Just the hobby we wish some one would ride. Who is there there that can boast special devotion to the study of ornamental and native shrubs for rural decoration? Whose place is there to be found containing a good collection of best sorts in most perfect growth? Here is an unoccupied field for our studious horticulturists to branch into. A correspondent of the Tribune, an ardent admirer of nature's humble beauties, says:

"There is nothing that adds more to the beauty of a lawn than well-arranged and symmetrical shrubs. Many people buy expensive species, which are not adapted to the soil and climate, and consequently die the same season. Our forests and swamps are filled with beautiful shrubs and creepers, which take kindly to a change of situation, and repay the little care they ask with their beauty and fragrance. One of the most charming places we ever saw was but a few years ago a wild, barren spot, thickly covered in many places with |an undergrowth of laurel and sweet fern. The owner has transformed this sterile wild into a sort of miniature paradise. It contains, besides many foreign varieties, nearly every shrub and creeper indigenous to the soil, from the Dogwood, whitening the hills in April, to the Witch Hazel gladdening November with its yellow fringe. The Hemlock answers admirably for hedging purposes, as does also the White Thorn (Crataegus Coccinea) common in every pasture, and laden in June with corymbs of odorous blossoms. The Pinxter-bloom or Wild Honeysuckle (Azalia Nudifiora) is one of the finest and hardiest shrubs common to our Northern clime, while its delicate pink, or white blossoms, and exquisite fragrance are unexcelled in the vegetable kingdom.

For a dry, stony place the American Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is a fine evergreen shrub; for a marshy one nothing is more elegant than the Swamp Laurel (Kalmia glauca), with its rich deep green foliage and white flowers. Among our native climbers, the Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis Quinquefolia) stands first. It is not liable to winterkill; its tendrils will cling to most surfaces, and its brilliant scarlet foliage in Autumn is extremely beautiful. The common Clematis (Clematis Virginiana) is well adapted for covering rocks, walls, and unsightly objects.