Description of Trees 199 



makes it a very desirable tree. It succeeds best upon very 

 thin soil. 



Purple-leaved Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides, var. pur- 

 pured). Were this tree perfectly hardy in the northern 

 sections of the country it would be one of the most desirable 

 trees for the lawn. It, however, is not quite hardy while 

 young, and, as with the C. speciosa, it must be kept in the 

 shelter of the nursery until it is 3 or 4 inches in diameter 

 at the base, when, if it has been transplanted in the nursery 

 several times, it may be safely moved to the lawn, where it 

 will succeed better than in a rich border. The foliage is 

 large, dark bronze purple, growing somewhat lighter with 

 the advance of the season. 



Copper-leaved Beech (Fagus sylvatica, var. pur pur ea). 

 No tree is more conspicuous on the lawn or in groups 

 than the purple or copper beech, and large numbers of them 

 are planted each year; yet we see very few specimens more 

 than a few years' old. The reason for this undoubtedly 

 is that they do not succeed in all soils and in full exposure 

 and that they are sometimes attacked by borers which work 

 in the trunk near the ground (see Chap. XV). The varieties 

 will grow only under the conditions of the common types, 

 requiring a deep, moist soil, some shade or shelter while 

 young, and a cool northerly exposure. 



Rivers' Purple Beech (F. s., var. River sii\ Fig. 109. 

 This variety has more sharply cut and darker col- 

 ored leaves than the last, and may be preferred by many, 

 though both are extremely beautiful, and change about 

 equally to the bronze-green color as they mature. 



Golden Poplar (Populus deltoides, var. aurea). This is 

 the most rapidly growing of the golden-leaved trees we have, 

 and is of value planted in contrast with purple- and dark- 

 leaved varieties of trees. Like some of the other species of 

 poplars, it is short lived and the leaves are often seriously 



