ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. NO. II. 



high, and thirty-five inches in circumference. This, however, is fast going into 

 decay. Some specimens of the Mahaleb Cherry ( Cerasus MahaleU) are the finest 

 probably in the country — perhaps anywhere ; for they certainly do not grow as 

 large in their own native German woods, where it forms the St. Lucy wood of 

 the French cabinet makers, as it does here. One specimen is forty feet high, and 

 three feet in circumference, — rather a strong stock, one would think, to produce 

 the so-called "dwarf Cherries" of our nurseries. 



Some of the finest Ailanthus trees (J ilantus glandulosd) are here. One measures 

 sixty feet high by seven in circumference. The female tree is very ornamental in 

 fruit, and quite free from the disagreeable odor of the male, and in situations where 

 its liability to throw up suckers is not objectionable, is perhaps one of the most 

 ornamental trees we have. A specimen of the Copper Beech (^Fagus sylvatica 

 cupreci) is a pretty picture, clothed with branches to the ground, a perfect pyramid, 

 and fifty feet high by thirty-six inches in circumference. Though it is not so 

 handsome a variety as the "blood-leaved," it is well worthy of general culture. 

 Adjoining this is a fine specimen of the Yellow Wood (^Virgilia lutea — or perhaps 

 more properly Gladrastis tinctorid) with several stems, which together at the base 

 measure four feet round, and is fifty feet high. It is too rare a tree for one of such 

 beauty, both of foliage and flower; but the seeds are not easy of access to our 

 niu'serymen, which is a fair excuse for its scarcity in their collections. A "China 

 tree" (Kolreuteria panicxdafa) is not near so fine as I have seen them elsewhere; 

 but I can never look on its fine large panicles of golden yellow flowers, or the rich 

 crimson and yellowed leaves in the fall, without a feeling of regret that a tree so 

 accommodating to various soils and situations should be so seldom seen. A Sorrel 

 tree {Lyonia arhorea) is, I think, very remarkable for its size; it is sixty feet high, 

 and four feet in circumference. A pretty tall " Shrub," and no disgrace to its specific 

 name. A congener, growing along side of it — Andromeda pulverulenta, next to the 

 Kalmia, I would place as the most ornamental Shnib we have, but which to our 

 disgrace Europeans alone seem to know how to do it justice. In the line of the 

 Magnolias, the 31. auricidata stands chief, seventy feet high, and five and a half in 

 circumference. There are also some fair sized large leaved specimens (^M. Macro- 

 pliylki), forming a very dense and most agreeable shade. The best Cucumber tree (3/. 

 acuminata^ is eighty feet high, and seven feet in circumference. A specimen of J/. 

 soulangeana, a hybrid kind, has every year hundreds of expanded flowers. Another 

 very rare tree is Sophoi-a Jajionica, which, though generally supposed to be rather 

 tender, has managed to live here to such advantage as to reach the height of between 

 forty and fifty feet, with a fine spreading head. A very pretty grafted specimen of 

 (Escidus rubicunda, every year presents a strong claim to the honor of being the 

 finest cultivated Horse Chestnut by the large clusters of brick-red flowers it unfolds. 

 Amongst the Oaks there is a fine variety to interest. A Qncrcus lyrata is sixty-two 

 feet high, and six feet in circumference. In very favorable seasons it ripens its 

 seeds even so -far north as this, though in "Meehan's Handbook," by a slight en-or 

 then known to the wi'iter, it is said never to do so here. The Over-cup White 

 (^Qucrcus macrocaqKi') measures sixty-three feet high, and six feet in circum 



