■ -I 
' i 
aEOtJPING or SHBtJBBEKY. 
Shrubs may be used to ornament 
two ways, singly or in group.. 
consists in their rounded outline. _ > 
broad groivth, and their bloom. I lo t “ 
'their natural development withou 
pruning than that of shortening 
dant growth, they all suggest the idea of con- 
•oealment. This is preeminently the case with 
wild snckering shrubs, like Elders, Alders, 
Hazel bushes, etc., which hide the borders 
of forests and conceal swamps, stumps, logs, 
stone-piles, and Virginia fences from %uew 
with pleasing masses of verdure and gay 
flowers. Their more civilized congeners, 
Weigelias, Syringas, Lilacs, and many others, 
have the same habits, of which we cannot 
deprive them without making nunatural, 
hideous specters of them. They even main¬ 
tain this character when grown singly. 
The specimen Tartarian Honeysuckle, that 
graces and beautifies yoiu* laivn with its 
swelling outline, its wealth of tiny bloom 
and translucent fruit, may in its broadest 
development hide from your favorite window 
or porch a neighbor’s barn-yard, Mfith its 
array of wagons and sheds, its half-consumed 
straw-stack and manure-heaps. On the other 
hand, if improperly placed, a shrub or group 
may shut out a beautiful picture, as I once saw 
a group of Quince bushes hide from a sitting- 
room ivindow an exquisite ifiew of a minia¬ 
ture lake and a mountain-side beyond. The 
rounded contour of shrubbery eminently fits 
it for the curves of drives ; and some of the 
most delightful effects in large parks and 
cemeteries come from the proper using of 
masses of shrubs. 
Taller-growing shrubs might often bo used 
to advantage in farmers’ door-yards. In many 
cases the carriage-drive goes straight from 
the street to the barn-yard, revealing much 
that is not especially attractive. A graceful 
curve leading toward the house, while the 
direct line of vision became broken by a 
group of such shrubs as now encumber the 
front yard in unmeaning clutter, would be a 
gratifj-iug change that many a farmer could 
afford to make just for the greater ease with 
which the surroundings of the house could be 
kept in order. 
In grouping shrubs, those of upright growth 
and the habit of bearing their flowers on the 
topmost boughs are eminently fitted for the 
center, while the outer plantings should be 
of weeping or pendant forms. The taller 
Lilacs, the Hyriwja grandifloro and the 
Altheas, belong to the former, while the 
Weigelias, some of the Spirmas, and many 
others belong to the latter class. As a f<-en- 
eral rule large masses of shrubbej-y should, 
as far as practicable, be of the .same genus, 
diversity being obtained by planting different 
species and varieties. In this way a group 
of Lilacs, for instance, can be made more 
effective than when only one variety is used 
and with different species the defects of one 
may often be covered by the pccularilies of 
another. The double Altheas, for instance, 
are deficient in foliage and branches in their 
lower parts, which makes them 
that is beautiful in 
the room of .^ed beauty can be 
Sometimes shrubs oi ma 
plantedwithanever^eenbac^ 
wood in f'O” or UchHo- 
contrasts. 
evergreen hed„e, habits look 
Even shrubs the 
bettor in groups, dean grass. 
lawnisleftwithlargoarW^^^^^ 
Three shrubs that once nea lyhlieo 
ofavillagedoor-yardweied o 1, 
rooted slips of the same planted 
apart in a triangular group 
Now. after twelve years, 
id o a pleasing group whose ® 
enhanced by the unbroken grass-plot betu e^ 
them and the house. The 
Spirm, pnniifolw, Punu^ Jupomca, and the 
Sweet-scented Syringa. 
The nooks in shrubbery groups may often 
be used to advantage for planting herbaceous 
or annual flowers, as Gannas, Hollyhocks, 01 
Pmonies. 
SIX 
near the gate, 
they have grown 
1 greatly 
between 
shrubs were 
CONSTRUCTING ROADS, 
Walks and paths are located and con¬ 
structed either for utility or ornament. 
When for use entirely, they should bo as 
direct as possible, without unnecessary wind¬ 
ings or detours. When an adjunct to orna¬ 
mental grounds, some people fall into the 
error that because it was once said “the 
line of beauty is a curve,” all things crooked 
must be pleasing, and they lay out their 
avenues on this principle, the seeming excuse 
for a curve being that there is a correspond¬ 
ing or a worse curve somewhere else. At all 
points where avenues deviate from a direct 
line, there should be a close plantation or 
clump of trees, so that it may appear as the 
most natural thing for the detour to be made. 
Water is the bane of an avenue ; as ordi¬ 
narily constructed, it saturates the earth, 
swells the subsoil, if clayey, when frozen, 
and leaves it a mortar-bed in a thaw. The 
two principal things for a properly con¬ 
structed avenue are to resist the wear of 
travel above and the flow of water beneath. 
The customary plan has been, after the 
location was decided on, to dig up the turf 
loam, filling the shallow trench thus 
any clean material that might 
I be convenient, and to rake and roll the sur¬ 
face, which in spring becomes little boticr 
: than a puddle. The result frequently is the 
substilulion of a plank or concrete walk- 
Half the expense of either would have con¬ 
structed a, walk of c(|iial width that would bo 
smooth, hard, and dry at all seasons. 
I required, three feet in 
i width ,s sufhcionl; but if it is ,vanted to bo 
: wide enough for two persons to walk abreast 
not less than five feet will snflico. (;„| 1 
clean trench of Ibis width from twelve to 
hf con inches in depth according to il,,, 
nature of the soil; then lay i,t.|, ,,,. 
pipe in the middle, care beinn lah 
in u,,. 
dram, but when unavoidable bo sure lo I 
a.m.fliclent outlet at the lowe:" ^ 
tain good coarse gravel and screen it 
and 
formed with 
sharp, angular, unwashed gravel and 
firmly together, so as to be impervi 
water. On this put the final coating''? 
gi-avel and roll carefully and woll, ^ 
° Such a walk is not only cheaper tha 
01 . composition, but will not decay 
former, or smell of the gas-house Uk® 
latter. The color of gray gravel auM? 
absence of heat are much more agreeah] 
the eye and the foot than if the compos? 
were used. ‘“I 
Eor an avenue the construction is 
stantially the same, but the excavar*’’ 
should uot be less than eighteen inch” 
deep, and should be lowest in the midd? 
where should be a drain pipe, increasing 
diameter as we proceed from the higW 
part. The bottom half of the excavation 
makes an oxcellGiit place to deposit all th 
old walls and rough stone to be found ever? 
where in Massachusetts. This should be' 
dinnped carefully, and so disposed as to pre. 
sent a tolerably fair surface. On it lay 
screened gi'avcl exactly as directed for walks 
but use a heavier roller, and the avenue is 
completed. In selecting gi-avel, avoid all 
that has a washed or pebbly appearance 
as it will never become compact. 
Gutters not only give a nice finish, but 
prevent the continual wash of the margins. 
Catch-basins should be introduced at inter¬ 
vals, particularly at any change of grade, 
and connected with an underground drain, 
which in some cases should have a'connec- 
tion with the drain beneath the center of 
the avenue ; but this detail must be specially 
studied, as it will vary with circumstances. 
The surface should be crowned slightly, only 
sufficiently to cause the water to flow away 
easily'in a violent shower.— CoL H. IT. Wil¬ 
son, before Ike MassacliKsetts Horticultural 
Socict!/. - 
THE BEST AUTUMN-FLOWERING SHRUB. 
If we had to name the best spring-bloom¬ 
ing shrub, a first choice among so many 
beauties might be hard, but among fall- 
bloomoi's the Hydrangea paniculata grandi- 
flora stands supreme above all competitors, 
and, considering its many excellent qualities, 
il seems strange that it is still comparatively 
rarely found in cultivation. For small in- 
elosures it is rather large, and not as well 
adapted as for large, open lawns, where ih 
effect, especially when seen from a short 
distance, is really grand. 
In a. neighboring lawn, in full view frow 
the window near which vve write, and seveva 
Inindrod feet distant, stands a group of ha 
a dozen largo bushes in full bloom, eom 
• ips of 
’uos m their j using the coarsest fortho botUmril."' 
pupmg alone; but sot one in the angle of a ; On tl.e second iLo? ? ? 
Wnrti-K g>.avel, s'o calie ‘wi ich 
ff-acial drift, oomposod 
fence or building, with a Golden Spirma or 
Rose Weigelia in front, and yon secure all 
plcloly covered with their largo 
while and rosy pink. A siiporb speoiniou 
of 
Abies Xordmanniana, with its deep-gfr®*'’ 
glossy loaves, furuishes a splendid ha'-^^’^ 
ground; on ono side stands a 
nwr.rophyUn, which by the slightest broc^ 
liu'iis the under side of its monstrous 
to view, giving a. pociiliar shining, S*®'***,.^. 
tint (,o tho ontii'o tree. A little tiu'th®* ‘ 
boautifu^i 
of 
•n'luiclies just changing to golden 
pleasing contrast to tho bluish-grcou 0 
iniiin foliage. It would bo usoloss to at oh 
to iloscribo in words tho imposing 
this juaguillcont combination of * ,.[0 
and griicoful forsns, which, wo foav, 
boll,or advantage from our window than 
tho propviotov’s own grounds. 
taut on tho otlier side is a 
Mhaj)otl Kentucky ColTeo-troo, tho tips * 
