The American Flower Garden: Chapter 9

"We find our most soothing companionship in trees among which we have lived, some of which we ourselves may have planted. We lean against them and they never betray our trust; they shield us from the sun and from the rain; their spring welcome is a new birth which never loses its freshness, they lay their beautiful robes at our feet in autumn; in winter they stand and wait, emblems of patience and of truth, for they hide nothing, not even the little leaf-buds which hint to us of hope, the last element in their triple symbolism."

WHAT place have trees in a flower garden? Will they not rob the lesser plants of food and drink, stifle them with shade, and ultimately strangle them to death?

At the outset, it must be confessed that few trees could be admitted within the garden proper, only those smaller ones which, like the boxwood, the bay, the laburnum, the lesser magnolias and dwarf evergreens, have a decorative value not overbalanced by their destructiveness to flowering plants. But in a larger sense the garden picture includes both its background and its frame, and as it would be difficult indeed to make a really good one without trees which serve most effectively for both, perhaps no apology for including them in this book is necessary. To break the sky line, to give diversity of outline and colour at different seasons, to increase the interest of the home grounds, to unite the house and its garden with the surrounding landscape, to form windbreaks and boundary belts, to afford shelter and shade, to screen off unsightly places, to emphasise the height of a hill top, to draw the eye toward a lovely view, to improve the quality of the atmosphere around a dwelling, to furnish masses of bloom, to attract birds that will keep insect pests in check and sing while they work for you, to make a place comfortable and beautiful in winter as well as in summer -- these ends are not by any means all that may be accomplished by intelligent tree planting. And nothing about a home fosters quite so much sentiment as a tree.

It is a pleasant custom for each member of the family and the dearest of the family's friends to set out trees on the home grounds. To right-thinking people they stand for something far finer than so much nursery stock. In public parks trees are planted by distinguished men who visit the city and often acquire historic value as the years go by. A patriotic citizen recently paid over a thousand dollars to an expert to prolong the life of the splendid old "Liberty Tree" at Annapolis by pruning it, chiselling out the decayed wood, filling its enormous cavities with tons of cement, and supplying the exhausted soil around it with fresh nourishment. Sentiment persists in clinging to a tree like moss to its bark.

From the practical and the pictorial points of view we have been slow in learning that the evergreens, as a class, are the most useful. We shall never be able to live out of doors the greater part of the year, as the Europeans live in their gardens, until the value of trees that keep their leaves all winter is far more generally recognised. The old gardens of Italy are not only the most beautiful in the world, but the most comfortable at all seasons, because trees and shrubs that are permanently green and sheltering are their basis. And yet, with a far greater variety of them at our disposal than any Old World garden maker had four centuries ago, we are only just beginning to utilise them as we might for wind-breaks, screens, and hedges. Of course, trees with dense foliage should never be set out in the path of the prevailing summer breezes; but many a house that is bleak and draughty in winter might be made quite comfortable, and with an actual saving of fuel, if evergreens suited to the conditions were planted on the north and east exposures or wherever the keenest blasts come from. And if they make for comfortable living indoors in winter, how much more enjoyment may be had out in the home grounds where they are freely planted! Some day we shall be wise enough to use evergreens as wind-breaks even for our cow and poultry yards, that the stock may live more comfortably and healthfully in the open air.

WHAT WOULD ONE NOT GIVE TO POSSESS SUCH AN OAK -- THE VERY
EMBODIMENT OF STRENGTH AND NOBILITY?

In the lee of a group of evergreens the superb large flowered magnolia of the South has attained great size so far north as Long Island, but it becomes deciduous there. The late Charles A. Dana grew to perfection at Dosoris many rare and beautiful exotics that would certainly have been winter-killed without the protection of evergreen guardians. No plant, however hardy, can attain its best if whipped and lashed by the wind. Even a vegetable garden will bear almost a fortnight earlier if an evergreen hedge surrounds it. Tall spruce, hemlock, arborvitae, juniper or other evergreen hedges serve best to partition off an out-of-door living-room open to the zenith, into which sunshine pours, and the purest air, made actually warmer because of the trees, circulates to every corner without causing a draught. The comfort of such a cosy enclosure would astonish one who had never tested it. Now that the fresh air cure is being prescribed for most of the ills that flesh is heir to, worn and weary people will enjoy more and more the seclusion and comfort and fragrant purity of such living-rooms. They are ideal playgrounds for children. The baby that spends most of the time between sunrise and sunset in the open air, snugly sheltered from wind and cold, makes the best possible start in life. Long ago we might have learned the value of evergreens from the birds that prefer them to all other trees as sleeping and nesting places.

In an emotional moment of "civic improvement" we were advised to take down our front fences and hedges, throw open our lawns and share with the public all the beauty of our home grounds, or be branded as selfish and undemocratic. The family life that should be lived as much as possible under the open sky, when rudely exposed to public gaze, must become either vulgarly brazen or sensitively shy, in which latter case it withdraws to the vine-enclosed piazza or to the house itself. There is a vast difference between the Englishman's insultingly inhospitable brick wall, topped with broken bottles, and an American's encircling belt of trees around his home grounds, or the tall hedge around his garden room to ensure that privacy without which the perfect freedom of home life is no more possible than if the family living-room were to be set on a public stage. The busy mistress of the house needs every encouragement to run out and work a while among her flowers without feeling that her unfashionable dress and tucked up petticoat are exciting the comment of passers-by. Thanks to the shielding evergreens, the young people may have rough and tumble play on the lawn, the father may feel free to don overalls and paint the garden chairs if the humour seize him, and the entire family, safely sheltered from curious eyes, may frequently enjoy a meal out of doors with perfect freedom and naturalness. The plainest fare has zest when eaten al fresco.

If suburban and country houses and stables are not to look bare and cheerless and ugly after the deciduous trees and shrubs have shed their leaves, as so very many do, evergreens need to be freely used in the boundary planting, on the lawn, and for hedges and screens around the drying ground and service departments. Everywhere they are the main stay, the basis for content.

STRONG MASS PLANTING OF TREES AND SHRUBS ALONG AN ENTRANCE DRIVE
WITH EVER-CHANGING VISTAS THROUGH THE OPEN STRETCHES OF LAWN.

But trees, like people, have their good and bad points, and one cannot be too discriminating when it comes to choosing either for near neighbours. In those melancholy Puritanic days when cheerfulness was deemed akin to sin, there was a certain fitness in planting sombre evergreens in the dooryard where they shut out from the house the weak sunshine of a New England winter. For this position the Norway spruce, among the first trees imported, was usually chosen. It is good-looking only in its youth. Presently its lower limbs begin to die off, it becomes thin, ragged, unhappy, depressing, and in this condition it is undoubtedly responsible for much of whatever prejudice against evergreens exists. The vigorous white spruce, on the other hand, forms a broad-based, conical tree, densely clothed with cheerful bluish-green, short, sharp needles from its tapering tip to where its spreading branches sweep the ground. So hardy is it that in mass planting it may be used as a bulwark against storms, even along the sea coast. One might think that a spruce which is hardy in one place might be equally so in another. Not so. The Douglas spruce, of softer texture and more graceful outline than the white spruce, making it more desirable for a lawn specimen, was killed to the snow line when imported from France after having lived through six moderate winters; but the same species, brought from the higher altitudes of Colorado, never lost a leaf in the severe winters of 1903-4. It is important to know the source of the stock you buy. The glaucous silvery sheen of the Colorado blue spruce, that sprang so suddenly into public favour, looks as if the trees were covered with hoar frost when the exquisite new growth scintillates in the sun. To light up a dark corner of the lawn, to run up the colour scale of a group of darker spruce and firs to a high, accented note, this tree strikes, perhaps, the most effective crescendo. But how sadly misused it is! Sometimes one could almost wish that it, like the over-planted crimson rambler, had never been introduced. These few spruces named illustrate how important it is to really know various members of even the most familiar tree tribe, their defects and merits, their uses and abuses, before installing them as neighbours about your home.

If the yew and holly are the best evergreens for England because, being native, they thrive there to perfection, so our spruce, hemlock, arborvitae, pine and junipers are best for us to use as a basis for other planting. On the solid foundation of our native trees we may build the lighter superstructure and embellish it, according to fancy, with details from the ends of the earth; but let us not forget the enormous sums of American money wasted on European evergreens -- on English yews alone. After exhausting the possibilities of our beautiful native trees, our hope lies in those from lands with climatic conditions, similar to our own, notably Siberia, China and Japan. The Korean yew (Cephalotaxus pedunculata, var. fastigiata), the Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) and their varied forms, with rich, dark, lustrous, dense, almost solid foliage that withstands intense cold and the brightest sun, promise to be the valuable ones for our landscape work years after the English and Irish yews, once so extensively planted, have perished miserably almost everywhere except in a few favoured places in the Middle South. We have to thank the Orient for most of the charming little retinisporas, the green and gold lace and embroidery among trees, that we most enjoy when planted close to the foundations of our houses, massed in corners, in carriage turn-arounds, and along the edges of groups of taller evergreens on the lawn.

AN AVENUE OF WHITE PINES WHOSE FAR-FLUNG, HORIZONTAL BRANCHES HUNG
WITH NEEDLES SHRED THE WIND INTO MUSIC LIKE AN AEOLIAN HARP WHILE
SUBTLY ROBBING IT OF ITS POWER.

A mixture of incongruous growths is apt to be the worst mistake of the tyro who choses the novelties of the nurseryman's catalogue so beguilingly described and then tries to reconcile the trees to the requirements of his place. Very rarely does he think of reversing the operation. After the experienced landscape gardener has drawn to scale a plan of the area to be beautified, he makes an inventory of what nature offers in the region, not only because the native trees will thrive best, but because they most fittingly tie a new place to the surrounding landscape, making it an integral part of the region at once. These will be the first on his list when he visits nurseries to select and tag stock. But not a tree will be ordered whose place is not already assigned on his drawn and redrawn plan. It is so much easier to rectify mistakes, and so much less expensive to shift tree belts, hedges, screens, masses of trees and fine isolated specimens on paper than with gangs of Italians and big tree-movers. The knowledgeable gardener with taste, who plants trees with a careful consideration for each of soil, situation, and climate, is an indispensable economy to the inexperienced patron. Even comfortably poor people cannot well afford not to consult him if they did but realise their own limitations and his worth.

For formal touches, no other hardy evergreens will reproduce in this country the effect of the Italian cypress so well as the red juniper, or so-called cedar (Juniperus Virginiana), and the artist-gardener uses hedges, screens, and arches of it as well as the tall, tapering, spire-like specimens that pierce the sky. In another locality the columnar arborvitae, the true white cedar of the Northern States (Thuya occidentalis, var. pyramidalis), might serve to repeat the classic lines of pilasters and columns. He may wish to make comfortable and beautiful a bleak hill-top where it is advisable to place the house for the sake of a superb view, and he will probably mass there the tall white pines whose far-flung, horizontal branches, hung with needles, will shred the wind into music like an AEolian harp, while subtly robbing it of its power. Or he may group the Nordmann's fir, Veitch's and the white fir (Abies concolor), all worthy of honourable place, knowing that a variety of trees of the same genus usually gives greater satisfaction than a collection of unrelated species. But he would never put in an exposed, high, dry, windy situation the feathery, graceful hemlocks that demand exactly opposite conditions to develop their finest possibilities. For rock work and ground carpets he uses prostrate junipers and dwarf pine.

After the foundations of comfort and beauty, as it were, have been laid on a place by means of evergreens, there will be bewildering opportunities to use deciduous trees for filling in the boundary belts, lining drives and paths, shading the tennis-court and beautifying the lawn. Shall large trees be bought or young nursery stock? Unfortunate indeed are the people who take possession of a new home without a few well-grown trees upon it. The desperate hurry, the nervous restlessness of the times in which we live give little encouragement to planting for posterity; therefore we have devised big tree movers to shift specimens to our grounds from anywhere within hauling distance. This is work for experts only, who must be employed at considerable expense and at no little risk. Perhaps the gambling element that is involved in such an enterprise only adds to its fascination. So great is the shock of root-pruning and adjusting itself to a new environment that my fine large pin oak, after struggling against the odds and living in a half-hearted way for two years, finally gives up the struggle, in spite of thinning out its branches, wrapping its trunk with straw, watering, mulching and every other kind of coddling an anxious owner can devise; while your oak, bought at the same nursery and planted under exactly the same conditions, may never know it was moved. For giving a softening touch, a settled look to a bald new house, reconciling it at once to the landscape, nothing is so helpful as a good sized tree. The one that can be planted very near a dwelling, and not exclude the light and air from its living-rooms, is the high-arching elm. How well our forefathers understood the use of this most graceful tree!

GARDEN ENTRANCE THROUGH A DENSE HEDGE OF ARBORVITAE (Thuya occidentalis) ON AN ESTATE
WHERE MUCH TOPIARY WORK IS USED.

On large estates it pays to own the apparatus for moving big trees; or, neighbours and improvement societies may well combine to buy one. One enthusiastic amateur has reduced the percentage of loss to less than 5 per cent. of all the trees he moves, and, so daring has he grown, that he no longer root-prunes a tree before lifting it, nor hesitates to transfer a horse chestnut in full bloom from one part of his estate to another. When he already owns the trees, he estimates that it costs him twenty dollars apiece to move specimens for which a nursery that grew them would be obliged to charge several hundred dollars. Tree bargains may be picked up from neighbouring farms if a moving apparatus can be hired. Willows and poplars adapt themselves to new environment with alacrity, maples quite readily, oaks less willingly and beeches and white birches sulkily unless transplanted in youth. Owing to the enormous weight of the balls of earth that must be lifted with evergreens, it is not possible to move such large specimens as may be safely attempted among deciduous trees from whose roots the soil may be shaken out. Even for them, however, it is better to lift part of the ball of soil if possible.

When one cannot afford to move big trees, recourse may be had to the fast growing kinds, trees that skim the surface cream of the soil, as it were, rather than delve for a living deep down in it. Mulching, feeding and frequent watering will cause them to make rapid growth, but note how many willows, locusts and poplars are uprooted by storms, how many branches of the silver and other soft-wood maples are broken by ice and riddled by borers. However necessary it may be to include such trees for swift returns on a new place, it must be recognised that their tenure is temporary. Permanent satisfaction is derived from the sturdy oaks, the hard maples, the lofty, Gothic-arched elm, the beeches, graceful, clean and strong, the straight-shafted tulip tree, the lemon-scented silver linden, and other trees of slower growth but more lasting beauty. The red oak will grow as fast as the sugar maple.

Some trees will be chosen for their blossoms alone. Who would forego the loveliness of the dogwood, whose horizontal, leafless branches, starred over with large white flowers, thrust themselves out from the woodland border in May with abandoned grace; or, symmetrically trained by the nurseryman, reconcile themselves to a conventional lawn? But long before the dogwood blossoms whiten the landscape, the lovely tribe of magnolias begins its unrivalled floral effects that may be prolonged three months -- from March to August -- in the vicinity of New York. The Reverend Mr. Hall, a missionary returning from China many years ago, brought with him several specimens of a low-growing magnolia with exquisite, star-like, narrow-petalled, delicately fragrant white flowers, that he offered to many nurserymen in this country if only they would pay the transportation charges. All declined, until finally the late Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, took them off his hands, propagated a stock from them, and introduced to the Western world Hall's magnolia (M. stellata), the earliest showy flower we have and one of the loveliest. This low-growing bush-like tree must not be confused with the Yulan magnolia (M. conspicua), whose large pure white cups are set on the leafless branches of a tree that sometimes attains the height of thirty feet. It also blooms in early spring. Against a background of evergreens, where all trees that flower before their leaves come show to the best advantage, these magnolias are especially beautiful. Even the peculiar purplish pink of the Judas tree, not a lovely colour of itself, almost acquires charm if backed by hemlocks. So exquisite are the hybrid varieties of flowering fruit trees -- the cherry, peach, and crab apple, whose every twig is a garland and whose masses of pink and white bloom most adequately express the exuberant beauty of spring -- that no one with a dollar to invest in pure joy would forego one of them. "Sure ye can't see the tree fur the flowers on it," said an Irish gardener of Professor Sargent's favourite flowering crab.

HORNBEAM TREES FORMING A PLEACHED ARBOUR SUCH AS EXISTED IN OLD ENGLISH GARDENS AND ON
THE CONTINENT IN QUEEN ELIZABETH'S TIME, AND DURING THE NEXT CENTURY ON THIS SIDE OF THE SEA.
PEAR TREES, JUDAS TREES AND OTHERS OF SUITABLE SIZE AND HABIT ARE BEGINNING TO BE USED AGAIN
FOR LEAFY TUNNELS HERE.

If you would attract birds to your grounds, plant the service berry (Amelanchier) that happily diverts them from the strawberry beds in June; the Russian mulberry, whose cloying sweet fruit they have the bad taste to like better, perhaps, than any other; the fleecy white-flowered, bird-cherry tree, for whose racemes of blackish bitter little pills flocks of cedar-birds, especially, will travel many miles; the spiny, large leaved Hercules club (Aralia spinosa), sought by the hungry juncos as soon as they arrive from the North; the red-berried dogwood and hawthorns, whose flowers one would not willingly forego in any case.

How to make the best use of trees with variegated, weeping and freakish foliage is one of the most difficult planting problems, albeit the first which the untrained novice usually essays. Probably the very worst way to use them is to dot isolated specimens about on a lawn -- the worst way to plant any kind of tree or shrub -- but mixed masses of unrelated colours, a Joseph's coat effect in foliage, can be awful too. One weeping willow looks well overhanging a little lake, but not fifty willows there. Trees with pendulous branches have a special grace, but the deformed freaks of the catalogue can spoil any garden picture. Because golden retinisporas are beautiful in themselves is no reason for buying them unless you have a group of evergreens into whose rich colour scale an accented tone is desired, or a dark corner that needs lighting up. No foliage is more exquisitely fine nor more richly coloured than that of the low-growing, shrub-like Japanese maples, yet one never sees them used in American gardens so artistically as in the little gardens of Japan, among rocks and stunted pines and miniature waterfalls, each small tree in perfect harmony of form and colour with its environment. Here we are too apt to lose the fine gradations in their colour scale, the charming individuality of each, when we make masses of maples of many hues in shrubbery borders. A noble specimen of dark copper beech may be the most beautiful ornament for a lawn, but even there it need not be wholly unrelated to every other colour on the place. Keyed into harmony with dark firs or other deep-toned evergreens, the splendour of its mahogany tints is but the more rich. "I have never seen a purple plum tree where it didn't stand out like a sore thumb," confessed a well-known landscape gardener. Nevertheless, he has learned to use it most effectively as a background for flowering peaches, crabs, and blossoming almond and fleecy white spireas, for it looks especially well with white or pink flowered shrubs; but it must be confessed that after their bloom is past, his old objection to this little dark-leaved tree, so universally planted, holds good.

A TREE PEONY, WHICH BLOOMS EARLIER THAN ITS HERBACEOUS RELATIVES.

The brilliant autumnal colouring of trees is as the gift of genius in families - one can never be certain where it will appear. In a long row of sugar maples at the nursery you may search in vain for one of such glorious colouring as any Vermont farmer may have beside his door. A red oak tree that is marvellously rich one year may disappoint us sadly the next, when the glistening leaves of the scarlet oak dazzle one with the lambent brightness of flame. Whoever revels in colour, as even the most primitive savage does -- and who, indeed, does not? -- will not forget to include in his planting list some trees for the sake of their greater glory after the flowers are gone. The pepperidge tree and star-leaved sweet gum would be desirable if for no other merit than their gorgeous autumnal tints. One is grateful to the rugged, sturdy oaks that hold their rich mahogany red and russet leaves late into the new year -- sometimes until the new growth pushes them off. Although the larch, a less vigorous relative of the pines and firs, does not retain its needle-like leaves after they turn yellow in autumn, the feathery light green of its new growth that one touches with a caress, and its delicate curving twigs, strung in winter with little cones, are so effective against the sky that there are at least two excellent reasons for planting it. One never fully appreciates the paper whiteness of the birch, the most spirituelle of all trees, until it is seen without a leaf to cover it, chaste and purely lovely against a background of evergreens. When is the beech tree most beautiful - when its fresh green, crinkled and varnished leaves burst from their brown pointed sheaths in May, or when one looks up through the shining yellow of their gold to a clear, deep-blue October sky; or when the smooth, silvery gray trunk and branches are softly etched against the snow?

LONGFELLOW'S HOME FRAMED BY WELL-BALANCED PLANTING. THE GRACEFUL HIGH-ARCHING ELM
IS THE BEST TREE TO HAVE CLOSE TO A HOUSE, AS IT EXCLUDES NEITHER LIGHT NOR AIR FROM THE LIVING ROOMS.

ASH, WEEPING (Fraxinus excelsior, var. pendula). 50 feet. Best tall canopy tree. Round-spreading top, forming an ideal shady arbour or summer house. Grows rapidly, spreading 5o feet. Give ample room for development. Unsuitable for small gardens. Attacked by a fungus, but not seriously injured by it.

BEECH, AMERICAN (Fagus ferruginea). ---, EUROPEAN (F. sylvatica). 50 feet. The former makes the largest tree, long-lived, with smooth, light-gray bark, and remarkably pretty yellowish foliage in the spring. Edible nuts. The European beech is more compact, slower in growth, and has many varieties: ---, FERN-LEAVED (var. heterophylla). Foliage finely cut. The most deeply cut of all the beeches; leaves divided clear to the midrib. Young leaves tendril-like. Plant in open, where outline is seen against the sky. Also desirable near dwelling houses. ---, RIVERS'S (var. purpurea Riversi). Dark purplish maroon. The best dark leaved tree. Absolutely hardy, while the paler, purple beech is not. Branches low down. Grand lawn specimen tree, with symmetrical head. Colour varies, so select dark-coloured specimens, which are the hardiest. ---, WEEPING (var. pendula). So feet. Pendulous, irregularly odd-looking, but not freakish. Branches have billowy effect. Slow-growing and long-lived. Can be planted in conspicuous places.

BIRCH (Betula alba). 80 feet. Small, light-green foliage; silvery, almost white, bark. One of the most picturesque trees, but needing a background, preferably evergreens; rapid grower even in thin, dry soil. Most effective medium-sized tree in the spring. ---, CUT LEAVED (var. pendula laciniata). 65 feet. Most graceful of the cut-leaved trees; slender, pendulous branches. The full character of this tree is not seen for several years. Leader always erect, giving spire-like outline.

CATALPA (Catalpa speciosa). 50 feet. White tubular flowers in large, showy panicles. June. Quick growing, with clean, furrowed bark and large, heart-shaped leaves. Hardy wherever apples grow. Flowers after horse chestnut. The long seed pods, looking like pencils, scatter seeds in winter. Not so showy as C. bignoniodes, but a better-habited tree.

CHERRY, FLOWERING (Prunus avium and Cerasus hortensis fl. pl.). 20 feet. White and pink; flowers an inch and a half across in clusters. Among the most graceful of the second-early flowering trees, the foliage beginning to develop as the flowers burst open. Will thrive under conditions that suit the fruiting peach or cherry. Double varieties, resembling little roses, last longer than the singles.

CHESTNUT, HORSE (AEsculus Hippocastanum). 90 feet. Covered with pyramids of flowers in June. Big varnished winter buds; tent-like leaves. Always dropping scales, flowers, fruit, or rusty leaves. Too dense for streets, and an untidy tree on trim lawns.

CRAB, BECHTEL'S (Pyrus Ioensis, var. fl. pl.). 30 feet. Pink. May. Best of double-flowered ornamental apples; flowers 2 inches across. When out of flower looks like an ordinary crab. Needs as much spraying as fruit trees. ---, FLOWERING (P. floribunda). 15 feet. May. Most floriferous, early flowering small tree, or sometimes a large shrub. The arching branches are strings of rose-coloured flowers, seen with leaves. Plant in masses against dark background of taller trees. Fruits make good jelly. Spray for scale and woolly aphis. For San Jose scale the surest remedy is spraying with the lime-sulphur mixture prepared by mixing 15 to 25 pounds of unslacked lime, 15 pounds of sulphur, and 50 gallons of water, combining with heat and spraying on the plants immediately. More convenient, but a little less efficacious, are special preparations of lime-sulphur and of miscible oils, which are merely diluted with water and are then ready for use. Several special preparations of this character are offered under proprietary trade names; they are practically the same. For all ordinary scales, the whale-oil soap solution is satisfactory. Use one to two pounds of the soap to one gallon of hot water.

CUCUMBER TREE (Magnolia acuminata). One of the best pyramidal trees for lawns. (See MAGNOLIA.)

CYPRESS, BALD (Taxodium distichum). 60 feet. A comparatively narrow, tapering tree, deciduous although coniferous; native of swampy lands, where it throws up characteristic knees from its roots; but will grow in dry lands. Particularly well adapted to the South. A good tree for narrow streets.

DOGWOOD, FLOWERING (Cornus florida). 30 feet. Big white bracts, making flower-like displays in May; particularly showy in wood foregrounds. Blooms with magnolias; scarlet berries and foliage in fall, also young twigs crimson. Particularly valuable for partially shaded as well as fully exposed spots. Var. rubra has bracts of varying intensity, from pink to red.

ELDER, BOX, VARIEGATED (Acer Negundo, var. argenteo-variegatum). 60 feet. Green and white. Best conspicuously variegated-leaved hardy tree; rapid grower; little seen. So markedly distinct that it is usually used in small sizes only. Not advisable for landscape effect.

ELM, AMERICAN or WHITE (Ulmus Americana). 100 feet. Best of our native shade trees. Arches high over street or house, leaving good space above roof for air and diffused light. Rich bottom land preferred. Seriously attacked in certain regions by gipsy moths and elm beetles, which defoliate it in August. In regions where the elm-leaf beetle is a pest the trees should be sprayed with arsenate of lead, which can be prepared thus: Take soda arsenate ¢ ounces; lead acetate, 12 ounces; water, 16 ounces. Dissolve each salt in half the quantity of water; mix, and let stand twelve hours. The precipitated arsenate of lead is then mixed with So gallons of water, and is ready for use. This adheres well to the foliage. Spraying should be done in May and August. ---, CAMPERDOWN (Ulmus scabra, var. pendula). Usually grafted at 8 feet. Canopy-like head forms a perfect hollow, dome-like tent, spreading to 30 feet. Very free grower. Plant as an isolated specimen on the lawn, where it can be used as a summer house or children's playhouse.

EMPRESS TREE (Paulownia imperialis). 100 feet. Unique, gloxinia-like flowers, with vanilla fragrance. Violet. May, before Catalpa. Rapid grower. Leaves a foot across. Sprouts from roots. Flower buds killed by severe winters North. Seed vessels look ragged. Flowers having no background are poorly seen against sky. Hardy to New York.

THE CATALPA TREE, WITH LESS BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS THAN THE LAVENDER-FLOWERED,
VANILLA-SCENTED PANLONIA, IS, NEVERTHELESS, MORE EFFECTIVE, BECAUSE IT WAITS
FOR ITS BIG LEAVES TO DEVELOP AND PROPERLY DISPLAY ITS BLOOM.

HAWTHORN, ENGLISH (Crataegus Oxyacantha). 30 feet. White, pink to red. June. Perfectly hardy; thrives on dry soil. Stands severe trimming. Many varieties, single and double. Red berries, relished by birds. Clothed with sharp thorns. Very slow growing after 10 feet high. Spray for scale (see CRAB).

HERCULES CLUB (Aralia spinosa). 40 feet. Huge, handsome pinnate leaves. Flowers fleecy white, in large, broad, clustered panicle, followed by dark purple berries in heavy clusters, relished by migrant birds in autumn. Blooms in midsummer. One of the most showy native trees, except in winter, when its spiny, club-like trunks without branches, alone remain. ---, CHINESE ANGELICA (A. Chinensis). Similar, with leaves 2 to 3 feet long, and flowering a week earlier.

HICKORY (Hicoria alba). 100 feet, or less. Adapted to great range of soils. Slow growing and difficult to transplant. Characteristic shaggy bark. Open mantle of foliage makes broken shade.

LABURNUM (Laburnum vulgare). 20 feet. Yellow. May. Flowers in June like a yellow wistaria. Clean, smooth bark. Equally good on all sorts of soil, including lime. Poisonous in all parts, especially fruits. Not quite hardy north of New York. Seedlings crop up all around. Give abundance of water. The laburnum is at its best in rainy Ireland.

LINDEN (Tilia Americana). 90 feet. Dense, round head when young. Rapid grower. White fragrant flowers attract bees. Needs no attention after planting. Very variable and much confused with European species, T. petiolaris, which is smaller, and has leaves hairy beneath.

LOCUST, FALSE ACACIA (Robinia Pseudacacia). 80 feet. White. Fragrant pea-like flowers in May, June. Quick growing when young. Makes a moderate spread with irregular outline. Attacked by a borer, spreads freely by seeds, and suckers badly.

MAGNOLIA (Various species). These embrace the largest-flowered and most conspicuously ornamental deciduous trees; some evergreen, some deciduous, and some are shrubs. Besides being the largest flowered, they are also among the most fragrant. The deciduous species are reasonably hardy, and in sheltered positions may be planted as far north as Massachusetts, some running even above that. Excepting M. glauca, which thrives in swampy situations, the whole family prefers sandy or peaty loam, moderately moist. Transplanting is difficult on account of the thick, spongy roots, and is to be done as growth starts. Propagation is by seeds or layers. Plant with evergreens for background. ---, CUCUMBER TREE (Magnolia acuminata). 60 to 100 feet. Leaves slightly hairy, light green beneath. Flowers greenish yellow; 3 inches across. May, June. Fruit conical, pink. The hardiest species. Foliage yellow in the fall. The most inconspicuous in its flowers. ---, LARGE-LEAVED (M. macrophylla). 30 to 50 feet. Of slender growth, making a broad, round head. Leaves up to 30 inches long; bright green above, silvery white below. The flowers 10 to 12 inches across, white, with a purple centre. May, June. Highly decorative with the cone-like fruit becoming bright red. Hardy to Boston. The largest-leaved magnolia. Should be given a sheltered position. ---, FRASER'S (M. Fraseri). 30 to 40 feet. Usually with a leaning trunk. Flowers cream-white, 8 to 10 inches across. June. Fruit rose red, 5 inches long. Distinguished by the peculiarly eared leaf. Almost as hardy as the cucumber tree. ---, GREAT LAUREL (M. foetida). 50 to 80 feet. Leaves 5 to 8 inches long, dull green. Flowers April to August. White, 6 to 8 inches across. Cup-shaped, solitary. Hardy to Philadelphia. Cut branches used for winter decoration. ---, HALL'S (M. stellata). See SHRUBS. ---, SOULANGE'S (M. Soulangeana). 30 feet, May. White-pink blossoms, six inches long, appearing before the leaves. Plant against dark backgrounds; small specimens two to three feet high will bloom. The largest-flowered, small hardy tree; transplant only in spring. A number of garden hybrids of extreme beauty are allied to this. ---, SWAMP BAY (M. glauca). 50 to 75 feet. Sometimes a shrub. Though evergreen in the South, deciduous in the North. Leaves smooth, lustrous, bright green with silvery lining. Flowers 2 to 3 inches across; creamy white, fragrant. The best magnolia for general cultivation, thriving from New York South. More floriferous when cut back and treated as a shrub. ---, YULAN (M. conspicua). 30 feet. White, fragrant flowers expanding to six inches. May. The largest white-flowered tree that is hardy farther north than Long Island.

THE FRAGRANT NATIVE MAGNOLIA OF THE SWAMPS AND WET, OPEN WOODS, USEFUL FOR
WILD GARDEN EFFECTS IN LOW GROUND. MAGNOLIAS, AS A CLASS, ARE THE MOST
DECORATIVE AND BEAUTIFUL FLOWERING TREES WE HAVE FOR LAWN AND GARDEN.

MAIDENHAIR TREE (Ginkgo biloba). 80 feet. Singular habit; erect, pyramidal, with curiously horizontal branches. Leaves wedge-shaped. Singular, but not freakish looking. Free from insects and fungi. Perfectly hardy. Ripe fruits have foul odour. Kernels eaten by Chinese.

MAPLE, JAPANESE (Acer palmatum). Low specimens up to 20 feet. The most delicately foliaged small tree. Usually used as a shrub. Numerous varieties variously cut, and some coloured red or purple. Plant in well-drained, rich soils, and partial shade. Handsome for foregrounds and near the house, and in the rock garden. ---, RED (A. rubrum). 80 feet. Earliest blooming of the large trees; rounded head of small scarlet flowers. Should be planted against evergreen background. Seed pods bright red in summer; leaves brilliant orange and scarlet in fall. Makes a tall, rather upright tree. Does not thrive on hillsides or other dry land, and is the only maple for wet and swampy sites. ---, SILVER (A. saccharinum or dasycarpum). 80 feet. Quickest growing of all the maples, but soon breaks down, and is very liable to insect attacks. Much used for street planting, unfortunately, but can be improved by persistent pruning to a single stem. ---, STRIPED (A. Pennsylvanica). 40 feet. Peculiarly attractive on account of the bark of the trunk and of larger branches being striped with white or yellowish lines on a green ground. An excellent lawn tree, not growing too large. Valuable for winter effects. ---, SUGAR (A. saccharum). 100 feet. Moist soil preferred. The best shade and street tree among the maples. Long enduring; bright red and yellow foliage in fall. Transplant when young. In some regions attacked by the leopard moth and other borers. When young, makes numerous shoots that need thinning. ---, NORWAY (A. platanoides). Much like the preceding, but denser, clear yellow in fall, and flowers yellowish green in spring. ---, WIER'S CUT-LEAVED (A. saccharinum, var. Wieri). 100 feet. Casting very heavy shade. Vigorous, upright habit, with long, arching, pendulous branches. Silver-green leaves, deeply cut on youngest branches. Best in young specimens, as old trees become prey to insects and are broken by storms.

MOUNTAIN ASH (Sorbus Americana). 30 feet. Spreading. Pinnate leaves. White flowers. May, June, but chiefly valued for clusters of bright red berries in August, September. ---, EUROPEAN (S. Aucuparia). Thrives in extreme North. Very brilliant fruits; edible. Many garden forms of this.

MULBERRY, RUSSIAN (Morus alba, var. Tatarica). 40 feet. Fastest growing, long-lived tree for the West. Stands drought well, and also shade. Grows twenty feet in ten years. Gets winter-killed in the Dakotas and Kansas. Needs pruning as a shade tree. Edible fruits litter ground.

OAK, ENGLISH (Quercus Robur or pedunculata). 120 feet. Stout, spreading branches and broad, round-topped head. Foliage dark green above, and pale bluish-green beneath. 2 to 5 inches long. Remains green until winter. Extremely variable. The historical oak of England, but thrives poorly in America with the exception of California. The following kinds are much to be preferred. ---, MOSSY CUP (Q. macrocarpa). Distinguished by the huge shaggy receptacles for the large acorns. 80 feet, but sometimes twice as much. Spreading branches, and broad, round head. Deeply furrowed, light brown bark. Leaves bright green and shining above, whitish beneath; 6 inches long. A strong-growing, stately tree. Very picturesque in winter. Transplants with difficulty, so always buy young nursery stock. ---, PIN (Q. palustris). 80 to 120 feet, with large, spreading branches. Pyramidal head. Foliage, bright green above, light green beneath. Very handsome when young. The most rapid-growing oak. Useful for streets and avenues. Transplants easily. Prefers moist soil. Foliage scarlet in fall. ---, RED (Q. rubra). 80 to 150 feet. Stout, spreading branches, and round-topped head. Leaves dull green above, light green beneath. Nearly as rapid growing as the pin oak. Foliage dark red in fall. The best oak for dry uplands and rocky soils. ---, WHITE (Q. alba). 100 feet. Stout branches with round, open head. Bark light gray. Leaves bright green, becoming violet-red or violet-purple in fall. One of the best trees for park effects in the North. It prefers moist soil. Does not transplant easily. Get young nursery stock. ---, WILLOW (Q. Phellos). 50 to 80 feet. Slender branches and conical head. Leaves bright green and glossy above, light green beneath, becoming pale yellow in fall. The best medium-sized oak. Prefers very moist, almost swampy soil. Oaks as a group are shallow-rooting trees, and the longest-lived of all; generally easily transplanted, excepting those of the white oak group. This peculiarity seems to be related to problems of symbiotic fungi on the roots, a subject that is as yet little understood. In transplanting care should be observed to avoid violent changes of conditions.

"SURE, YE CAN'T SEE THE TREE FOR THE FLOWERS ON IT." THE FRAGRANT, FLOWERING CRABAPPLE.

PEACH, FLOWERING (Persica vulgaris, var. fl. pl.). Up to 30 feet, but usually seen in much smaller specimens. Bright, rosy pink. Flourishes wherever common peach will grow. Should be pruned closely, and given rich soil. Flowers nearly an inch across, very double, appearing when the fruiting peach blooms. Also a white variety which is not so effective.

POPLAR, CAROLINA (Populus Caroliniana). 100 ft. Dry soil preferred. Fastest growing of all shade trees; best for most crowded parts of large cities. Good in arid states. The silky pappus shed in summer and driven by the wind becomes a nuisance. Soft wood, and easily broken. ---, LOMBARDY ( P. nigra, var. Italica). 60 feet. Tall, columnar tree of most distinct and striking habit of any tree suitable for the North, but not long-lived in the northernmost states. So singular that it should be planted with care. Excellent for formal planting, also to give effect of height on a plain, or to add to effect of a low cliff or ledge. Suckers from root. ---, TULIP (Liriodendron tulipifera). 120 feet. Yellow tulip-like flowers in May, June. Fastest-growing, longest-lived soft-wood tree of the East. Splendid lawn specimen. In perfection New York southward.

PLANE, ORIENTAL (Platanus orientalis). 80 feet. Good for all soils, even water side, and as a street or avenue tree; wide-spreading, making regular-formed head with better outline than the Western or American plane (P. occidentalis), which is subject to disease. The two can hardly be distinguished in the young state. The shedding of the bark in winter makes the trees peculiarly attractive.

PAGODA TREE (Sophora Japonica). 60 feet. Loose panicles of white, pea-like flowers in July (or September in Massachusetts); something like a white acacia. The peculiar method of branching makes it a most interesting winter tree. Not hardy far north. One of the most graceful-looking large trees.

RED BUD, JUDAS TREE (Cercis Canadensis). 30 feet. Purplish-pink pea-like flowers wreathing the branches. Blooms with magnolia and shadbush before the leaves. Best planted in spring. Isolate from other colours. Evergreens for background most effective.

SHADBUSH (Amelanchier Canadensis). 20 feet. Mass of small, white, plum-like flowers in very early spring; berries May to June, red, relished by nesting birds. Hardy in extreme North, and becoming a tree 60 feet in the South. Most effective white-flowered tree along woodland borders in the spring before the dogwood. Flowers with red bud.

SORREL TREE (Oxydendrum arboreum). 60 feet. Attractive all the year. Terminal clusters of white flowers in June. Foliage changes to crimson in the fall. Conspicuous seed pods remain white for a long time. Young wood has crimson bark. Stands shade.

SWEET Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). 50 feet. Characteristic tree in the South, but not thriving north of New York. Hard to transplant. The ivy-like leaves become beautifully yellow and red in the fall. Seed balls and corky wings on the branches give character in the winter. Does well near water.

TAMARACK (Larix Americana). 60 feet. Deciduous, coniferous tree; needle-like leaves, pale green, fading to golden yellow in autumn. Grows on any soil, and is better than the larch (L. Europea), which demands well-drained soil.

TUPELO, SOUR GUM (Nyssa sylvatica). 70 feet. Picturesque, bold-looking tree, valuable for distant effects. Bright scarlet foliage in autumn. Winter character peculiarly desolate because of drooping limbs. Does not transplant well.

VARNISH TREE (Koelreuteria paniculata). 60 feet. Yellow flowers, June and July, followed by ornamental curved seed pods 2 feet long. Foliage finely divided, becoming rich crimson in the fall. One of the handsomest of the Japanese trees.

WALNUT, BLACK (Juglans nigra). 125 feet. Preferred soil, fertile hillside and bottom land. Especially suited to the West and even on alkali lands. Requires wide space to develop. In the East, often disfigured by large webs of the webworm, which should be burned off with torches on poles. Drops its leaves rather early in the fall.

WILLOW, WEEPING (Salix Babylonica). 40 feet. Branches pendulous. Most rapid-growing "weeper" thriving in average soils. Olive-green bark in winter; var. aurea has yellow bark. Best effect when planted on margins of water. In extreme North, plant var. dolorosa. The upright willows look much alike, but are good for quick effect as screens to be cut out later. ---, Pussy (S. discolor). 20 feet. Thrives equally on wet or dry ground. ---, ROSEMARY (S. incana). With narrow leaves, white underneath, giving gray effect. Grafted on hardy stock is an effective small lawn specimen, usually used as shrub.

YELLOW WOOD (Cladrastis tinctoria, Virgilia lutea). 50 feet. White. June. Fragrant flowers, like a white wistaria, lasting several days. Sought by bees. Hardy in Canada. Gray beech-like bark. Shy and intermittent bloomer except in South. Fruits hang on all winter.

ARBORVITAE (Thuya occidentalis). Up to 40 feet. Best ornamental evergreen of moderate height. Excellent as hedge, screen, windbreak, or specimen. Foliage brownish green, becoming darker with winter. Give good soil and not too dry. The Siberian variety, (var. Wareana,) is narrower, denser and better coloured in winter. There are many varieties, the most important being "George Peabody," orange yellow, useful for bedding, and var. globosa, dwarf, less than two feet high. Bright green.

AZALEA, SHOWY (Azalea amoena). 2 feet. Low, dense bush. Leaves become rich bronze in winter. Somewhat resembling boxwood, the leaves being of same size. Flowers rosy purple, completely obscuring foliage. May. Isolate. The most floriferous evergreen. Useful for hedges or for massing with rhododendrons that do not bloom at same time. Peaty soil. Give protection from severe winds.

BAY, BULL (Magnolia grandiflora). 80 feet. Pyramidal habit. Leaves thick, leathery, glossy dark green, reddish brown underneath. Most important evergreen tree of the South. Doubtfully hardy north of Philadelphia, but reported in favoured situations on Long Island, where, however, it is deciduous. Immense white, fragrant flowers 1 foot across. Transplants badly. ---, SWEET (Laurus nobilis). The most popular formal evergreen for formal gardens, terraces and vestibules, etc. Not hardy, but largely used in tubs and pots for summer decoration, and always in artificially trained forms, pyramid, standard, and so forth. Must be stored over winter in a frost-proof cellar.

BOXWOOD (Buxus sempervirens). 20 feet, but usually much smaller. Very slow growing. The box of old gardens. (See HEDGE PLANTS.) ---, DWARF (var. suffruticosa). Similar, but never growing tall. Best for formal edging to beds, etc. ---, ORIENTAL (B. Japonica). 6 feet, with more rounded leaves, nearly as hardy; is very desirable for hedges from Philadelphia southward. Var. microphylla is a decided dwarf, often prostrate shrub.

CEDAR OF LEBANON (Cedrus Libani). With peculiarly tabled horizontal branches, dark, dull green. Not hardy North of New York. 70 feet. A recent form now under trial at the Arnold Arboretum promises to be quite hardy. ---, MT. ATLAS (Cedrus Atlantica). 120 feet. Leaves less than an inch long. The hardiest of the cedars growing near New York with shelter, on well-drained loamy soil. Graceful feathery, slightly drooping branches in young specimens. Var. glauca has bluish foliage. ---, RED (Juniperus Virginiana). Up to 100 feet. The best tree of the cedar type for American gardens. From Nova Scotia to Florida. A symmetrical, often columnar tree, dense and dark coloured. Valuable for formal gardens, windbreaks, and seaside planting. Adapted to every kind of soil. Extremely variable in outline and colour.

COTONEASTER, BOX-LEAVED (Cotoneaster buxifolia). Low spreading shrub with dark green persistent leaves resembling boxwood. Flowers small, white. May, June. Followed by bright red fruit. (C. microphylla). Similar, with brighter foliage.

CRYPTOMERIA (C. Japonica, var. Lobbi). Useful only when quite young. Up to 8 feet. Very pretty, light green, wiry but drooping branches. There is a plant of the type 40 feet high at Dosoris, L. I., but is not usually considered hardy. The var. Lobbi is probably the quickest growing short-leaved conifer that is hardy at New York.

CYPRESS, JAPANESE. See RETINISPORA. ---, LAWSON'S (Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana). The most beautiful and probably the tallest of the American cypresses attaining zoo feet in Northern California. Ascending branches with drooping tips giving graceful plumose effect. Very rapid grower when young. Great merit is that it does well in the mountains toward the South, but is not reliably hardy in New England. Very variable. It is to the South what the retinisporas are to the North.

EUONYMUS (E. Japonicus). 6 feet; upright-growing shrub, with glossy dark-green leaves. 1 ½ to 2 inches long. Does best along the coast. Not quite hardy in the North, except in shaded, protected situations. Several variegated forms. ---, CREEPING (E. radicans). (See VINES.)

FETTER BUSH (Pieris floribunda). Dense growing bush with dull, deep-green foliage. Flowers in drooping, terminal tassels. White. April, May; 2 to 4 feet. The conspicuous flower buds all winter make this plant particularly decorative for bordering drives, etc. ---, JAPANESE, or ANDROMEDA (P. Japonica). Similar to the foregoing, but larger and with looser habit of growth.

FIR, BALSAM (Abies balsamea). 50 to 80 feet. A slender tree. Foliage dark green and lustrous above, pale below. The common fir of eastern North America, giving Canada balsam. Foliage fragrant in drying. Loses its beauty early in cultivation. Thrives on a variety of soils and where other evergreens would fail. ---, NORDMANN'S (A. Nordmanniana). Most ornamental and stateliest fir. 100 to 150 feet. Glossy dark foliage. Broadly conical outline. Leaves remain on the trees for eight years. Thicker and wider than most conifers. Uninjured by salt spray. Large specimens transplant badly. Said to winter-kill in some spots near Philadelphia, but is uninjured much farther north.. ---, RED. See SPRUCE, DOUGLAS. ---, WHITE (J. concolor). The best fir in the North, withstanding heat and drought. Very hardy. 250 feet. Rapid grower, and the most ornamental fir for the East. Needles bluish, curved and with feathery effect. Conical habit, and with little pruning makes a very compact tree. A. lasiocarpa is similar, but more compact.

GARLAND FLOWER (Daphne Cneorum). With trailing branches. Dark green linear leaves. Flowers in clustered heads. Purplish pink. Fragrant. April, May, and again in the summer; 1 foot. The most fragrant low evergreen. Prefers deep, rich peaty soil. --- (D. Blagayana). With ascending branches. Flowers white or yellowish, April, May. Grafts die without apparent cause.

HEMLOCK (Tsuga Canadensis). Most ornamental Eastern evergreen. Has general character of the Norway spruce, but more graceful and lighter, brighter colour. Endures shade and valuable for bordering woodlands, but will not stand salt spray. Also the best evergreen hedge plant, standing trimming well. See also, HEDGES.

HOLLY, AMERICAN (Ilex opaca). Dull green, spiny leaves, with bright red berries in winter if staminate tree is planted among pistillate ones. Up to 50 ft. ---, ENGLISH (I. aquifolium). More lustrous than the American, but not so hardy. Grows near New York in moist, drained soil with shelter. Numerous varieties cultivated in Europe. ---, JAPANESE (I. crenata). Resembles boxwood in foliage, but plant is more irregular in outline. Comparatively new. Thrives perfectly in Bronx Park, New York, but is winter-killed nearby.

INKBERRY (Ilex glabra). Upright. Much branched. Profusion of black berries all winter; 2 to 4 feet. Best broad-leaved evergreen for full sun in the North. Mature plants resemble old boxwood.

JUNIPER, COMMON (Juniperus communis). The English and Irish junipers are forms of this one, the latter being columnar. Not desirable in eastern North America, being extremely short lived.

LAUREL, MOUNTAIN (Kalmia latifolia). 10 feet. Valuable native for mass planting and for hedges. Flowers in large clusters. Pink, rose, and white. May, June. With the rhododendron is the most valuable flowering evergreen. ---, NARROW-LEAVED (K. angustifolia.) Smaller leaves and rosy purple flowers. June, July; 3 feet. ---, GREAT. (See Rhododendron maximum.)

LEUCOTHOE (Leucothoe Catesbaei). Trailing plant. Flowers lily-of-the-valley like; creamy white, fragrant. May. Should be used as ground cover in groups. Long arching sprays of dark glossy foliage becoming claret-coloured when exposed to sun. Thrives with rhododendron.

MAHONIA (Mahonia aquifolium). Yellow flowers and bluish-gray fruit. (See ASHBERRY, in HEDGE PLANTS). ---, CREEPING (Berberis repens). 187). 1 foot. Leaflets pale glaucous green and dull. Flowers yellow. May. Fruit an oblong blue berry. Useful for carpeting. Hardy in the North. ---, JAPAN (B. Japonica). 5 to 10 feet. Like a magnified mahonia or ashberry. Leaves holly-like, more than a foot long. Fruit black. Hardy in New York with shelter. The B. Japonica of gardens is B. Nepalensis, not so tall, with fewer spines but more leaf.

PINE, AUSTRIAN (Pinus Laricio, var. Austriaca). Rapid grower, succeeding on a variety of soils. 125 feet. Hardy. Of dark, sombre aspect, hence called black pine. Short branches with stiff, long needles. Stands wind and salt spray. Keeps its colour all winter. Begins to deteriorate when about twenty-five years old. Used as a temporary windbreak. ---, DWARF MOUNTAIN (P. montana, var. Mughus). The best dwarf pine, eventually becoming 10 feet high. Invaluable for roadbanks, terraces, massing at entrances, also as lawn specimens. Makes an almost globular bush with characteristic pine growth. Leaves bright green. Does well on variety of soils if well drained. ---, PITCH (P. rigida). Horizontal spreading branches, making an open, irregular pyramid. 80 feet; leaves 2 to 5 inches long. Very hardy and of rapid growth when young. Easily raised from seed. Useful on dry and rocky sterile soils. Sprouts readily from stumps. Very picturesque when old. ---, RED (P. resinosa). One of the best of the hardy conifers, thriving up to the far north. 100 feet. Medium green, long leaves, grows upon any drained soil. Particularly picturesque when aged. A good tree for garden use, as it stands cutting and trimming. One of the best for screens, hedges, and windbreaks. ---, SCOTCH (P. sylvestris). Similar to Austrian pine in all respects except that foliage is blue-green and shorter. ---, UMBRELLA (Sciadopitys verticillata). Unique in character, having long narrow leaves of a lustrous green, in whorls. 100 feet. A narrow compact pyramid; rather slow growth. Hardy to Maine. Thrives in moderately moist loam and also clay. ---, WHITE (Pinus Strobus). Most useful conifer for general planting, and tallest evergreen tree of Eastern America. 150 feet. Thrives anywhere except on wet clay subsoil. Needles long, and brighter green than most conifers. Very picturesque and rugged with age. Makes annual growth of 2 feet. Horizontal branches in whorls. Easily injured by winds until 10 or 12 feet high. Often attacked by mealy bug and woolly aphis when young; spray with kerosene emulsion.

RETINISPORA, JAPAN CYPRESS (Chamaecyparis pisifera). Usually to 6 feet. The most decorative of all the conifers. Only the young plants are in cultivation. The mature trees are never used for garden planting, having totally different habit and appearance. Beautiful feathery foliage. Slow growth. Usually used in ornamental groups or as lawn specimens. Var. filifera has long drooping branches and thread-like branchlets; foliage, light green. Var. plumosa has short branches with feathery effect. Var. plumosa aurea is similar, but golden yellow. Much used for bedding. Var. squarrosa is silvery blue. (C. obtusa). Differs from the preceding in having dark green arborvitae-like branches. Var. mana is much trained in dwarf forms by the Japanese. All the retinisporas want very rich soil to do well.

RHODODENDRON, ROSE BAY, GREAT LAUREL (Rhododendron maximum). Large shrub or small tree. Up to 35 feet, but usually seen about 6 feet. Without exception the most important broad-leaved evergreen for massing. Planted by the carload. Very hardy through the coldest winters. Leaves whitish beneath, 4 to 10 inches long. Flowers white or pale pink with greenish spots inside. June, July. Demands open soil, well drained, but not over dry. Shows a distinct dislike of lime, but can be grown in limestone soils in beds excavated for several feet and filled in with fresh compost, largely peat and leaf-mould. Hardy into Canada. Transplant by preference from a turfy soil. ---, CATAWBA (R. Catawbiense). Shrub. Usually 6 feet; rarely 20 feet. Less hardy than maximum. Leaves, glaucous beneath, 3 to 5 inches long. Flowers lilac-purple. June. An important shrub for massing south of New England. ---, HYBRIDS (R. Catawbiense and R. Ponticum, a tender species). Among the most beautiful conspicuously flowered evergreens. There are numerous varieties offered. Large globe-like trusses of flowers appearing in May, June. Some of the most popular varieties are: Delicatissimum, blush white, tinted pink; Everestianum, rosy lilac spotted and fringed, the most popular of all the hybrids; Caractacus, purple crimson; C. S. Sargent, bright scarlet; Roseum superbum, light rose; Charles Dickens, dark scarlet; Gloriosa, bluish white; Album elegans, white; H. H. Hunnewell, dark crimson.

ROSEMARY, WILD (Andromeda polifolia). Narrow, leaves, 1 ½ inches long, with revolute margins, whitish beneath. Flowers nodding. White and pink. June; 6 inches to 2 feet. Very variable. In terminant umbels. Peaty or sandy soil, with rhododendrons and azaleas. See also FETTER BUSH.

SAVIN (Juniperus Sabina). A prostrate shrub, with long, stiff, straggling dark green branches, but free method of growth. 3 to 5 feet.

SPRUCE, BLUE (Picea pungens, var. glauca). The best-coloured coniferous evergreen. Beautiful steel-blue. Most imposing in early summer. Slow grower, attaining 75 feet. Hardy, but comparatively short-lived, the base becoming ragged at 35 years. Many forms of this in the trade. The highest coloured of all is known as Koster's. Also drooping and weeping forms. ---, DOUGLAS (Pseudotsuga Douglasii.) Rapid grower, almost too fast for garden growth. 200 feet. Colorado trees are hardier than those from California. Transplants readily. Rich dark green foliage with faint blue sheen beneath. ---, ENGELMANN'S (Picea Engelmanni). Somewhat resembling the blue spruce in tone of colour but less brilliant. Needles not so long but softer and flexible. Perfectly hardy. 80 to 100 feet. ---, NORWAY (P. excelsa). The fastest growing conifer. 100 feet. Also one of the hardiest and withstanding strong winds. Sombre, dark green. Does best in moderately rich soil with good feeding. Otherwise loses its beauty early, before the white pine. Graceful branches, drooping. Needs ample space for full development of individual character. Branches to the ground, making a perfect cone. ---, ORIENTAL (P. orientalis). Most refined of all spruces. Ascending branches with pendulous branchlets. Rich, dark foliage. Makes a beautiful lawn specimen when old enough to bear cones. The staminate flowers a brilliant carmine, standing erect like candles on a Christmas tree. Slow growing and, though discoloured by spring frosts, is hardy. ---, WHITE (P. alba). The hardiest native spruce, and ranking next to the white pine in rapidity of growth. Usually 70 feet, but occasionally 150 feet. Light glaucous green foliage. Dense tree, regular conical shape. Excellent windbreak. Will grow right down to the water's edge. SPURGE, MOUNTAIN (Pachysandra terminalis). Excellent cover plant thriving in the sun or shade in any ordinary soil, making a carpet about 6 inches thick. Flowers white, followed by white berries in winter. Leaves lightish green and thick.

THORN, EVERGREEN (Pyracantha coccinea). Spring shrub with roundish, glossy, deep-green leaves becoming bronze in winter. Umbels of white flowers in May, followed by clusters of very brilliant orange fruits in fall and winter, which are much sought by birds. 6 feet. Var. Lalandi is more vigorous, with slender branches, and hardier; suitable for covering walls, and probably is the more commonly grown.

YEW, CANADIAN (Taxus Canadensis). Creeping undergrowth shrub with pretty red berries. Extremely hardy. Invaluable for carpeting in the colder regions. Easily transplanted when young and may be raised from seed. ---, JAPANESE (T. cuspidata). The best substitute for the English yew, 15 feet high, 21 feet wide. Perfectly hardy, where as the English (T. baccata) is too delicate, needing winter protection. ---, DWARF JAPAN (T. cuspidata, var. brevifolia). 3 feet high with spread of several feet, is a reliable dwarf. Foliage dark green.