120 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



Next to the beech comes the Norway maple, the 

 very ideal of rapid growth, glorious foliage, and 

 rich coloring in the fall. The juice of this tree is 

 milky and acrid, preventing the attack of worms. I 

 do not remember ever seeing a Norway maple in the 

 slightest degree defoliated. 



Third in rank, perhaps it ought to go to the front, 

 is the Catalpa speciosa. America should be proud 

 of this grand native production. The wood is 

 among the very richest possessions of our country for 

 telegraph poles and railroad ties, while in May there 

 is not a woodland or lawn tree that gives us a more 

 superb array of blossoms. 



Mr. E. Y. Teas, now an old man, at Centerville, 

 Indiana, some years ago sent us out hybrids of the 

 native catalpa with the Japanese. I have some of 

 these growing in Florida and others in New York 

 State equally thrifty and beautiful. The color of 

 the foliage varies from a rich purple to a golden 

 green, and if your lawn is small I advise you to 

 get some of these hybrid catalpas. Cut oft" the 

 leaders, and the trees will spread widely and dip 

 their branches full of flowers clear to the ground. 



My fourth tree for American lawns is the Amer- 

 ican linden, or basswood. It is hard to tell why this 

 tree has been so much neglected, except that the 

 wood is too soft for fuel. For a lawn tree it has 

 every requisite, spreading out grandly and just far 

 enough from the ground, while in June it is one mass 

 of deliciously fragrant flowers. The foliage is large 



