990 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



7100. Soil and situation. Both thrive best in a soil similar to that preferred by the ash, but will grow 

 in all inferior soils, and exposed to the sea-breeze as well as at a great height above the level of the sea. 



7101. The mountain ash is the Pyrin aucuparia, E. B. {Eng. Bot. 337.) Icos. Di- 

 Pentag. L. and Rosacea?, J. It is a low and very hardy native tree, attaining the height 

 of twenty or thirty feet, with a straight, clean, erect stem, and globular compact head. 

 It flowers abundantly in April and May, and ripens its berries in August or October, 

 according to the situation. 



7102. Use. In profitable planting it is chiefly valuable as a nurse-tree, growing very fast when young, 

 and enduring the most severe exposures. The timber is used by wheelwrights, and for other common 

 country purposes : the bark is used by tanners ; and the berries afford a dye. As an undergrowth it affords 

 tolerable poles and hoops. 



7103. Soil and site. It will grow in any soil, dry or wet ; and as to situation, it is found on the sea- 

 shore, and near the tops of the highest mountains. It seems to thrive best on the sides of most rocky 

 deils and dingles. 



7104. The whitebeam-tree [Pyrus aria) {Eng. Bot. 1858.) is a very hardy native tree, 

 growing to the height of thirty or forty feet, with an erect stem. Its uses and culture 

 are the same as those of the mountain-ash. Its white leaves, and coral berries mealy to 

 the taste like those of Pyrus torminalis (4768.), have a fine effect in autumn. 



7105 The acacia, or locust-tree. — Robinia pseud-acacia, L. (Sc/wiidt. arb. 1. t. 32.) 

 Diadelph. Deca?i. L., and Legiunuiosce, J. This is a thorny fast-growing tree, of mid- 

 dling stature, a native of America, of no great beauty as a tree, but ornamental when 

 young, and very well adapted for copse-wood and rough timber. It flowers in June and 

 July, and ripens its seeds in September. The leaves come out late in spring, and fall 

 off early in autumn like those of the ash. 



7106. Use. The timber is much valued in North America, and said to be superior to that of the labur- 

 num; " being close-grained, hard, and finely veined ; and in America more valued by the cabinet- 

 maker than any other native timber whatever. Pursh, in his late valuable Flora, asserts, that being 

 nearly incorruptible, it is equally useful for posts and gates. We are informed by a friend, that gate-posts 

 of this timber, on a property near Baltimore, have remained fresh for nearly a century. The finely pin- 

 nated leaves, and pendulous white odorous flowers, add greatly to its beauty. Its value is scarcely known 

 in this country." (Caled. Mem. ii. 414.) 



7107. Soil and site. It prefers a deep sandy soil, and rather sheltered situation ; being very apt to 

 throw up suckers from the running roots, and as it stoles freely, it seems peculiarly calculated for cop- 

 pice-woods. Beatson (Com. to Board of Agr.) has cultivated it in this way to great advantage. 



7108. The birch is the Betula, L. Monoec. Poly. L. and AmentacecB, J. Bouleau, 

 Fr. ; Birchenbaum, Ger. ; and Betulla, Ital. There are two species which may be con- 

 sidered valuable as timber-trees. The common birch (B. alba, var. pendula) (Eng. Bot. 

 2198.) is a middle-sized native-forest tree, distinguished by its white bark, fragrant 

 leaves, and graceful pensile form. It grows in the coldest regions of the north, and 

 farther up the sides of the British mountains than any other timber-tree. In the swampy 

 grounds of Sweden and Russia it grows to a much greater size than in the more temper- 

 ate climate of this country. It is of importance to cultivate the pendulous variety as a 

 taller and more rapid-growing tree independently of its variety. 



7109. The American birch, mahogany-birch, mountain ma- 

 hogany, or cherry-birch of Canada, is the B. lenta. yMich. 

 arb. 2. p. 145. t. 4.) (Jig. 675.) This is a more lofty tree than 

 the common birch, with a brown-colored bark spotted with^ 

 white. " It abounds most in the middle states of Pennsyl-* 

 vania, New York, and the Jerseys, where it attains a height 

 of seventy feet ; but disappears altogether in the higher lati. 

 tudes of the northern states, and is scarcely to be found in 

 Nova Scotia. It is therefore likely to succeed with us in the 

 moist and deeper soils of our Highland valleys, especially 

 when closely associated with other trees. The probability 

 of this is heightened by various facts already ascertained. 

 The value of the timber^is well known to our cabinet-makers ; 

 and we have seen tables, bed-posts, and other articles of fur- 

 niture made of it, equalling in beauty those of mahogany, 

 which it resembles, when some time exposed to the light, the 

 newly wrought boards being of a rose-color. Although of 

 an exceeding quick growth, the grain .being naturally close, 

 it takes a fine polish in cabinet-work. We add to this, that 

 the leaves, which appear early in spring, are said to poscess 

 a peculiar fragrance, which they retain when dried by means 

 of a stove, affording, on infusion of boiling water, an agree- 

 able diluent, superior to some of the common teas of com- 

 merce." (Caled. Mem. ii. 380.) 



. 7110. The poplar-leaved birch (B. populifolia) (fig. 676. a) 

 and Hudson's birch (P. Hudsonii) (fig. 676. b) are elegant rapid-growing trees, and when once they are 

 so common as to be propagated from seed, will deserve culture as timber-trees. 



7111. Use. The timber of the common birch in England is chiefly used as fence-wood, fuel, and occa- 

 sionally for harrows, Sec. and other agricultural implements, the tree being most frequently planted as a 

 nurse to others for coppice or variety. This tree, like the mountain ash, will grow in almost everv 

 kind of soil and situation. 



7112. The uild cherry is the Prunus avium, L. (Blackw. t. 425.) Icos. Bi-Pentag. 

 L. and Rosacece, J. Guigne, Fr. ; Wild Kirschen, Ger. ; and Ciriegio Silvatico, Ital. 

 It is a native tree above the middle size, the timber of which is of considerable value. 

 It thrives best in dry sandy loams ; and in such situations, Sang observes, its timber 

 becomes of most value. It is of peculiar beauty in spring when in flower, in August 



