PYGMY TREES 



increased by cuttings or by grafting or they lose their 

 diminutive character. 



Besides the wild pygmies of tree-growth which 

 are the product of the eternal war waged between 

 the Vegetable Kingdom and the elemental physical 

 forces of Nature represented by temperature, wind, 

 and precipitation, there are others of similar appear- 

 ance which from time to time have appeared among 

 trees long associated with our gardens and pleasure 

 grounds. In fact, many of the dwarf trees best 

 known are of this origin. The Japanese are pas- 

 sionately fond of pygmy trees and their skill in 

 developing them by starvation, clipping, and grafting 

 exceeds that of any other nation. Among the 

 familiar types of deciduous-leaved trees of our north- 

 ern forests — the Oaks, Beeches, Birches, Alders, 

 Chestnuts, Elms, and others — there are scrubby 

 forms. Some of the dwarf evergreen Oaks of western 

 North America, eastern Asia, and the Mediterranean 

 are worthy plants where climate admits of their out- 

 door culture; so, too, are certain Maples, but in gen- 

 eral the dwarfs of the broad-leaf trees of the north 

 have very little garden value. Among the Conifers 

 and Yews the story is different and in passing it may 

 be mentioned that these frequent alpine regions more 

 generally than do their broad-leaf kin. And so it 

 comes to pass that the Arborvitajs, Junipers, Pines, 

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