24 Ifntro&uctton 



of such mysteries. Even Evelyn, who wrote so 

 intelligently, abounds in fairy stories, like that 

 of the well in Hungary, which " transmutes the 

 leaves of the oak into brass, and iron into cop- 

 per," or, as he naively says in another place : 

 1 'But what is still more strange, I read in one 

 Paulus, a physician of Denmark, that a handful 

 or two of small oak buttons, mingled with oats, 

 and given to horses which are black, alter their 

 color to a fine dapple gray, and this he attrib- 

 utes to the vitriol abounding in this tree." 



The ends of the earth now contribute a 

 wealth of plant life adapted to useful and orna- 

 mental tree and shrub culture and to decorative 

 horticulture. Their habits and relative value 

 in a landscape effect, or in a garden, must be 

 familiarly known and felt by an artist who may 

 be called upon to make studies for a lodge in 

 Scotland, a villa at Cannes, or a park in Aus- 

 tralia ; who may be required to bring back the 

 primitive verdure to the banks of Niagara, to 

 preserve the natural beauties of the Rockies, or 

 to plant the Plains with the forests they can and 

 should be made to support. The rich flora of 



