WEEPING TREES. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE WESTERN N. Y. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 AT ROCHESTER, JANUARY 24'1H, 1878. 



In this class are embraced the most charming examples of ornamental 

 trees. Graceful in outline, elegant and novel in their mode of growth, im- 

 pressive and attractive in appearance, they possess all those characteristics 

 of growth and foliage which render them especially desirable and valuable 

 for the embellishment of landscapes and the ornamentation of grounds. The 

 beautiful cut-leaved Weeping Birch, sometimes called the Lady Birch, with 

 its bright bark glistening in the summer's sun and its graceful drooping 

 branches, swaying in the lightest breeze, is a worthy subject for the artist's 

 pencil and the poet's pen. In winter, too, covered with ice and illumined 

 with the brilliant rays of the setting sun, its trembling branches apparently 

 studded with innumerable brilliants, it presents a charming picture, attract- 

 ing the attention and winning the admiration of even the most careless and 

 indifferent observer. This elegant tree, which Mr. Scott very appropriately 

 calls ''the most exquisite of modern sylvan belles," was introduced and first 

 offered for sale in this country by Ellwanger & Barry about the year 1851. 

 Henry W. Sargent, Esq., writing to the Horticulturist from German) in 

 1848, and describing Booth's nursery at Holstein, stated that "among tiees 

 and shrubs new to me I noticed a Weeping Birch peculiar to Germany. It 

 had descending shoots 32 feet long. The branches hung as perpendicular 

 downward as those of the Sophora pendula or the common weeping willow 

 and are quite as pensile as the latter." From this description Messrs. E. & 

 B. at once concluded that this must be a very desirable and valuable tree, 

 and they immediately ordered a specimen to be forwarded to them. In due 

 time it came, was planted, and as soon as possible, a large stock of young 

 trees was obtained. No novelty was ever received with greater enthusiasm, 

 or gave more general satisfaction than this. The demand was so great that 

 for several years from 5,000 to 15,000 stocks were budded annually. Until 

 the month of November last the original imported tree stood in their nursery 

 grounds a living monument, full of beauty and grace, adorning the land- 

 scape, and gaining for itself hosts of admirers. Unfortunately, however, 

 being in the way of projected improvements, it had to be destroyed, much 

 to the regret of those who had seen it planted, and watched' its growth for 

 nearly twenty-five years. In view of the many interesting facts associated 

 with it, it had already become a historical tree, but fifty years hence, when 

 its offspring will be found in every city and hamlet of this great country, it 

 would have been, could it have been left standing, remarkably interesting 

 to the admirers of characteristic and note-worthy trees. Mr. Scott, who 

 evidently appreciates the value of this Birch for ornamental planting, says 

 that 



" It stands the acknowledged queen of all the airy graces with which 

 lightsome trees coquette with the sky and summer air. It lacks no charm 

 essential to its rank. Erect, slender, tall, it gains height only to bend its 



