WHAT TO PLANT, AND HOW TO PLANT. 



with the bole standing on a mound, as well as without ; what disappointments re- 

 sulted ; and how I have now a forest of all descriptions, of glorious variety ; each in 

 its season dispensing its beauties of leaf, fragrance, flower, or fruit. But this would 

 weary the reader, and I will endeavor to be a little piactical rather than egotistical, in 

 imitation of the very good example set me by the Editor of the Horticulturist, and 

 his valued correspondents. 



First, then, you want shade. If so, plant the Norway Maple ; that will give you 

 in a few years, in a good soil, a fine round-headed tree, with a canopy of leaves that 

 defies the sun's penetration, and, in early spring, a glorious disj^lay of flowers equal 

 to the Laburnum, and to me more interesting. Here is a shade tree of the first merit 

 bearing flowers ; it will satisfy the most fastidious. 



When the Tulip tree first bloomed in England, the common people heard that there 

 was an enormous American tree covered with Tidij^s / and they opened their eyes in 

 wonderment at the information. It was just after the Tulip mania in Holland and 

 elsewhere. The excitement was great, and the Lirioderidron tulipifera was all the 

 fashion. There can scarcely be a handsomer tree, and yet it is not so fi-equently 

 planted as it deserves to be. It is a good shade tree, but it attains a large size ; too 

 large for very small grounds. It is also difficult to remove, having a tap root. Pro- 

 cure it, not from the woods, whence it almost always fails ; but from a conscientious 

 nurseryman, whom you can believe when he tells you he has moved it at least once 

 himself. 



All the Beeches are desirable, and they have no enemies ; their picturesque roots 

 are worthy of study from all admirers of nature. There is now a Weeping Beech, of 

 great beauty. But if you want the most beautiful weeper, (next to the Willow,) get 

 the Sophora pendula, which is now coming a little into notice. Apropos of the Wil- 

 low, (how one rambles when he gets among beautiful trees !) if it had been told us 

 before we ever saw a Weeping Willow, that there was a certain large tree that fell in 

 graceful folds of weeping tresses, hke a lady's hair, how far would one not have gone 

 to see it ! And, while we are on the subject, let it be remembered that no Weeping 

 Willow tree ever thrived on hard, stubborn ground, that had never been stirred. The 

 best place for it is in deeply worked earth, near to water or a gutter ; no better spot 

 can be found than where an artificial bank has been thrown up, say where you have 

 moved your earth to fill a hollow or raise a knoll. 



For myself, I am very fond of combining not only beauty of form, and leaf, and 

 flower; but I like to have about me trees which produce something for the children 

 and grand-children to crack or to eat. I, therefore, early in my experiments, planted 

 the true Shellbark, the AValnut, the Chestnut, the Butternut, and the Madeira Nut or 

 English Walnut. What more beautiful shade trees can be invented or advertised ? 

 None. Then for products of another kind : all the Crab Apples have great beauty ; 

 their flowers are abundant and odorous in the highest degree, and their fruit is inval- 

 uable for preserves. The Flowering Apple is really one of the most gorgeous and 

 superb products of nature's laboratory, and may be grafted on the commonest Apple 

 tree ; and vet how very rarely do we see it. This and the Flowering Cherry, more 



