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1S3 ASIATIC CONIFKItS. 



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carried to as liigh a state as in England, more particularly in the Middle and Northern 

 States, from the length and severity of our winters ; yet by collecting together the 

 materials now at haiul, or which may be easily procured, much more may be accom- 

 plishod than is gonorally imagined in this way. If we pause fur a moment, and 

 consider which are the countries we can with most certainty draw our su[)ply from, I 

 think without much hesitation wo shall decide on many parts of Asia as likely to 

 give us many plants and trees suitable to our purpose. The extensive empire of 

 China furnishes many. The climate of that country approximates more closely to 

 our own than any other — the middle and northern parts to our Middle and Northern 

 States. The rivers about Pekin are as hard frozen in winter as our Hudson, and the 

 summers as bright and warm. The southern parts may in some degree be compared 

 to our Southern States. Now why should not plants from that country be perfectly 

 at home in this ? And we find they are. The Forsijihia viridissima, Spirea pruni- 

 folia Jlore plcno, Wcigcla rosea, Magnolia conspicua, with many other deciduous 

 trees and shrubs, do infinitely better here than in England — they grow more luxuri- 

 antly and thrifty, and bloom more profusely and fine. Beautiful as the English holly 

 is, and desirable as it may be to cultivate extensively in this, our climate is such that 

 its cultivation can never become general. Intense cold it does not like, and a brilliant 

 burning sun is destructive to its foliage, which nature designed for a more humid, 

 temperate climate. In the northern provinces of China are found some beautifid 

 hollies — Ilex carmcta, microcarpa, &c. Here are plants from the same regions as the 

 Forsythia, Weigela, &c., plants that bear as great a degree of cold, and as burning a 

 sun in their native country, as our Middle States can give them. Why, then, should 

 they not, like the plants I have already named, feel as much at home in this country 

 as there. China also gives us beautiful oaks — Quercus inversa, scleroj^lnjlla, &c.; 

 also, the beautiful Berberis Japonica, with many other charming evergreens, all of 

 w^hich are deserving of a trial here, as many if not all will adapt themselves to 

 our climate. The camellia, coming to us from more southern provinces of that 

 empire, is not hardy. Let me, however, assure the reader it will stand many degrees 

 more frost than many cultivators suppose. In England it is more hardy than the 

 English laurel. I know in that country many magnificent specimens that have braved 

 many winters — winters that have shook and injured the English laurel, aud destroyed 

 the laurustinus, yet failed to injure or destroy a branch or leaf of the camellia. They 

 are in England perfectly hardy. Olea fragrans, Ligu^strum lucidum, Euonymiis 

 Japonica, Photinia serrulata, &c., are Chinese evergreens which may be considered 

 hardy in the latitude whence I write. Indeed, about New York many of them are 

 nearly or quite so. Should not this make us think well of their kindred which are 

 coming after. 



Beautiful and lovely as these broad-leaved evergreens are, the conifers of these 

 countries are more invaluable to the gardens and scenery of this, as they find them- 

 selves here perfectly at home. I said, " the size of foliage is no criterion by which to 

 judge the degrees o*" beat or cold which a plant will bear," yet it is a well known fact ^ 

 that all or nearly all the evergreen trees of oold regions are small-leaved, and included 



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