8 TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



ually leave you, and give place to hardier foresters. As you go 

 south, the same gradual change takes place from the desertion 

 of the pines and birches, and the addition of new oaks, and 

 other trees. Every one feels the difference in the effect pro- 

 duced on the mind by the forests of Berkshire, and the woods of 

 Norfolk or Essex county. The practised eye detects the cause 

 of the difference in the different trees which constitute the forest, 

 and still more in the different proportions in which the same 

 trees are combined. 



These numerous trees and the still more numerous flowering 

 shrubs which belong to our forests, all capable of being made to 

 flourish freely in every part of the State, give the planter who is 

 studious of the effects of landscape, inexhaustible resources. 

 Some of the trees grow habitually to the height of only thirty 

 or forty feet; others rise to seventy or a hundred. Judiciously 

 grouped in planting, they are capable of giving to a level plain 

 the appearance of any desired inequality of surface. The tall 

 pines, elms and sycamores at a distance, will seem to occupy 

 a hill, the hickories and maples, to clothe its sides, while the 

 spreading beeches, broad oaks and hanging birches, will form 

 the gradual descent to the plain. Among these, a winding path 

 leading under or near the largest trees and behind thickets, may 

 give to a few acres all the advantages of variety of a large 

 forest. 



To many persons, the pleasantest season in our climate is 

 autumn, and to a lover of nature the rich and infinitely varied 

 gorgeousness of the autumnal woods is a most important addi- 

 tion to the enjoyment of that season in the country. Each tree 

 has its own color, or rather its own class of colors, — tints and 

 shades which belong to it and to it alone. Trees to be planted 

 about a residence should be selected in reference to this circum- 

 stance as well as to the time and variety of their flowering. 

 Early autumn becomes gay with the vivid crimson of the tupelo 

 and the sumach. A little later come out the rich orange and 

 yellow of the sugar maple, with the gold and scarlet of the red 

 flowering maple. The soft olive tints of the ash, the warm 

 browns of the hickory, the purples of the cornus florida, the 



