Trees and Shrubs in JVoW/i America. 449 



are In constant motion. At a moderate distance to a spectator 

 standing on the windward side, they give it frequently the ap- 

 pearance of being covered with a profusion of white flowers. 

 It has a beautiful effect from the house, when seen at some dis- 

 tance in the foreground of a handsome group of trees of a dark- 

 er green. Added to this, it holds its foliage unscathed by the 

 frost, until the very latest period in autumn. 



Ailantus glandulosus, the heaven tree of the Chinese, is a 

 fine stately tree, and though introduced from a warmer cli- 

 mate, bears the intense cold of our -winters perfectly unin- 

 jured. When young, it somewhat resembles our sumach, 

 but when it attains the height of 90 or 100 feet, with its long, 

 pendent pinnated foliage, it will form a very picturesque and 

 graceful object. 



We must not forget, in this brief notice, the larches both 

 of Europe and our country. Pinus tarix has long been con- 

 sidered among the first timber trees of the other continent. 

 The singularity of its foliage, as a deciduous tree, its long 

 declining branches and drooping spray, are well calculated to 

 give variety to the landscape, and we are happy to see, that 

 both this and our two American species, P. microcarpa and 

 P. pendula, are becoming more generally objects of attention 

 and cultivation. 



Among the interesting trees of more recent introduction, 

 and which are yet rare in this country, we may mention Sal- 

 isburra adiantifolia, the Japanese maiden-hair tree. The fo- 

 liage is strikingly singular and beautiful, resembling that well 

 known fern, Adiantum pedatum, and the tree appears to be 

 very hardy. The purple beech, a variety of Pagus sylvatica, 

 is a very unique object, with its strangely colored leaves; and 

 a very splendid tree lately introduced from the banks of the 

 Missouri and Arkansas, is the Osage orange (Waclura auranti- 

 aca.) Its vivid green leaves and rapid growth are already 

 known to us; but it is described as being a tree, in its native 

 soils, of thirty or forty feet in height, and bearing abundance 

 of beatftiful fruit, of the size and appearance of an orange. 

 'J'he weeping ash is also a very unique and desirable object, 

 and its long seemingly inverted shoots may be introduced in 

 some situations with an excellent effect. 



We have often regretted that, in decorating the grounds of 

 country residences, so little attention is paid by the proprie- 

 tors, to hardy evergreen trees. Ornamental at any season, 

 they are eminently so in winter — a period, in this latitude, 

 when every other portion of vegetable matter yields to the 

 severity of our northern climate, and when those retaining 

 their coats of verdure uninjined are beautiful and cheerful 

 memorials of the unceasing vitality of the vegetable world. 



VOL. I. NO. XII. 7 



