40 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
is combined an abundant production of flowers. Other 
good kinds are Clotli of Gold, one of the finest of the 
yellow Roses when grown in favorable positions; La 
Marque, a fine sulphur-colored Rose, free in growth and 
prof use in flowering; Madame Caroline Kuster, a superb 
, variety, the flowers large and of splendid quality; 
Unique Jaune, a fine Rose, of a coppery-yellow color; 
and William Allen Richardson, a small but very attrac¬ 
tively-colored flower, of a rich orange-buff shade, and 
invaluable for its distinct color and effective appear¬ 
ance.— Gardener's Magazine. 
OUR NATIVE SHRUBS. 
There is a growing taste for our native shrubs among 
leading landscape gardeners, whose position and expe¬ 
rience give them the best opportunities to judge of their 
permanent value in ornamental planting. 
They are being planted more and more in large 
private grounds, and the great public parks now being- 
laid out. The plants selected for that part of the great 
line of public parks to surround Boston that is now 
being finished includes, among others, thousands of 
the following natives: Sweet Fern (Comptonia aspleni- 
folia), Bay Berry (Myrica cerifera), Leather-leaf (Cas- 
sanchos calyculata), Beech Plum (Prunus maritima), Red 
Osier (Cornus stolonifera), White Alder (Clethra alni- 
folia), Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), and Wood Waxen 
(Genista tinctoria), that curious little shrub, introduced 
with the Barberry two hundred and fifty years ago into 
the gardens of Salem, Mass., and from there escaped to 
the surrounding country—the Barberry spreading rap¬ 
idly compared with the Genesta, which is creeping 
slowly but surely away from its original home and cov¬ 
ering the hills and road-sides with a mantle of yellow 
when in flower. 
Few realize the variety and beauty of our native 
shrubs, what fine garden ornaments they would make, 
or what fine landscape effects can be produced by them, 
and how often they are superior to many foreign 
shrubs now in common use. There are some who see 
but little value in a shrub unless it comes from a foreign 
country; but the true lover of flowers appreciates 
beauty and merit, whether it be in a familiar native or 
a rare and costly foreign plant. 
I would 'not depreciate the value of our foreign 
shrubs, for we could not spare them. I would only 
have our own equally beautiful natives planted more. 
Some are already familiar to cultivators. The Mountain 
Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), High-bush Cranberry (Vibur¬ 
num opulus), and its variety the Snow-ball, Spice Bush 
(Calycanthus floridus), White Fringe (Chionanthus vir- 
ginicus) Mock-Orange Syringa (Philadelplius grandi- 
florus), and the Golden Nine Bark (Spiraea opulifolia 
aurea), and they give a suggestion of the beauty and 
variety of many others equally worthy of cultivation. 
The Shad Bush, or June Berry (Amelancliier cana¬ 
densis), is one of the earliest to blossom of our spring- 
shrubs, and there is nothing that gives more character 
to our landscape early in the season than the cluster of 
pure white flowers and woolly white leaves, seeming to 
have taken their dress from the snow-drifts so recently 
gone from under them. 
There is frequently found with it, in charming con¬ 
trast, the Rhodaras (Rhodora canadensis), with its 
violet-pink flowers, borne in clusters at the ends of the 
slender stems; and there may also be the Pinxter 
Flower (Azalea nudiflora), with its flame-like flowers, 
together with its blonde sister, the White Swamp 
Azalea (Azalea vescosa), with its charming fragrance ; 
with these, but growing beneath them all, is the modest 
Cassandra (Cassandra calyculata),with its thick, brown¬ 
ish, evergreen leaves, and its slender, drooping branches 
beaded with little buds, formed the fall before, ready to 
burst forth into a raceme of pure white flowers in earliest 
spring—a beautiful little shrub in nature,but surprisingly 
improved under cultivation, as are most of the natives. 
At the same time, in the dark Northern woods, the 
Leather-wood (Dirca palustris), pushes out abundantly 
its small yellow flowers ; then follows the light-green 
leaves ; it is one of the most symetrical shrubs, and 
what it may lack in show it makes up in neatness and 
form. Where the woods break into open, wet and 
mossy meadows, a little late, we will find beds of the 
Labrador Tea (Ledum latiflolium), with its yellowish- 
green leaves so thickly covered on their under-surfaces 
with brown wool, and the woolly branches so thickly 
dotted with little bunches of pure white flowers, here 
you will find it in the most protected situation, but on 
Mount Washington and its neighbors you will find it on 
the bleak mountain-sides above the tree limits. 
Its neighbors in the swamps will very likely be the 
Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), with its dark- 
green leaves and bright-red flowers, and the Pale 
Laurel (Kalmia glauca), with its dark, glossy-green nar¬ 
row leaves, flattened brown stem and light pink flowers; 
it is a pretty plant, but does not take kindly to efforts 
made to cultivate it, as does another neighbor fre¬ 
quently found with it. The many-leaved Andromeda 
(Andromeda polifolia), a very pretty low shrub with 
narrow glaucus evergreen leaves, and racemes of white 
flowers tinged with pink; its beauty does not stop with 
its spring flowering, for the leaves are a pleasing shade 
of green through the summer, and in the fall turn to a 
rich reddish-purple that is very pretty, as it is sur¬ 
rounded by snow in the winter. 
The Elder (Sambucus canadensis) is a more cornmou 
shrub in moist ground, and is one of the showiest of 
plants under cultivation; the dark-green, massive foliage 
makes a beautiful back-ground for the great cymes of 
white flowers, followed by bunches of purplish-black 
berries; it wants plenty of room, and deserves it. Al¬ 
most equally showy in flower is the Red-berried Elder 
(Sambucus pubens), and more showy in fruit with its 
clusters of coral-red berries. 
The Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), requires 
a moist, peaty soil, but its glossy leaves and pendulous 
fragrant white balls are very attractive. 
