another variety, but similar. 
In regions where these “ Swamp Pinks ” 
abound, the flowers are gathered by the country- 
people, and afford the finest possible bouquets and 
mantel ornaments throughout the month of June 
In setting the plants in our gardens, we should 
give them a shady situation and a moist, peaty 
soil, so far as possible. 
But we have not space to describe more of 
these rural beauties, and can only mention the 
names of a few others. Ledum latifolium ; 
Shepherdia canadensis ; Lonicera parviflora ; Vi¬ 
burnum lentago ; Oornus stricta, Florida and san- 
guinea ; Taxus canadensis, Prinos glabra, and 
