November 28. 1914 



HORTICULTURE 



757 



ARNOLD ARBORETUM BULLETIN 

 OF POPULAR INFORMA- 

 TION. NO. 63. 



In spite of the severity of the past 

 winter and the injury which it caused, 

 and of the drou.^ht of September and 

 October which has been ot exceptional 

 lensth. the Arboretum on the whole 

 does not look bad, and for lovers of 

 plants there Is much of interest to 

 be seen here this year in the early 

 weeks of November. The conifers, with 

 few exceptions are in good condition, al- 

 though the leading shoots of a few spe- 

 cies have been destroyed by a borer, the 

 White Pine Weevil [pissodrs strobi). 

 The species which are injured by this 

 pest nearly every year in the Arbor- 

 etum are the Himalayan White Pine 

 {Pinus erccJsa) , the White Pine of 

 western China (Pinus Ar7nandi), the 

 Oriental Spruce (Pirea nricntnlis) , 

 and the Balkan Spruce (Picea omor- 

 ika). The Balkan Spruce is the last 

 European tree brought into cultiva- 

 tion; it is a beautiful, fast-growing 

 and perfectly hardy tree which on the 

 mountains ot southwestern Europe 

 sometimes grows to a large size and is 

 highly valued as a timber tree. In 

 this country, or at least in the Arbore- 

 tum, it does not promise to become 

 valuable as an ornamental tree unless 

 the ravages of the White Pine Weevil 

 can be stopped. There is no indica- 

 tion yet that many of the new Chinese 

 conifers, especially the Pines and 

 Spruces, will not flourish in this cli- 

 mate. The Larches are perhaps less 

 promising, and the Firs, although 

 some of them may prove hardy, grow 

 badly in the nursery and do not give 

 promise of much value here. 



A few ot the conifers in the Pinetum 

 which are particularly interesting just 

 now are the Colorado White Fir {Abies 

 roncolor), the Japanese Abies brachy- 

 phtiUa and .1. homolepis, the Carolina 

 Hemlock (Tsuria caroHniana) , and 

 three Japanese Pines, Pinus parviflora, 

 P. Thunbe>f)ii. and P. densiflora. There 

 are good plants of a dwarf form of 

 the last in the collection of dwarf 

 conifers to which attention is called. 

 This dwarf is a common plant in Ja- 

 panese gardens and should bo better 

 known in this country, for it is one 

 of the handsomest of all dwarf coni- 

 fers among which are many decora- 

 tive garden plants. Among other coni- 

 fers which should be studied at this 

 time are Engelmann's Spruce (Picea 

 Engelmannii) , the Colorado form of 

 the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga mucro- 

 nata), the Siberian Spruce (.Picea 

 obovata), the western White Pine 

 (Pinus monticola) , the different forms 

 ot the Black Pine of Europe (Pinus 

 nigra, laricio, etc.), and some of the 

 eastern North American Pines, notably 

 Pinus rcsinosa, P. Viriiiniana. and P. 

 Banksiann. 



The few broad-leaved evergreens 

 which can be grown successfully in 

 this climate are in good condition, 

 and Laurels (Kalmia) and all Rhodo- 

 dendrons now promise abundant flow- 

 ers for next year. The evergreen 

 Hollies are beautiful now. Jh'x opaca 

 is covered with its large red berries 

 and is interesting because it is the 

 only broad-leaved evergreen tree which 

 is hardy in the Arboretum. .Although 

 less beautiful than the European Holly 

 with its lustrous leaves, it should be 

 more often seen in eastern American 

 collections in which north of Wash- 

 ington the European tree is not hardy. 



The native Inkberry (Ilex glabra) is 

 one of the most valuable of the ever- 

 green shrubs which can be grown in 

 this climate. It is a round-topped 

 plant, occasionally five or six feet tall, 

 and is very common in the neighbor- 

 hood of the coast from New England 

 to Texas. As an ornamental plant it is 

 chiefly valuable for its small shining 

 leaves which nearly completely hide 

 the small black fruits which remain 

 on the branches during the winter. 

 Only one other Holly with evergreen 

 leaves has proved hardy in the Arbore- 

 tum. This is the Japanese Ilex crenata 

 which is a taller growing and narrower 

 plant than Ilex glabra, with darker 

 green leaves and larger black fruits. 



Several shrubs are more beautiful 

 now than at any other season of the 

 year, especially those with showy 

 fruits which retain their leaves late 

 into the autumn with little or no 

 change of color. Among such plants 

 not one perhaps is more beautiful than 

 the common European Privet (Ligu- 

 strum vulgare) which has been culti- 

 vated for centuries and has become 

 naturalized in the eastern "United 

 States. This plant bears at the ends 

 of the branches large clusters of shin- 

 ing black berries which now make a 

 fine contrast with the dark green 

 leaves. The European Privets are 

 planted with a number of Asiatic de- 

 ciduous-leaved species, to all of which 

 they are superior as decorative plants 

 at this season of the year. 



There are few more beautiful shrubs 

 in the Arboretum at this time than the 

 variety (var. podorarpri) of the east- 

 ern Asiatic Lnnircra Maackii which 

 was discovered by Wilson in western 

 China, for its leaves are still green and 

 perfectly fresh, and its branches are 

 covered with bright red fruits. This 

 is a large, vigorous, fast-growing, and 

 perfectly hardy shrub with wide- 

 spreading branches and requires a good 

 deal of space in which to show its real 

 beauty. From the northern Lonicera 

 Maackii, a native of the Amoor region, 

 the leaves have mostly fallen, but the 

 erect growing branches are covered 

 with scarlet fruits. The flowers of the 

 northern plant are pure white and 

 larger than those of any other Bush 

 Honeysuckle. 



Photinia is a genus of the Rose Fam- 

 ily related to the Apples, with a few 

 species of small Asiatic trees. Two 

 of these plants. Photinia villosa and 

 its variety lai'ris. thrive In the Arbp- 

 retum and are covered with their 

 small red fruits. These little trees 

 succeed perfectly in this climate: their 

 small white flowers are freely produced 

 in spring in many-flowered clusters, 

 and their 'fruit remains a long time 

 on the branches, especially that ot the 

 variety, from which it sometimes doe.« 

 rot entirely disappear until the end 

 of winter. This plant has been large- 

 ly Planted in the Boston parks. 



The trees and shrubs of Japan us\i- 

 ally retain their leaves later than tlic 

 related .American siiecies, and as the 

 leaves of many Japanese plants take 

 on brilliant colors in the autumn they 

 arc valuable for prolonging the beauty 

 of the autumn garden. It is interest- 

 ing to find that this late changing of 

 fo'or is common also among many of 

 the plants of western China. This is 

 particularly noticeable in the new 

 snecies of Cntoneaster discovered by 

 Wilson. The leaves of nearly all these 

 rlants are still perfectly green, and 

 probably by the middle of November 



they will be bright scarlet, or in some 

 species scarlet and orange. These 

 plants have late ripening, red or black 

 fruits which greatly add to their 

 beauty, and aiuong them are certainly 

 some of the most valuable shrubs of 

 recent introduction, and they deserve 

 the attention of all lovers of hardy 

 plants, especially Cotoneastcr divari- 

 cata, C. foveolata and C. Dielsiana. the- 

 leaves of which (urn brilliant colors, 

 and the different forms of C. horizon- 

 talis. low shrubs with wide-spreading 

 nearly prostrate branches. These have 

 small lustrous leaves which in this 

 climate do not fall before Christmas, 

 and small red berries. No shrubs are 

 better suited for the decoration of the 

 rock garden. 



Among the American Hawthorns 

 which show their greatest beauty in 

 November may be mentioned Cratae- 

 gus rordata. C. nitida and V. per- 

 sistens The first of these plants, the 

 so-called Washington Thorn, is a nar- 

 row slender tree, which sometimes 

 attains the height of twenty or thirty 

 feet The flowers are small, creamy 

 white, and do not open here until near- 

 ly the middle of June, and the small,. 

 scarlet, shining fruits, which ripen- 

 late in October, remain on the trees 

 without much change of color until 

 the spring. As the fruit begins to- 

 show its bright color the small tri- 

 angular leaves turn to shades of or- 

 ange and scarlet. Crataegus nitida Is 

 a native of the bottom-lands of the 

 Mississippi opposite the city of St. 

 Louis; it is a large tree with slightly 

 spreading pendulous branches forming 

 a large, open, round-topped head. The 

 leaves are narrow, long-pointed and 

 very lustrous; the flowers are pure' 

 white, of medium size, and produced In 

 numerous clusters which cover the up- 

 per side of the branches. The scarlet 

 drooping fruit, which is also of medi- 

 um size, ripens late just as the leaves 

 turn orange and scarlet. This is cue 

 of the handsomest of the American 

 Hawthorns and has grown to a large' 

 size in the Arboretum. Crategus per- 

 sistcns retains its leaves, which are 

 now as green as they were in midsum- 

 mer, after those of all other Haw- 

 thorns have fallen, and the crimson 

 fruit remains on the branches until 

 spring, making this tree in winter the 

 most consnicuouB of the deciduous- 

 leaved plants harf'y in New England. 

 It resembles in the shape and in gen- 

 eral appearance of the leaves some of 

 the Cockspur Thorns of eastern North 

 America. Raised many years ago at 

 the Arboretum from seeds received 

 from the Pnris Museum, its native 

 covmtry is still unknown. The largest 

 plant of this tree in the country and 

 the type ot the species can be seen 

 among several large Hawthorns at the 

 foot ot the bank on the pathway near 

 the Forest Hills entrance to the Ar- 

 boretum, where it is now the only 

 plant with perfectly green leaves. 



The only shrul) now in flower in the 

 .\rbnretum is the Witch Hazel of the 

 northern states (Hamamclis rirghiira) 

 which is covered with its yellow flow- 

 ers. 



Leonard Sutton of the firm of Sut- 

 ton & Sons. Heading. Kng.. has been 

 elected Mayor of the Borough of Read- 

 ing. Mr. Sutton visited the United 

 States four years ago on an inspection 

 of the State Agricultural Colleges on 

 behalf of the Reading University Col- 

 lege. 



