102 WOUCESTEU COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



original of our cultivated forms and the latter probably will not 

 flourish in open gardens or lawns. 



Syringa vulgaris is a small tree or shrub, common in Yesso, 

 for the seeds and plants of which there has recently been a large 

 demand in America and Europe. The tree is not in itself par- 

 ticularly beautiful ; and though it produces in profusion large 

 clusters of small white flowers, I do not believe its popularity 

 will be long-lived. It is reported to be fragrant ; but, though 

 quite strong, I do not find its odor pleasant. 



•Nothing in regard to the flowers of Japan would be complete 

 without mention of the cherry ; and no land could be home to a 

 Japanese which did not produce that much loved and storied 

 flower. And, indeed, it is exquisitely beautiful in spring-time. 

 The wild cherry of Yesso, single and comparatively small as the 

 flower is, yet lingers a very pleasant picture in memory's eye. 

 Its beautiful bark, its dainty, unfolding leaves deeply tinged 

 with red, and its flowers of delicate pink make up a whole upon 

 which the eye loves to linger. I cannot wonder that it has 

 appealed strongly to the native imagination and still constitutes, 

 as it has for ages, a favorite subject for the poet's pen and the 

 painter's brush. 



" No man so callous but he heaves a sigh 

 When o'er his head the withered cherry-flowers, 

 Come fluttering down. — Who knows? the spring's soft showers 

 May be but tears shed by the sorrowing sky." 



The native Yesso cherry (Prunus Pseudocerasus ) produces 

 a fruit which is not of the slightest edible value. The tree is of 

 medium size. 



Another beautiful tree, rather sparingly found in Yesso 

 forests, is Styrax obassia. ' This is handsome in foliage and 

 produces clusters of exquisite white flowers in raid-summer. It 

 would well repay cultivation. Olerodendron tricJiotomum is a 

 beautiful shrul), especially when in fruit, -with its handsome 

 contrast of brilliant purple and red. Eleagnus Japoiiicus is 

 another favorite of mine, with its silver foliage in summer and 

 its wealth of scarlet berries in autumn and winter. It is per- 

 fectly hardy and easily cultivated. The Japanese eat its fruit 

 freely. It is seedy but has a rather pleasant acid flavor. A 



