Among these, a few of our own native species may be noted here 

 particularly. The first place belongs to the noble "big laurel" 

 magnolia (71/. (jrandiflora) , and the next to the w^ell-known red- 

 bay (Persea Carolinensis or Borhonia), which ought to be seen 

 all over the city, but is rarely cultivated. Its possibilities, 

 as a street tree, however, are well displayed at the corner of 

 Rutledge Avenue and Bull St., where two most beautiful trees 

 are growing, to show what the streets of Charleston might be 

 all through the winter months, if set out with red-bays. One 

 small tree has just been placed in the grounds, and others will 

 be added soon. A third is the Yaupon oi- Cassena holly, often 

 called "Christmas-berry" {Ilex vomitoria); and a fourth is the 

 laurel-cherry or "mock-orange" {Laurocerasus Caroliniana) ; these 

 are both familiar in the older gardens of the city, and are very 

 attractive plants, — the former with its deep-red berries and the 

 latter with its bright shining foliage; and it is much to be re- 

 gretted that they do not seem to have been planted of late to 

 anything like the extent that they were formerly, and that they 

 deserve to be. 



Of trees that have an economic interest, though not ever- 

 greens, a number of specimens of the silk-nmlberry have been set 

 out, alternating with palmettoes, along the south side of the build- 

 ing. These were obtained through the courtesy of Miss Henrietta 

 Kellcy, whose interest in silk culture is equal to that of Dr. Shep- 

 ard in tea production. The object sought is to familiarize the 

 people of this city, and the visitors who come to it, and especially 

 the children, with the methods and the possibilities of industries 

 in this region that as yet are appreciated only by a few. In these 

 and similar ways, the Charleston Museum, while not an ' ' experi- 

 ment station, ' ' aims to become an educator along lines of prac- 

 tical importance, and to make its grounds not only a place of 

 attractiveness but also a place of useful instruction. 



15 



