GLANDCJLOUS-LEAVED AILANTUS. 1 



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by the Jesuit missionary, D'Incarville, in 1751 ; and that they were sown by Mil- 

 ler, in the Chelsea botanic garden, and by Philip Carteret Webb, at Bushbridge, in 

 Surry, the same year. As the tree produced suckers freely, it was soon gene- 

 rally propagated, and there are many fine specimens of it growing in different 

 parts of that country. 



The largest tree of this species in Britain, is at Syon, near London. In 1S35, 

 it had attained the height of seventy feet, with a trunk three feet, ten inches in 

 diameter, and an ambitus, or spread of branches, of forty feet. Its trunk formed 

 an erect column about thirty feet high, before it ramified, and its head was hem- 

 ispherical. This tree is said to flower, and occasionally to produce fruit. 



The Ailantus glandulosa was introduced into France in 178U, by M. Blaikie, 

 and the oldest specimens are at St. Leu, and at Paris. At St. Leu, there is a tree, 

 planted by M. Blaikie, in 1791, which attained the height of eighty feet in forty 

 years, with a trunk from three to three and a half feet in diameter. In the 

 Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, there is another tree, which, in 183.5, had attained 

 the height of sixty-eight feet, with a head forty-four feet in diameter, flowering 

 most years, and occasionally ripening seeds. 



At Geneva, in Switzerland, at the entrance of the botanic garden, there is a 

 tree of this species, fifty or sixty feet in height, which, when in flower, emits so 

 powerful an odour that it may be perceived at a distance of nearly a quarter of 

 a mile (cinq minutes de distance.) The suckers from this tree shoot from the 

 ground in every direction, for forty or fifty feet. 



Many other interesting specimens are to be met with in the chief gardens and 

 collections in Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe, and the tree is generally 

 cultivated for ornament in all the temperate countries of the civilized world. It 

 is not destined to thrive, however, in a very rigorous climate, for it dwindles 

 down to a mere shrub, no farther north than Montreal, in Lower Canada. 



The Ailantus glandulosa found its way into the United States from two dis- 

 tinct sources. It was first introduced from Europe, in 1784, by Mr. William 

 Hamilton, at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia, and a sucker, planted from the 

 original tree, in 1809, is at present standing in the Bartram botanic garden, 

 which is sixty feet in height, with a trunk nearly two feet in diameter. 



On the authority of Governor Charles Collins, of Newport, this species was 

 brought from South America, in about the year 1804, and was presented to 

 General Andrew McCorrie, of Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, by a master of a ves- 

 sel. From this tree there were numerous others produced by cuttings, and six 

 or eight of them were planted in 1807, by Governor Collins, at Bristol, several 

 of which were felled and sawn into boards about twenty years after. In about 

 the year 1810, Rev. Henry Wight, of the last-named place, procured a young 

 shoot, and planted near his house, which has grown to a magnificent tree, fifty- 

 five feet in height, with a trunk seven feet in circumference, at a yard above the 

 ground, and an ambitus or spread of branches of fifty feet. In Portsmouth, 

 Bristol, and Providence, there are numerous other trees of this species with 

 trunks nearly two feet in diameter. 



In about the year 1820, Mr. William Prince, of Flushing, Long Island, imported 

 the ailantus from Europe, and from this source, most of the plants of this species 

 in New York and vicinity, have been supplied. It may here be remarked, that 

 both male and female trees grow in abundance in the last-named places, and 

 that the male may generally be distinguished by its more graceful leaves and 

 handsome form. 



Propagation^ Culture^ ^'c. The Ailantus glandulosa may readily be propagated 

 from seeds, or by cuttings of the roots ; but the former mode is far more prefer- 

 able, as the tree is not so liable to throw up suckers as when produced by cut- 

 tings. The seeds should be sown, if possible, as soon as they are gathered; and 



