406 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



straight, not very numerous, and the foliage is most abundant near 

 their extremities. 



The beauty of the tree can be greatly heightened by occasional 

 cutting back. It is a tree to plant near the house, or a walk, 

 where its singular and pretty leaves can be seen readily. The 

 seed is a nut, which is boiled, and valued for eating. A rich sandy 

 soil, with dry subsoil, suits it best. There are specimens in this 

 country from seventy to eighty feet high. In Japan specimens 

 have been seen grown to the height of eighty to one hundred feet, 

 with trunks from six to twelve feet in diameter. One is mentioned 

 by a traveller the trunk of which measured forty feet in circum- 

 ference ! 



THE LARGE-LEAVED SALISBURIA. S. adiantifolia macrophylla. 

 This is a new French variety, which has much larger leaves than 

 the species, and divided in two, three, or five lobes, and these 

 again with undulated edges. Probably well worth the price its 

 novelty will command among tree enthusiasts. 



THE VARIEGATED SALISBURIA. S. a. variegata. " This variety 

 differs from the ordinary form by its leaves being variegated and 

 striped with yellow." It is recommended on high English au- 

 thority as a desirable variety. 



THE SCOTCH LARCH. Larix Europaa. 



A tree which has been almost as much over-valued for orna- 

 mental purposes within the past twenty years, as the Moms mnlti- 

 caulis was for silk-growing fifteen years before. Downing's warm 

 praise doubtless did much to create a demand for it ; and the great 

 facility with which it is grown in nurseries made it profitable for 

 nurserymen to echo its praises. If Downing's careful qualification 

 of its praise could always have accompanied his encomiums on its 

 merits, and been intelligently appreciated, little harm would have 

 been done. He says : " Like all highly expressive and characteris- 

 tic trees, much more care is necessary in introducing the larch into 

 artificial scenery judiciously, than round-headed trees. If planted 

 in abundance it becomes monotonous from the similitude of its 



