314 Notes and Gleanings. 



gates itself with rather too much facility, having the habit of throwing up shoots 

 from the roots : this, however, is easily controlled, and is, therefore, a small 

 defect, after all. 



In the Valley of the Housatonic, and elsewhere, I noticed last season a few 

 of these trees grown with care in the grounds of some well-kept homesteads ; 

 and the effect was always pleasing. In a field on the old Hopkins Farm, in 

 Stockbridge, Mass., I was attracted to a cluster of large growths, one of which 

 was remarkable for its size and apparent age, the patriarch of the group ; and 

 yet it was singularly beautiful in the outline and amplitude of its spreading top, 

 and picturesque to a high degree in the show of its crimson cones, standing out 

 all over it, from the green of its graceful spray. I trust the " woodman will 

 spare that tree " yet many years, and that others will enjoy the pleasure which 

 I felt in its shade one bright August noon. 



iMore recently, I have been interested in looking at some very handsomely- 

 grown specimens of these trees in neighboring grounds near home ; and I con- 

 fess to a new admiration of their exceeding beauty. At this season, late mid- 

 summer, we have nothing more attractively showy. The position of some of 

 these, however, may have something to do with their effectiveness ; being in 

 limited grounds, and near a group of half-grown evergreens. 



If my humble plea awakens similar interest in others, I shall have attained 

 my object ; for we are verily at fault in neglecting our native plants. It is time 

 they were regarded with more favor. Let us have a commendable home pride 

 in these matters. We hanker too much after foreign novelties and fashions. It 

 were wiser to use more of our own materials, which are easier to command, and 

 of better adaptations. 



Shall we take, then, the Staghorn {Sumach) into our home-grounds ^ 



Elgin, III., Aug. 5, 1867. Burgess Truesdell 



