TREES OF AMERICA. 77 



<! The next class will be the magnolias ; but 

 before we come to them, there are three single 

 trees that I must tell you something about : 

 by single trees, I mean trees of which there 

 are no varieties, or at least none discovered 

 as yet. The first of these is the dogwood, or, 

 as they call it in Connecticut, boxwood." 



11 Oh, I know the dogwood, Uncle Philip ; 

 there is plenty of it in Jersey, and about here 

 too. It is covered in spring with large flat 

 white flowers, as big as a dollar, and the 

 berries are bright red." 



" Yes, my dears, as you say, it is very 

 common, not only about here, but all over 

 the United States, except quite at the north : 

 wherever there are swamps, there you are 

 sure to find dogwood. Now you must know, 

 my children, that there are in fact eight kinds 

 of dogwood, but there is only one of them 

 large enough to be called a tree, and that is 

 the one that you know so well." 



" And after all, Uncle Philip, it is not very 

 large." 



" No ; it is never found much over thirty 

 feet high, and the most common size is about 

 sixteen or eighteen feet. There are two 

 things about this tree that are singular ; one 



