248 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Eed-floweeing Horse-chestnut. I hesitate, I acknowledge, in 

 choosiug the fifth tree. It is the last chance and there are so many one would 

 like to select. Magnolias should not be passed over; but then they are diflS- 

 cult to transplant. The weeping sophora and gingko are most curious and 

 interesting trees. What shall I do? At the risk of being unjust, I will name 

 the red-flowering horse-chestnut. It is, at least, a striking, hardy tree of 

 recognized value. A round mass of large, finely-tinted, light-green leaves is 

 set all over in May with veritable bouquets of rose-colored flowers. The com- 

 bination of foliage and bloom is unique in appearance, and loses none of its 

 beauty as we examine it more closely. The tree itself is medium-sized vigor- 

 ous-looking, though slow and regular in growth. It has always been choice 

 and rare ; but to be effective it must be grafted on a stem five to six feet high. 



THE NORWAY MAPLE. 



For some years the compiler of this Portfolio has watched the growth of 

 some specimens of the Norway maple in our State, and can heartily endorse 

 the following tribute by Prof. W. A. Buckhout in Gardeners' Monthly: 



Each year I become more and more in love with the Norway maples for 

 large grounds. Individual trees vary a good deal in their behavior, and in the 

 color assumed (a fact more or less noticeable in all trees), but the general 

 course with them is to hold the deep green of their leaves pretty late. Then 

 comes the faint tinting of tlie tips of the twigs, which spreads more and more 

 until the tree looks like a mountain top, glistening in the sunshine while every- 

 thins: about its base lies in shadow. More and more the gold encroaches on the 

 green, and at length, a golden ball, it stands out a marked object in any com- 

 pany. With favorable weather (which we are apt to have about this time), it 

 may hold its leaves in this condition for two weeks or more. When the heavy 

 frosts come we find tlie leaves dropping rapidly as the cool morning air is 

 heated by the ascending sun, and should a strong wind come they are caught 

 vip and scattered in long streaming lines over the turf, forming a very pretty 

 picture to the looker-on from a little distance. Thus the beauty of its autumn 

 foliage amply atones for a certain stiffness of outline and habit and the globu- 

 lar figure which this maple is so apt to assume. 



HISTORY OF THE WEEPING WILLOW. 



There is no doubt but that the weeping willow is a native of China or Japan. 

 Representations of it are frequent on all Chinese porcelain. The form under 

 culture is the female one and have all been propagated from one individual 

 tree. It is somewhat different from the male form, which is Sah'x Taponica. 

 In Japan it is known as '' Yanagi," as I learned from the Japanese commis- 

 sioners during the Centennial, and not *'Angaki," as stated by Thunberg. 

 How did it first get to Europe? Caspar Bauhin, who wrote a book about plants 

 in 1G71, refers to it as " Salix AraUca, with leaves like a clieno2Jodium," and 

 gives Kauwolf as the one who made him acquainted with it. Rauwolf was a 

 celebrated Dutch traveler. The Dutch were for a long time the only Europeans 

 allowed to trade with China. It is highly probable that the Dutch brought it 

 to Europe and with the intimate relations with Holland which sprang up with the 



