194 Dr. Wallace on 
shaped, swollen in the middle, containing a single seed, which is 
hard and lenticular. In early autumn the colour of the seed-pods 
becomes a bright-red, and they remain hanging a little after the 
leaves have fallen. 
Throughout Middle and Southern Europe generally, and in 
England in favourable warm seasons, this tree flowers and seeds 
freely. The seeds sprout and grow readily in England, they 
should be gathered in November, dried, and planted in March, 
April, or May, broadcast or in rows, covered lightly with about 
an inch of soil, and they will appear in from three to six weeks ac- 
cording to the season: with the exception of the maple there are 
hardly any shrubs or trees whose seeds germinate so rapidly. On 
June 23rd, 1865, some seeds were sown under glass ; on July 15th, 
twenty-two days afterwards, they were up, and- by the end of 
October made little trees, about nine inches in length, with fair 
roots. Like the Sumac it throws up numerous suckers from its 
roots, so that in this way and by means of the seeds it is easily 
propagated. There is also a third way less productive, for if the 
roots of a tree be cut in pieces like a potatoe, they will, under 
favourable circumstances, throw up shoots and in time form 
vigorous trees. In planting out or moving, all the severed roots 
should be collected, cut up, and replanted near the surface in a 
warm spot. ‘The reproduction, therefore, of this tree is very easy 
and simple. Its duration of life averages 100 years.* It is said 
to be very free from the attacks of wood-boring insects, as Scolytus, 
Cossus, &c. 
This tree prefers a warm aspect, but being very brittle requires 
in exposed sites some shelter from the winds. In long continued 
drought it maintains its verdure better than any other tree known; 
in September, 1865, when other trees in Paris were deprived of 
their leaves, owing to the severe drought, the Ailanthus trees 
planted on the Boulevards and in front of the ** Passage de l’Opéra,” 
preserved their foliage completely, and afforded a welcome shade 
to the grateful citizens.} The tree has also been planted in 
France to clothe mountainous slopes where but little else will 
grow, with a view to fix the soil and avoid the disastrous results 
of avalanches and land-slips ; it has similarly been used on the 
banks of railways and rivers, its spreading branching roots serving 
that purpose well. It thrives, as before stated, on the chalky 
plains of Chalons, on the sandy Landes, and in the Steppes of 
Russia. 
* Dupuis, Notice sur I’ Ailante glanduleux, p. 5. 
+ Guérin-Méneville, Revue de Sériciculture, 1865, p. 248. 
