"There are no shrubs on the school grounds. You had spoken of doing that but bulbs took up the attention of the girls this fall. And as for you boys--you were attending to your own crops. Shrubbery is very pleasing if properly placed. It is just the thing to fill in corners near buildings, to help define the turns in walks, and to use as hedges. Usually one shrub standing by itself is not nearly so pleasing as one tree by itself. It has a squatty and isolated appearance. There is a corner close by the school building where shrubs should go. Why? Because the place looks bare and staring, and the building is very ugly at that point; the shrubs would fill in the space, and make the building look much better. "As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be. In a clump I should wish some which bloomed early, some which bloomed late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the colour of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of colour all winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well into the winter. This list of shrubs which Philip has made out will be a help to you in this work. PHILIP'S SHRUB TABLE --------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMON NAME BOTANICAL NAME HEIGHT COLOUR SPECIAL POINTS --------------------------------------------------------------------- _March_ Spice Bush _Benzoin_ 6-15 ft. Yellow Flowers appear _odoriferum_ before leaves. Crimson fruit in fall. Aromatic odour. Daphne _Daphne Mezereum_ 4 ft. Purple The only hardy deciduous daphne. Plant in light soil and in shade. _April_ Barberry _Berberis- 2-4 ft. Yellow Prefers dry soil. Berries _Thunbergii_ all winter. Golden Bell _Forsythia_ 5-8 ft. Yellow Flowers appear before _suspensa_ leaves. Hardy; free from insects. _May_ Red-osier _Cornus_ 4-8 ft. White Red branched. Plant Dogwood _stolonifera_ in moist soil. Japanese Snow _Deutzia_ 1-3 ft. White Very beautiful when Flower _gracilis_ flowering. Needs well drained soil.