Ornamentals. yi 



lumber and for every sort of wooden manufacture. It grows 

 to an enormous size ; trunks six feet thick are not rare and it 

 is tall in proportion. It has open cymes of small bluish or 

 purple flowers, but the beauty of the tree lies chiefly in its 

 majestic appearance. 



''Of the many species of oak indigenous to Japan I shall 

 mention only Quei-cus cuspidata, Thunb ; Jap., Shii, Shii-no-ki. 

 It is an evergreen oak largely used for hedges and ornament 

 in Tokio. It would probably be hardy anywhere south of 

 Washington. The leaves are two-ranked, shining dark green, 

 long, rather narrow, dentate and pointed, as the name indicates. 

 Its small acorns are peddled on the street and eaten like nuts, 

 having no bitterness or astringency whatever. 



"Among shrubs, one of the most common in Japanese gar- 

 dens is Nandina dojuestica, Thunb. (Jap., Nanten), of which 

 there are many varieties under culture. It is an evergreen 

 bush with rather large, shining, dark green pinnate leaves and 

 slender upright branches. Old bushes are some eight feet 

 tall. The flowers are not conspicuous, but they are succeeded 

 by large persistent clusters of bright red or white berries, 

 which add greatly to the beauty of the plant. It would prob- 

 ably be hardy as far north as Maryland. The varieties differ 

 in size of leaf, habit of growth and color of berries. Photi- 

 nia glabra, Maxim (Jap., Kaneme-mochi^. A handsome ever- 

 green bush or small tree, with dark green, rather large leaves 

 and pretty white flowers resembling those of the privet. The 

 young leaves are purple, which gives the bush a peculiar ap- 

 pearance in spring. It is much used for hedges and orna- 

 ment. In this connection it might be mentioned that Camellia 

 Japofiica, the single flowered camellia, grows wild in central 

 Japan where I have often seen trees thirty feet high and the 

 trunk a foot thick. This wild species would doubtless be 

 hardy over a considerable portion of the United States and 

 would add variety to the shrubbery wherever it can thrive. 

 The innumerable varieties, both single and double, are grown 

 both in pots and as garden shrubs. Efikiantlius Japonicus, 

 Hook. (Jap., Doda7i tsr/tsugi) is a handsome deciduous shrub 

 belonging to the heath family, which is well worth introduc- 

 tion. It is wild over a large portion of Japan, and would 

 probably be hardy in the Middle States. Its leaves turn a 

 brilliant scarlet early in the fall, and on this account is much 



