Around the " Pond " — First Excursion 



longitudinal ridges and furrows. Its ally, the hop- 

 hornbeam, identical in leaf, is as unlike as possible in 

 the bark, which much resembles that of the white oak. 

 In the short fruiting season a full-laden hop-hornbeam 

 is extremely pretty with its abundant white or pinkish 

 clusters of hop-like fruit, but as a cultivated tree it is by 

 no means as popular as the hornbeam, and there are but 

 very few in the Park. 



AiLANTHUS. — Among our impressive trees must cer- 

 tainly be named the ailanthus, of such proportions when 

 full-grown that it may well be the sole occupant of an 

 entire acre of greensward, and far too massive for lim- 

 ited lawns. Its two defects are its late vernation in 

 spring and its large-limbed, scrawny appearance in 

 winter, when it presents a mass of coarse, ungainly 

 branches, necessarily incident to its type of long and 

 heavy compound leaves. But amid the lifeless, ragged 

 appearance of foliage in general that betokens the ap- 

 proach of fall, this tree is remarkable for its special live- 

 liness and freshness of color, one of the most notable 

 effects in the Park at that season. On the other hand, 

 it is the last of our common trees to show signs of life 

 in spring. Far into May one might think it quite 

 dead amid its full-foliaged surroundings. But finally 

 its large buds swell, developing into a yellowish-green 

 pinnate leaf that soon attains a length of from two to 

 three feet, with thirty to forty leaflets, each quite 

 as large as a beech leaf. Soon the color deepens, 

 and in September, with its luxuriant and immense 

 dark-green foliage spreading majestically on every side, 



65 



