303 



A. inctum var. colchicum, sometimes as A. laetum. 0]io of the 

 trees I measured has a rounded head of branches 40 feet in 

 diameter .\nd a short trunk girthing 5 feet 2 inches at its 

 narrowest, Acer rufinerve, another Japanese maple, is a very 

 fine tree, probably 35 to 40 feet high, its trunk 2 feet 5 inches in 

 circumference. Its foliage often turns rich crimson beforo 

 falling. This maple is nearly allied to, and may be regarded 

 as the Japanese representative of, Acer i^ennsylvanicumy a 

 North American species of w hich also tbere is a tree at Tortworth 

 of about the same size as regards its trunk. The tree has a 

 peculiar attractiveness in the young wood being striped with con- 

 spicuous blue^white jagged lines. There is a good specimen of 

 the rare 4. argvUim, introduced from Japan by Maries in 1881. 

 Acer spicaUivi, introduced from Eastern N. America as long ago 

 as 1750, does not thrive well as a rule in this country, and it 13 

 now quite uncommon; but Lord Ducie has it 15 feet high. Very 

 few maples a.re equal in size of leaf to A. Vnlremi, and a tree at 

 Tortworth with a trunk nearlj^ 3 feet in circumference has many 

 leaves 12 to 14 inches wide. Acer Opalus is not a very rare maple, 

 but there is one of the best in the Kingdom at Tortworth. It has 

 a broad, deuise, spreading head of branches and a trunk 6 feet 

 8 inches in girth. 



Lord Ducie has been one of the few to appreciate the merits 



of the Indian horse-chestnut (Aesculus indica). There are severol 



trees thriving well. It is one of the finest of all hardy fine- 



foliaged trees and is valuable in flowering four or five weeks later 



than the coDiinon horse-chestnut. So far as foliage is concerned, 



however, no Aesculus equals A. turhinata, the Japanese species, 



which is also here in thriving condition. There are five or seven 



leaflets to each leaf, ond the largest of them are as much as 16 



inches lonff by 6 inches wide. The tree, however, is not free- 

 flow ■ ^ -^ 



ermg. 



Of liickories and ^valTl^lts tliere ore some interesting examples. 

 Carya alha, the slielHiark liickory, has a hole jjirthiiig 4 feet, and 

 is already showing the characteristic loose strips of bark, Carya 

 tomentosa and C^ sulcata are both rare, the latter extremely so, 

 but it has borne nuts at Tortworth. One of the most_ attractive 

 of the walnuts for its foliage is Juglaiu rupestris; it is often 

 a shrub rather than a tree, and here the plant — a bush 30 feet 

 in diameter — is broader than it is high. The leaflets of this 

 species are the smallest among walnuts. Juglans cincrea, 

 although introduced (like /. nigra) early in the iTth century, 

 is still a very rare tree with us, and is apparently less suited to 

 our climate than the black walnut, but at Tortworth there is a 

 healthy tree with a trunk 3 feet in girth. Allied to" the walnuts 

 is the genus Pterocarya. P. cavcnsica, is represented by a hand- 

 some and shapely tree, not so large as the famous tree at Clare- 

 mont, but with a trunk 5 feet 10 inches in girth. This is not a 

 common tree in gardens, but very much rarer are I rhoifoUa 

 and P. atenoptera. Both are in excellent condition he^e tlie 

 former 40 feet, the latter 35 feet high, the trunk of each being 

 3 ft. 3 inches in circumference. rn j-x • 



Of Tilia cuchlora, a handsome tree is approaching oU ft. m 



