26 LAWN AND SHADE TREES. 



can never be called a beautiful tree, so far as beauty consists in 

 smooth outlines;'' but in so saying we think he was in error, for 

 some of the most perfect outlines we ever saw in tree, regular 

 symmetrical cones from the ground upward, are to be found in 

 trees of the European larch where grown alone and in a light 

 dry soil. With Downing, however, we agree that it should be 

 sparingly planted in grounds where the graceful rather than the 

 picturesque style is designed to be created ; but in the formation 

 of groups combined with the hemlock or the Norway sjjruce; in 

 planting a rocky knoll, or bordering some stream where its 

 drooping spray and swaying branches harmonize with the birch 

 or willow, and at the same time increase character and expression 

 by its spiry top, it is a tree of the highest value. 



For street shades, or any position where its lower branches 

 have to be pruned away, it is entirely unsuited. Our American 

 larch, frequently called tamarack, is of slow growth when 

 planted in dry soil, as compared with the European, but in low, 

 wet situations it grows rapidly, and for picturesque effect is 

 even better, because of its more irregular habit. 



The cones of the European variety are much larger than those 

 of the American, and when the tree is planted so that it can be 

 plainly seen, it is very beautiful, with its bright pink flowers 

 early in sjDring. 



Maple Acer. All the maples are good as shade trees for 

 lawn or roadside, but among them the rubrum, red flowering, or 

 as generally termed scarlet maple, is most to be prized. Its red 

 flowers and leaves in early spring or beginning of summer; its 

 brilliant shades of red foliage in autumn, taken in connection with 

 its rapid growth and upright half spreading form, render it one 

 of the most ornamental of hardy trees. Although a native, and 

 abundant in many parts of our Northern and Middle States, one 

 or more trees of it should be found in all grounds of half an 

 acre or more in size. It may not be quite as rapid in growth as 



