DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



51 



is the Yellow Locust, which, when full grown, 

 forms a tall trunk with a rather erect and narrow 

 head, and bears seeds but sparingly. The second 

 is the Seed Locust, which forms a much larger 

 tree, with a lofty but spreadins; head, and many 

 diverging branches. The bark is rather darker 

 coloured, and the shoots at the ends of the branches 

 arc smaller, and more numerous. This kind pro- 

 duces its seeds in such abundance that the branches 

 are thickly hung with pods almost every autumn. 



Asa timber tree, the Seed Locust is not in this 

 neighborhood considered quite so valuable as the 

 Yellow Locust. But as an ornamental tree we con- 

 sider it in every respect far superior. Indeed, 

 when the Locust tree is planted for ornament, this 

 is the only one that is worthy of attention. 



The common Yellow Locust, beautiful as it is 

 in its varying, lively green foliage, when young, 

 no sooner becomes large, than it becomes a meagre 

 and half-starved looking tree. Its head is full of 

 half-dead branches, and is entirely wanting in dig- 

 nity and breadth — while it has also lost the light- 

 ness and airiness which distinguished it when 

 yoimg. Extremely liable to the attacks of the locust- 

 borer, its branches, perforated by this insect, are 

 broken and lie strewn about the ground after every 

 storm. 



The Seed Locust, on the other hand, is as beautiful 

 as the other when young, goes on improving in ap- 

 pearance as it grows old. Its large and broad head 

 of foliage is at once delicate in its portions, and 

 massive in itSAvhole. But little liable to be attack- 

 ed by the borer, it is very rarely deformed by dead 

 and unsightly limbs- 



We should suppose the Seed Locust to be a tree of 

 double the longevity of the other. A couple of years 

 ago, we saw, while visting on the Hudson at 

 Clermont, the venerable seat of Chancellor Liv- 

 ingston, an avenue of Locusts of this sort, of great 

 size and beauty. The late Hon. Edward P. Liv- 

 ingston then pointed out to us a Locust tree, of this 

 kind, near the front of his mansion, which is the 

 largest and oldest Locust tree we remember to have 

 seen. Its trunk measures in circumference about 

 twelve feet, and it has a corresponding head. It 

 was a large tree in the Revolution, and we were 

 informed still bears bullets received at that time in 

 a skirmish which then took place in its vicinity, j; 



The Locust tree is a great deal planted for orna- 

 mental purposes on the Hudson, and without any 

 regard to the fact that there are two distinct sorts. 

 The Yellow Locust, being most esteemed for tim- 

 ber, is by far the most commonly seen. The 

 Seed Locust is chiefly abundant on the country 

 seats in the upper part of Dutchess County, N. Y. 

 We do not remember ever to have seen it in New 

 England, where the other sort is common, though 

 it may have escaped our notice. It is unquestion- 

 ably the only sort deserving the attention of the 

 Landscape Gardener. Its marked habit, and the 

 fact that it always reproduces itself from the seed, 

 have led us to think, of late, that it is really a dis- 

 tinct species. 



A great merit of the Locust, for pleasure grounds, 

 is this : — however large the trees, or however 

 thickly they may stand, the grass beneath always 

 thrives under thembetter than under any other tree- 



This is partly owing to the lightness and thinness 

 of their delicate foliage, and partly to the fact that 

 the foliage being small does not blow away but 

 lodges in the grass and decays there, thus alfording 

 nourishment to the roots of the grass. 



Standard Roses. — Much as I admire those 

 beautiful things, — standard or tree roses, I am 

 afraid they will never become really established in 

 our gardens, or do us much good in the long run. 

 I have had in my flower garden, and on my lawn, 

 about fifty specimens. They were, all but ten, 

 imported plants, got out by a neighbour of mine, 

 at different times within five years. Little by lit- 

 tle, I find they have all died ofl". At first they 

 thrived and bloomed very well. Afterwards they 

 were gradually affected by the winters, and one 

 after another I lost them. Then again, I fancy 

 that our summers are too hot for the tall naked 

 stems of high standards. They seem to get dry and 

 shrivelled, and thereby they affect the growth anil 

 health of the top. I am all the more convinced of 

 this since I have seen some specimens grown by a 

 neighbor. He covers the stem with moss, bound 

 around them. This he leaves on all the year. It 

 undeniably gives more vigor and health to the 

 head — but it also gives the whole tree-rose so un- 

 sightly — bandaged — a look that I cannot endure it 

 in a neat place. On the whole, therefore, I shall 

 feel obliged to return to the old, and, in the main, 

 most satisfactory mode of growing roses — i.e. on 

 their own roots. Farther south, say at Baltimore, 

 or Cincinnatti, where the weather is not so cold in 

 winter, no doubt standard roses will do better.—^ 

 Jin Amateur, Boston. 



Munificent Patrons of Horticulture. — 

 The liberality of the citizens of Boston is widely 

 known, but we desire to express our hearty admi- 

 ration, at this earliest opportunity, of the spirit 

 which prompted the two handsome donations re- 

 ceived this year by the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, for the promotion of the interests of Hor- 

 ticulture. We refer to the donation of §1000 made 

 in January by the Hon. Samuel Appleton, and 

 another of the same amount in February by John 

 A. Lowell, Esq. Both these gentlemen are resi- 

 dents of Boston, and both have observed for many 

 years the increasing and wide spread usefulness of 

 the Society, in question. Their approval of its 

 course, and their interest in its further efibrts, 

 they have thus signified in a manner that at once 

 reflects the greatest honor on the Society, and cre- 

 dit upon themselves. 



The Society has securely invested these donations, 

 and the annual interest of each sum is to be applied 

 in the form of medals, bearing the title of the Ap- 

 pleton Medals, and the Lowell Medals. 



The Beauty of Laurel Hill, in June. — 

 Nothing can well surppss the beauty of Laurel 

 Hill (The Philadelphia Cemetery) at this moment. 

 You know its charming site on the banks of the 

 Schuylkill, — and its original charms, as it was an 

 old and fine gentleman's seat before it came into 

 the hands of the Cemetery company. The love of 

 the Philadelpliians for flowers is also well known. 



