36 HAND-BOOK OF PRACTICAL 



lanceolate oval leaves, while the latter has very large, broad, 

 heart-shaped foliage, and is much the more desirable. Both are 

 good for roadside trees or bro::d avenues, and their use in filling 

 up low grounds or bordering streams of water is always 

 satisfactory. As a background tree, covering and screening 

 barns or other farm buildings, the Balm of Gilead is very 

 effective. The Silver Poplar ( Ahelc) is a tree remarkable for its 

 silvery white underside of foliage. It was once pretty generally 

 planted in lawns and groups, but its disposition to sucker makes 

 it objectionable. As a tree to make conspicuous some particular 

 high point, or where possible, to form the foreground of a group 

 of dark firs, it is desirable and effective. All the Poplars bear 

 the smoke and dust of cities with great indifference, and where 

 pavements will serve to keep down the suckers, they are desir- 

 able because of their extremely rapid growth, exceeding perhaps 

 that of any other tree. 



Pepperidge. — Xyssa. — The Sour Gum or Pepperidge tree is 

 generally, when wild, found growing in moist or wet land, but it 

 will thrive in any good deep soil. The tree, from its dark green, 

 glossy foliage in summer and the brilliant fiery tinge which it 

 takes on when ripening its leaves, is extremely valuable for 

 forming groups in the picturesque style. A single tree of^it 

 even, standing at some distance from the house and where- its 

 brilliant autumn tints can be readily seen, often forms for weeks 

 a feature of beauty surpassing that of any other on the place. 



Persimmon. — Diospyrus. — The Persimmon or Virginia Date 

 Plum makes an open, irregular, half round-headed, rather erect 

 tree of pleasing character and of medium size, that fits it well for 

 grounds of limited extent. It groups well with the English 

 Elm, the Bird Cherry and others, and. when the value of its fruit 

 I is regarded, deserves a place in almost all grounds. In the 

 | southern sections of Illinois, Missouri, etc., there are varieties 

 that ripen their fruits long before frosts, but the wild trees of its 

 northern limits generally produce an austere fruit, quite 

 uneatable until after being mellowed by frost. It is a good tree 

 for planting in cemeteries, and for rocky positions where a light, 

 i'iry character is desired to be retained. 



