190 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



Michaux remarks that he is unable to give any reason why 

 the names of Sour gum, Black gum, etc., have been bestowed 

 upon these trees, as they spontaneously exude no sap or fluid 

 which could give rise to such an appellation. We suspect 

 that the term has arisen from a comparison of the autumnal 

 tints of these trees belonging to the genus Nyssa, with those 

 of the Sweet gum or Liquidambar, which at a short distance 

 they so much resemble in the early autumn. 



The Thorn Tree. Crategus. 



Nat. Ord. Rosacese. Lin. Syst. Icosandria, Di-pentagynia. 



A tree of the smallest size ; but though many of the sorts 

 attain only the stature of ordinary shrubs, yet some of our 

 native species, as well as the English Hawthorn, (C. o.yy- 

 cantha,) when standing alone, will form neat spreading-top- 

 ped trees of twenty or thirty feet in height. 



Although the thorn is not generally viewed among us as a 

 plant at all conducive to the beauty of scenery, yet we are in- 

 duced to mention it here, and to enforce its claims in that 

 point of view, as they appear to us highly entitled to consid- 

 eration. First, the foliage, deep green, shining, and often 

 beautifully cut and diversified in form, is prettily tufted and 

 arranged upon the branches ; secondly, the snowy blossoms, 

 often produced in such quantities as to completely whiten 

 the whole head of the tree, and which in many sorts have a 

 delightful perfume, present a charming appearance in the 

 early part of the season ; and thirdly, the ruddy crimson or 

 purple haws or fruit, give the whole plant a rich and glowing 

 appearance in and among our fine forests, open glades, or wild 

 thickets, in autumn. 



The most ornamental and the strongest growing indigenous 



