106 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



and drooping, graceful, deeply indented foliage. The 

 red oak has rich red leaves in autumn, and the chestnut 

 oak and black oak are also excellent. The American 

 chestnut is the most ornamental of the nut trees, and 

 grows to great size, the foliage being large and glossy, 

 and the flowers in June white and fringe-like. Its only 

 drawback is a certain shyness in transplanting. 



Strangely constituted, and yet one of the best and most 

 attractive of Japanese trees, the Japanese gingko (salis- 

 buria adiantifolia), or maiden-hair tree, has long, spread- 

 ing branches, reaching out in a peculiar fashion of its 

 own, and bearing cones when it fruits, which seldom 

 occurs, for it is unisexual. The leaves are light green 

 and curious, resembling in outline an open fan, and are 

 borne in somewhat sparse numbers along the branches. 

 The gingko is entirely hardy, and grows eventually to be 

 a large tree, forty feet high, though in youth its growth 

 is not rapid. 



The sophora is another hardy Japanese tree, bearing in 

 June cream-colored pea-blossom-like flowers in racemes, 

 and, like the gingko, attaining large size in a decidedly 

 slow fashion. 



It is a pity to feel obliged to leave the subject of de- 

 ciduous trees with the full knowledge that it has been 

 necessary to pass unnoticed many excellent shade and 

 lawn trees, but it has been the endeavor of the author, 

 within his limited space, to discuss at least a number of 

 the most distinct and best trees, for beauty and grow- 

 ing qualities, that are likely to be found in reasonable 

 quantities in the nurseries of the country. 



