>5>- 



LOMBARDY POPLARS, ETC. 



this is wrong, and American journals on horticulture should lend encouragement 

 in the direction it is most needed. 



Nature has furnished us with the most complete patterns for plantinj^, and asso- 

 ciated her particular varieties of trees, rocks, water, and lawn, most desirable for 

 us, and wherever we trespass upon this rule, we lose sight of the great object for 

 which landscape gardening was instituted, namely : to re-establish by art, genius, 

 &c., as though planted by the hand of nature, what have become to us so lovely 

 in their original form and comiiosition. It is simi)ly to re-establish, in some 

 cherished spots, this state of things, where the unrelenting axe of the woodman 

 has destroyed the last remnant of nature's superior i)laMtiug. 



According to some this tree is too stiff ; so it is. AVe want the more graceful 

 elms, sublime tulips, and majestic oaks, and regret tliat men with taste would 

 sui)ersede these, in any way, with thin, tall, gaudy, dandy-like L. poplars. They 

 won't do for Americans. 



If such a thing as straight lines are essential in landscape gardening, why can- 

 not such be effected by our red cedars, junipers, arbor vittcs, &c., of our own 

 country, which are certainly more effective, graceful, and beautiful, than the L. 

 po]ilar ? 



There is the Ailanthus, worst of all. It proved a deceiver to those who first 

 brought it from its native shores in Asia (they took it for an improved sumac), 

 and when these speculators found out their error,* they contrived to retrieve their 

 loss by presenting it to the public as an oriental ornamental tree, calling it Tree 

 of Taradise, &c. But it has equally cheated those who were, by these high-sound- 

 ing names and false graces, misled to plant it for ornament, in place of our own 

 trees, far superior in beauty, and I doubt whether any spot was ever rendered 

 more celestial by planting it with this misnamed " Tree of Heaven." 



We do not want this Asiatic trash in America ; let us devote our attention 

 to those we have, and something will be accomplished of real stability ; and, 

 besides the objectionable qualities, its suekering propensities are fully equal 

 to the Paper Mulberry (a cousin from the same country), and then, when the 

 season of blooming roses is at hand, and lilies render the air redolent with sweet 

 perfume, how contrast the exhaling fumes of the Ailanthus ! if not actually 

 unwholesome, it is certainly very obnoxious. 



It is said that these trees grow fast, and this quality is sometimes urged in their 

 behalf, as an inducement to plant them. It is often the case, too fast things have 

 a bad end. 



No fair lady is prized or appreciated more than the one who is won after an 

 anxious and attentive course of courtship ; and so in this case. Our native trees 

 may not grow so readily nor so ra])iilly as these exotic weeds ; they may require 

 a little extra attention — courting, if you like — but, if once gained, if once estab- 

 lished, would not by me be exchanged for the whole catalogue of these foreign 

 trees that have been of late crowded upon us. 



Let us cultivate our own — these are at home with us — and note to what degree 

 of perfection we can attain, and not until this great catalogue is exhausted, let us 

 call in foreigners for our ornamental planting. 



* It proved indeed a Tartar. 



