REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 289 



April Meeting. 

 President Beal opened and read a paper on 



ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 



We should select a variety of trees, having in mind the shape of the top, 

 shape of leaves, color of foliage in summer and autumn, the color of the twigs 

 and bark on the trunk, the growth of the limbs, whether stout, slender, erect, 

 horizontal or drooping. We bear in mind whether the tree grows fast or slow, 

 whether it is to remain a small tree or to become a large one. We bear in mind 

 whether the tree is to stand by itself or to form part of a group. We select a 

 tree with reference to those with which it is to be planted. In all this there is 

 abundant need of care, judgment, independence, experience, and good taste. 



At the Agricultural College we have something like 300 kinds of trees and 

 shrubs, some of which have been growing for many years. Two severe cold 

 winters have weeded out those which are not iron-clads. We have tried many 

 kinds which have proved too tender for our cold winters. 



I should not advise every one to make the same selections of trees. Tastes 

 differ — we like a variety. By looking our city and country over we can see fine 

 specimens of American elms, rock elms, sugar maples, silver-leaved maples, 

 bass-woods, white-woods, beeches, white oaks, catalpas, English elms, horse 

 chestnuts, Norway spruces, arbor vitass, balsam firs, hemlock spruces, and many 

 others. 



In 1878 the editor of the Rural New Yorker sent letters to a large number of 

 men in various parts of the northern States, asking each to give "a list of 25 

 trees and 25 shrubs that should be perfectly hardy in climates like that of New 

 York." This list should not include any evergreens. A large number of re- 

 sponses were received, and a summary made out. 



The tree on the greatest number of lists ranked as number one ; the next 

 ranked as number two, and so on through the list. I gave a list for Lansing, 

 as I was not familiar with the climate of New York. On account of the 

 severity of our climate, some trees which would otherwise be desirable had to 

 be discarded in Michigan. Seventeen trees of my list of twenty-five appeared 

 in the list of twenty-five for New York. Using only the common English 

 names the list stands as follows : American elm, cut-leaved weeping birch, 

 yellow wood, Soulange's magnolia, sugar maple, European larch, tulip tree, 

 weeping beech, imperial cut-leaved alder, horse chestnut, Norway maple, 

 cucumber tree, maiden-hair tree, Wier's cut-leaved silver maple, American 

 basswood, Kentucky coffee tree, and oak-leaved mountain ash. Of these 

 seventeen I have only seen six about the city of Lansing. 



Of evergreens for this neighborhood, I will name : Norway spruce, white 

 spruce, hemlock spruce, eastern spruce, white or Weymouth pine, Austrian 

 pine, red or Norway pine, Scotch pine, Swiss stone or Cembrian pine, red 

 cedar and American arbor vitas. 



Of evergreen shrubs I will name: Dwarf or mountain pine, Irish Juniper, 

 savin, Siberian arbor vitas, globe arbor vitas, and heath-like arbor vitas. 



For a small place, I will give a select list of 18 as an example, taken from 

 the former list: 1, cut-leaved weeping birch; 2, yellow wood; 3, imperial 

 cut-leaved alder; 4, Soulange's magnolia; 5, European larch; 6, weeping 

 beech; 7, cucumber tree; 8, maiden-hair tree; 9, Wier's cut-leaved maple; 

 10, Norway maple; 11, hemlock spruce; 12, oriental spruce; 13, Cembrian 



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