98 PRACTICAL FOKESTRT. 



they are distinct from all other species and varieties of the 

 maple. Just how many different species of maple are indige- 

 nous to Japan is not positively known, some botanists making 

 more and others less. There are probably four or five, and of 

 these the Japanese have many varieties in cultivation, and 

 some twenty or more have been introduced and pretty weU 

 tested in this country, and have, upon the whole, proved to be 

 hardy and moderately vigorous growers for small trees or 

 shrubs that are never expected to reach more than a few feet 

 in hight. The varieties are grafted upon seedlings of the wild 

 species from the forests of Japan, as none of our native maples 

 seem to answer as stocks. 



The five best recognized species of Japan Maples now in cul- 

 tivation in this country are : A. carpimfoUum, A. Japonicum, 

 A. Polymorjyhum, A. rufinerve, and A. epimedifoJium. 



There is also another, the Colchicum-leaved (.4. colcliicum 

 ruhrum), sometimes classed as a species, but this as well as 

 several others described in nurserymen's catalogues are not 

 assigned to their proper places as species. They are all pretty 

 little trees, with leaves of various forms and colors, but the 

 Polymorphum furnishes the greatest and most unique varieties 

 of all. They have leaves of various shades of color, from pure 

 green to the richest rose and crimson, and the foliage of some 

 are so finely cut that it appears more like the feathers of some 

 gaudy -colored bird than that of leaves of a hardy tree or shrub. 

 Some of the varieties have leaves handsomely variegated with 

 white, green, and yellow, and these colors are retained nearly 

 the entire season. Words, however skilfully applied in a de- 

 scription of these pretty little trees, would scarcely convey a cor- 

 rect idea of their peculiar beauty, for they must be seen to be 

 fully appreciated. Acer rufinerve is a carious species, with 

 leaves resembling those of the grape, but streaked with white. 



^scuLUS. — Horse- Chestnuts. 



The Horse-Chesnuts have little to recommend them, except 

 for ornamental purposes, as their wood is of a poor quality, 

 although it is employed to a limited extent for making certain 

 household utensils. They produce large, chestnut-like seeds, 

 enclosed in leathery pods, which at maturity split open into 

 three valves or divisions. There are from one to three nuts in 

 each pod, varying in number with the different species. All 

 the different species and varieties are oraamental, and worthy 



