ORNAMENTAL TREES. 33 



the beautiful hemlock ( Tsuga Japonica) ; several spruces and 

 pines, two of which (P. parvijiora and P. Koriensisi) are 

 nearly related to our white pine : another (P. densifiura) is 

 occasionally met with in cultivation, where it is wrongly 

 called P. Massoniana^ tlie name belonging to a species from 

 Southern China, which, although probably hardy in our 

 Southern States, could not be expected to thrive here in New 

 England. Then there are the retinosporas, closely allied to 

 our white cedar, of which there is an endless variety, many 

 being quite dwarf, and possessing great beauty of foliage and 

 form ; and the juniper (J. Sinensis)^ which has a compact 

 habit, and is of a fine blue-green color. Of Japanese shrubs 

 which are likely to become common in our gardens as they 

 are better known, are Azalia mollis^ perhaps the most beauti- 

 ful of all flowering shi'ubs; the single kerria; the rhodo- 

 typus ; several spirseas ; the plums ; several species of rose ; 

 and, perhaps most desirable of all, the Viburnum plicatum., 

 with flowers which resemble, but far surpass, the old-fash- 

 ioned snowball. Among the trees there is the chestnut too, 

 which seems to be hardly more than a variety of the Old- 

 World species; the walnut (Jufflas Sieholdii)^ nearly related 

 to our butternut ; and many others. From Mantchuria has 

 come a walnut bearing its fruit in clusters more than a foot 

 in length; a maple with deliciously fragrant blossoms; plums; 

 an elder; an elm which hardly has a superior in beauty 

 among exotic trees ; the Cladrastis Amurensis, nearly related 

 to the yellow-wood of the Kentucky forests; several bar- 

 berries; and another very desirable tree, the Phellodendron 

 Amurense^ which belongs to the family of sumachs, and is 

 now fairly tested in the New-England climate. From North- 

 ern China we have a birch ; a maple ; the flowering apples ; a 

 hawthorn ; the white-barked pine (P. Bungeana)^ the com- 

 mon coniferous tree of that region ; Prunus Mume ; Cedrella 

 Sinensis, a near relative of the ailanthus, with fragrant yel- 

 low blossoms, and a wood valuable for cabinet-work; the 

 hawthorn-leaved raspberry; the exorchorda, a little-known 

 but very beautiful plant ; the idesia, a tree interesting to 

 botanists as being the only representative of its family (tlie 

 Baxinece) that we may hope to cultivate successfully, and 

 which is already in cultivation in Massachusetts, where it 

 promises well. There are still other trees from the same 



