DECIDUOUS TREES. 397 



street, which passes within twenty feet of its trunk, has been cut 

 down four feet below the level of the ground about the tree, the 

 latter being supported by a wall on the street line. The extension 

 of this tree is over the road, which is also on the south side. 



In the old Bartram garden, south of Philadelphia (now the 

 residence of A. M. Eastwick, Esq.), is a beautiful specimen of the 

 virgilia. It is thirty feet high, thirty-five feet in diameter of head, 

 with a trunk fifteen inches thick. This tree grows principally on 

 the west side ; and in September, when the author saw it, was a 

 superb mass of foliage. In size the virgilia is inferior to the horse- 

 chestnut, and when young not so compact, but with age it bears 

 more resemblance to that tree than to any other species, though 

 they are readily distinguished from each other by the sharper 

 shadow-lines of the virgilia, and the finer quality and different 

 character of the leaves. 



THE KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE. Gymnodadus canadensis. 



This curious tree is a sort of combination of the peculiarities of 

 many trees. In its stubby cane-like young branches, and doubly- 

 compound leaves, it resembles the large shrub or small tree called 

 Hercules club; in the massing and breaks of its foliage it re- 

 sembles a fine black or yellow locust, though its leaves are not so 

 delicate ; while in outline it is like the black walnut, but with a 

 heavier and more rounded or oval contour. Its young branches are 

 so cane-like, and without any indication of buds, that the tree in 

 winter has the appearance of being dead. The bark of the trunk 

 is also extremely rough, and curiously broken transversely. The 

 leaves on young trees are three feet long, and twenty inches wide, 

 but much smaller on mature trees. Each main leaf stalk bears 

 from four to seven pairs of compound leaves, each of which is com- 

 posed of from six to eight pairs of leaflets, so that each main 

 petiole, or leaf-stem, may bear from forty-eight to one hundred and 

 seventy-four leaflets ! The leaflets are of a bluish green, and the 

 general tone of the tree is not among the most lively greens. The 

 blossoms are borne in short spikes from May to July. The leaves 



