The Lilac, though not one of our native trees, has become so generally
naturalized in our fields and gardens as hardly to be distinguished from
them except by its absence from the forest. It is common in all waste
lands that were formerly the sites of ancient dwelling-houses, marking
the spot where the garden was situated by its irregular clumps; for when
neglected it does not assume the shape of a tree, but forms an
assemblage of long stems from one spreading root, like the barberry and
the sumach. Under favorable conditions it is a very handsome tree,
seldom rising above twelve or fifteen feet, but displaying a round head,
and covered in its season with a profusion of flowers, unfolding their
beautiful pyramidal clusters regularly on the last week in May. The
color of these flowers is perfectly unique, having given the name by
which painters distinguish one of their most important tints. The
foliage of this tree is not remarkable, except for the regular heart
shape of the leaves. It displays no tints in the autumn, but falls from
the tree while its verdure remains untarnished.
The Lilac is still cultivated and prized in all our country villages.
But its praise is seldom spoken in these days, for Fashion, who refuses
to acknowledge any beauty in what is common, discarded this tree as soon
as it became domesticated in humble cottage gardens. Even the rose would
long ago have been degraded from its ancient honors by this vulgar
arbiter of taste, if it had not been multiplied into hundreds of
varieties, permitting one after another to take its turn in monopolizing
to itself those praises which are due to the primitive rose.