Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts. 223 



" An unexpected remedy has, however, been suggested by the success 

 of Joseph Cogswell, Esq., in the cultivation, some years ago, of a large 

 plantation of the locust. He found that, when it forms a wood, those trees 

 only are attacked by the worm which form the outskirts, exposed to the 

 sun and free air. Whether it is that the insect parent of the worm de- 

 lights, as many do, in the sun light, and avoids the shade of the woods, or 

 from whatever cause, it was found that all the interior of the plantation was 

 free from its attacks. If this conclusion should be confirmed by further ex- 

 perience, it will be best, whenever the tree is cultivated for its limber, to plant 

 it in masses of several acres in extent, and to substitute, in the sunny and 

 exposed situations which it has usually held, some of those numerous trees 

 which flourish best in them." — p. 4(33. 



Some promise of future valuable results may be anticipated 

 by experiments on our native grapes by seed-sowing, to a 

 greater extent than has already accrued. Of the Common oli 

 Fox grape, (Fitis Z/abrusca, Z«.,) we are told of a remarkable 

 variety, the Summer White Grape : — 



" One of the most remarkable varieties is the Summer White Grape or 

 Early White. In appearance, it presents some peculiarities. • The leaves 

 are on rather long, bristly and downy footstalks, with a rusty down closely 

 covering the under surface. The fruit is two thirds or three quarters of an 

 inch in diameter, round, pale green, or of the translucent color of the Mal- 

 aga grape, when just ripe, afterwards turning red. It is, in some varieties, 

 very agreeable to the taste. It ripens in the last of July, and in August 

 and September. I have gathered some of this variety in the woods, de- 

 cidedly superior to the Isabella grape." — p. 468. 



We confess ourselves wholly unacquainted with such a 

 superior wild variety, or, indeed, of any such kind, which 

 even approaches to a well ripened Isabella : and doubtless here 

 the old adage applies, de gustlbus non, 6lc. ; yet how far 

 hardier or better varieties may not be artificially produced, 

 no one can affirm without previous experiment. 



The peculiar charm of some happy blending of species of 

 flowering shrubs by the accident of Nature is pleasantly set 

 off in the following description of what every admirer of the 

 rural must have noticed in this vicinity : — 



" On some lanes in Brookline and other places in the vicinity of Boston 

 a natural hedge of barberry, sweet briar, wild rose and privet has formed a 

 most graceful border for the road-side. This, which gives an airofwild- 

 ness and retirement perfectly suited to the purpose for which much of this 



