150 BOTANY OF THE 
The streets of Philadelphia are planted with trees of the same 
kind as at New York, with the addition of the White or Soft 
Maple (Acer dasycarpum,— A. eriocarpum, Mx.), which is here 
a general favourite, affording at once a fine shade, and being 
free from the attacks of insects, and the other objections urged 
against the species commonly employed for that purpose, and 
to which I have alluded. The spacious area of Washington 
Square, much resorted to as a promenade on fine summer 
evenings, is tastefully laid out and planted with a variety of indi- 
genous trees. A list of these is kept for public inspection in a sort 
of watch-box, together with a ground-plan of the square, on 
which are numbers referring to the names on the list, and pointing 
out the precise place of each species in the square, which may 
thus be readily found when sought for ; though labelling the speci- 
mens themselves, as practised in Kensington Gardens, would still 
further facilitate their examination. 
I was surprised to see in the gardens of the Pennsylvania hos- 
pital, as well as in some gardens in Arch (Mulberry) Street and 
elsewhere, Fig-trees rising above their walls. The trees were 
small, but looked healthy; and their trunks were protected by 
contiguous buildings. Several of them bore small, and apparently 
abortive fruit; nor did I meet with any figs of native growth in 
the remarkably well-supplied markets of the city. It is only in 
the town, where it is sheltered from cutting winds by adjoining 
houses, and the effects of severe frost are mitigated by radiation 
from their walls, that the Fig can thus partially resist the winters of 
this latitude (39° 58’) on the eastern side of the American conti- 
nent. The trees are, however, I understand, killed back in un- 
usually severe weather; and some are occasionally protected by —— 
matting ; or their branches are laid down, and covered with straw or 
earth: the greater number are left to take their chance; for the - 
damage is speedily repaired by fresh and vigorous shoots from the 
trunk, which is seldom destroyed, or, at all events, from the root, — 
which is sure to escape injury. I remember when in Hungary, ih — 
.. 1827, to have been shown numerous Fig-trees growing perfectly — 
spontaneous in rough grounds, at the southern base of the x 
