In the " Ramble " Fourth Excursion 



vate it ; every arboretum should contain a specimen, 

 and its discovery adds one to the student's list of native 

 trees. The " Ramble " contains two, one of them in 

 the open grass-plot south of the duck-pond ; but why was 

 such a conspicuous position assigned to the persimmon ? 



SWEET GUM. Near the coast, from Connecticut 

 southward, grows a tree with star-shaped, glossy leaves, 

 of finer appearance than the majority of forest growths, 

 and with something of the oak's assertive figure. This 

 is the sweet gum, so named from its aromatic juices, 

 whose fragrant resinous odor is perceived in the leaf 

 when bruised. Erect, symmetrical, and medium-sized, 

 it lends itself to a variety of situations on the lawn, and 

 is considerably cultivated. In winter the contrast of 

 the blackish, deeply furrowed trunk, and the smooth and 

 hoary branches is quite marked, and the branches are 

 more or less corky-winged. The seeds are in curious 

 hard, spherical pods which hang thickly through the 

 winter, and cover the ground in spring. Whoever has 

 a sweet-gum-tree on his grounds will be visited through- 

 out the winter by large flocks of goldfinches that eat the 

 seeds. As I write this I can count nearly a hundred of 

 them in their brown winter dress close by the window 

 on the ground, busily feeding. The glossy green of 

 summer is followed by an autumn coloring that is the 

 most kaleidoscopic of any tree, in a brilliant combina- 

 tion of purple, yellow, red, and scarlet. Another name 

 for this tree is liquidamber. 



SOUR GUM. In this connection we may speak of the 

 spur gum, which, however, stands in no sort of relation 



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