of Rural Art and Taste. 



235 



windows or our heads ; for there is a species 

 of curculio, called in Paris a gamin^ whose 

 great delight is to throw sticks and stones at 

 everything that pleases his fancy or his palate. 

 We must therefore exclude from the usual 

 streets our hickory, our walnut, our horse and 

 native chestnuts, the honey locusts (one of the 

 most graceful of trees), and of course the apple, 

 the pearj the paw-paw, and all fruit-producing 

 trees. Then, again, we are restricted to what 

 will flourish in cities and towns ; evergreens 

 will not succeed in smoky regions. 



Then, again, consider the conditions which 

 we are subjected to. Our streets are narrow, 

 often only thirty feet wide. The space is in- 

 sufficient for flourishing trees, and no sickly 

 tree or plant is worth preserving. As well 

 admire a sick monkey or a dying cat as a 

 plant struggling for life between a curb stone 

 on one side, sand, brick and rubbish on the 

 other, and the air and rain excluded from all ; 

 and yet, strange to say, we do sometimes see 

 that nature struggles against such unnatural 

 obstacles, and gives us something to like, if 

 not to admire, even though the planter may 

 have failed to dig deep enough, or to supply 

 pabulum for the root. The one tree which re- 

 sists this confinement best is undoubtedly the 

 silver maple ; and if it were treated as I have 

 suggested, and cared for in its rapid progress, 

 it would be the tree for our purpose. As a 

 single specimen on a large lawn, it assumes 

 most of the characteristics we desire, if it has 

 no near neighbor. It wants attention every 

 week during the growing season if we expect 

 good results. It throws up the pavement with 

 its tuft of superficial young roots. The bricks 

 must be removed, and the tuft cut away with 

 an adze or some suitable implement. Properly 

 done, this does not injure the growth materi- 

 ally, the large roots being sufficient, and hav- 

 ing penetrated the soil. Therefore, under the 

 conditions named, I do not hesitate to recom- 

 mend it as one of the three desirable street 

 adornments where a better cannot be expected 

 to grow. But if it is left for years without 

 trimming, and thus is allowed to form tall and 

 large limbs that must be cut away, mutilation 

 in its worst form will result. 



The sugar maple, however, should be pre- 

 ferred ; and this or the red bud should be 

 another of the three. The beautiful round- 

 headed Norway maple casts too dense a shade 

 for the street. 



The magnolias must not be forgotten ; the 

 two should be the cordata and macrophylla, 

 the first producing yellow flowers twice in the 

 season. 



I sometimes think I would rather inherit 

 Mr. Magnol's reputation for the name of mag- 

 nolia, so graceful and tripping, than that of 

 Bonaparte ; and then, how his family in- 

 creases ! He never knew he would have heirs 

 called kSoidangea)ia, etc. 



The yellow wood, VirgUia luteu, affords a 

 good variety also, when we consider what we 

 shall select as our second choice. The decidu- 

 ous cypress becomes in time a beautiful and 

 valuable street tree, while the Chinese cypress, 

 Giyptostrobus sitiensis, lately introduced, is 

 the most perfect of all pyramidal trees. We 

 must also, by no means, forget the lindens. 



And for the third, some of the oaks are to 

 be chosen, while the Kentucky coff'ee tree, 

 Gymnocladits Canadensis, has many valuable 

 characteristics, and should be more frequently 

 planted. And the varieties of the ash are ad- 

 mired by many very justly. The native beech, 

 too, has advocates ; while the true copper 

 beech, when to be procured, would form a 

 superb and unexceptionable ornament every- 

 where, especially in an avenue or on the 

 street. The fern-leaved beech, Fagus hetern- 

 pkylla, with conical form, well-defined outline, 

 and deeply cut, close foliage, is superb and 

 rare. The Salisburia, or ginko tree, should 

 be introduced into our public plantings and 

 even streets. 



Objection is fairly made to the use, in this 

 region, of the elm, so much admired in East- 

 ern towns, because it is infested with worms ; 

 but the variety generally known as slippery 

 elm, Ultnus fulca, has no enemies, is equally 

 graceful and valuable, and should be culti- 

 vated extensively. 



Some varieties of the ash family make good 

 street trees, but after all we are often nar- 

 rowed down to what we can get. The Acer 



