DECIDUOUS TREES. 13 



attractive contrast with the green of other trees. The cut-leaved 

 (incisa) forms, while young, a vigorous, well-marked tree with 

 leaves variously cut, resembling in some cases ferns, in others 

 willows ; as it gets age, however, these markings of the foliage 

 become less and less distinct. The crested, silver, and gold- 

 striped leaved varieties are all singular and pretty, but their 

 growth is feeble, rendering them only desirable for an arboretum. 

 The oak-leaved (quercifolia) and large-leaved (macrophylla) are 

 varieties of comparatively new introduction, and may prove 

 valuable for general planting, but as yet it can only be advisable 

 to give them place in large grounds. 



Birch Betula. Few of our native trees grow more rapidly 

 while young, or are more easily transjilanted than the birch. It 

 grows freely in any soil, not wet ; and where a graceful, light- 

 foliaged tree is wanted, few have better claims on the planter's 

 attention. There are many varieties, some of them growing only 

 a few feet high, as fruticosa, nana, etc. ; but the common black 

 birch (nigra), and the tall birch (excelsa), together with the 

 European white birch (alba), are the varieties most in use. They 

 arc admirable for crowning a rocky point or ledge ; for grouping 

 with the larch or hemlock, and by their pensile spray and 

 adaptation to poor soils well suited for planting in cemeteries. 

 In autumn, the foliage when about to drop off becomes a bright 

 yellow or scarlet. 



Butternut Juglans cinerea. Although not strictly to be 

 classed among ornamental trees, yet the rapidity of growth 

 while young, the habit of early bearing, together with the great 

 value of its fruit, make the butternut a tree desirable to plant 

 wherever a suitable place can be found. Its branches spread 

 out horizontally, so that often the tree has more breadth than 

 height, and its foliage is so sparse that it must not be counted 

 upon as a shade under which to rest from the noonday sun ; but 

 jf there is a rich spot of ground for it requires rich soil where 



