• NATIVE SHRUBBERY IN ORNAMENTATION. 1 89 



good. Judge Mover made out a list of evergreens of European 

 origin that are not very successful with us, but we have with us the 

 white pine, which is a native and which is one of the forest trees 

 we can plant upon our prairies. Another tree we can plant out in 

 the open exposure, and a neighbor to the spruce, is the Austrian 

 pine, which perhaps is a neglected tree, but which is one of the most 

 valuable trees we can plant. I believe it is superior to the pon- 

 derosa pine, which is its very close relative. The spirea Van 

 Houtii is a beautiful shrub, and it certainly is the superior of any- 

 thing in the world. The Norway maple has had slurs cast upon 

 it by this society. I think it has advantages in certain soils. On 

 sandy soils, with gravel subsoils, I do not know of any of our na- 

 tive trees that are more truly at home than the Norway maple, and 

 it endures such situations with peculiar health and contentment. I 

 think it is the peer when in good health and vigor and power of 

 any of our native maples. We have some in our city that are 

 twenty-five years old. but especially in the latter part of the season, 

 when other trees have lost all their foliage, this maple holds its 

 foliage two weeks longer in its contest with other trees about it. 

 The age of the trees and the cutting back we have often discussed. 

 It is not so many years ago, when I was a younger man, I could 

 tell you with confidence that a three-year-old tree was just the 

 tree to plant and certain methods of planting were the only meth- 

 ods, but I find there is a large variation in these things, that a large 

 tree will grow if carefully handled and will frequently outgrow and 

 outfruit a younger tree planted with great care; and I believe, 

 with good care, they will usually bear fruit earlier than a two-year- 

 old tree. There is a great deal in proper handling. The summary 

 of all I have to say is, let us be impartial in all of our views of these 

 matters. 



Mr. F. H. Nutter: There is another value that may be at- 

 tached to our native trees and shrubs that has not been touched 

 upon. These imported shrubs and trees we value so highly are 

 not native forms where they originate. They are perhaps sports 

 which have been kept in preservation. So another value of our 

 shrubs is as a foundation to build up a system of improved native 

 shrubs. We know by observation that many of these shrubs have 

 some different specific beauty, different from some others of the 

 same variety about it, and it seems to me by careful selection many 

 native shrubs may be developed equal to foreign varieties. 



