132 ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 



of these have been made known to us by the active researches of English 

 botan; uTandifolia, with immense shining leaves, equalling those 



ot Magnolia gramlifolia in size and texture, has been figured in Mr. 

 Lambert's splendid work on the genus Finns. Q. spicata, with entire 

 from six inches to a foot long, and acorns numerously crowded 

 upon tin upright spike from ten to eighteen inches in length ; Q. 

 lamellosa. with firm leathery leaves, smooth and glossy above, mealy and 

 nearly white beneath, sometimes a foot in length, and as much as five 

 inches in breadth, are both figured in Dr. Wallich's magnificent work, the 

 Plan (a? rariores Asiatics, now in course of publication, and we hope of 

 encouragement, commensurate to its extraordinary claims upon every 

 lover of natural history. 



The coarse foliage of the elm, in our opinion, degrades it from the first 

 class of ornamental trees, but in some situations, particularly in deep and 

 someu hat damp soils, it succeeds better than many, and grows to vast size, 

 i rietiei are curious the variegated leaved elm is not without merit 

 the weeping elm is sometimes picturesque the small leaved Cornish 

 elm is perhaps the most elegant. The American elms seem to be de- 

 serving of attention. Mr. Hodgson, a recent traveller in the United 

 States, was much impressed with the stupendous stature of specimens of 

 the ulmus Americana around the neat villages of New England. 



The giant bulk and extraordinary beauty of the oriental plane tree 

 (Platanus orientalis) have made it, in all ages, the object of marked at- 

 tention. Every classical reader is aware of the favour with which it was 

 led by the Greeks and Romans, the latter of whom, according to 

 the Latin writers, carried their admiration of this beautiful tree so far as 

 to occasionally irrigate it with wine. Hardly less beloved by the Turks in 

 modern days, it is with them a usual practice to plant one at the birth 

 of a son. In the court of the Seraglio, as we are told by Mr. Walsh, is 

 n venerable specimen, planted by Mahomet the Second, after the conquest 

 of Constantinople, in commemoration of the birth of his son Bajazet the 

 Second ; it is now fifty feet in girth, the increment of three hundred and 

 seventy years. At Buyukdere, on the Bosphorus, is another of almost un- 

 equalled sixe : it stands in a valley, and is forty-five yards in circumference, 

 but, in fact, now consists of fourteen large trees, growing from the same 

 root-stock, coalescing near the ground, but, at some distance from it, di- 

 4- into distinct trunks. The oriental plane is indigenous throughout 

 Minor, ranging to a considerable elevation, but attaining its greatest 

 sixe upon low levels and in deep soils. The specimens, whose remarkable 

 bulk has conferred upon them an almost historical notoriety, are all situated 

 not much above the level of the sea. In England this tree is perfectly 

 hardy, and of the first beauty. It is remarkable, tl^at though intro- 

 duced here three hundred years ago, under the auspices of Lord Chancellor 

 Baron, it has hern comparatively neglected since the introduction of the 

 North American plain- (Platanus occidentals), which, being propagated 

 with much greater facility from cuttings, has long been in almost undi- 

 vided "ii of the nurseries. Much inferior to the Oriental in 

 of leaf, though, according to American writers, not in size or 

 idi'iital plane, which attains its utmost luxuriance in the 

 warm valleys of the Ohio, and upon the limestone soils of Kentucky and 

 Tenessee, has proved incompetent to contend with our spring frosts, our 

 summer^, and our clouded autumns. About twenty years ago, 

 a great proportion of all the individuals in England, without respect of 

 age or bulk, were killed outright by a late spring frost. Since then we 

 them repeatedly injured, and, when half recovered by the 



