JUNE. 273 



winter, will, when in leaf, send healthful and spicy odors into 

 our windows, and make pleasant rustling murmurs in the 

 summer breeze, rather than to plant any more evergreens in 

 these situations, to hide the sun from us in winter, and annoy 

 our sight with their brown and rusty appearance at the time 

 when all other trees are clad in brilliant verdure. 



The larch is a northern tree, extending from the southern 

 part of the New England States to Hudson's Bay. In Mas- 

 sachusetts it is found chiefly in low swamps, as if it naturally 

 sought the coldest situations. It is in its perfection in the 

 latitude of Montreal, and large quantities of it are found in 

 the State of Maine. The timber of this tree is of the high- 

 est value, not surpassed by that of the oak for ship-building, 

 being very heavy, tough, and close-grained, and almost une- 

 qualled in durability. It has likewise the singular quality of 

 being very difficult of combustion. This tree deserves to be 

 extensively planted for timber, on account of the rapidity of 

 its growth, and its ability to thrive well on the thinnest and 

 most unprofitable soils. No tree could be more successfully 

 reared on those barren hills which are so common in Massa- 

 chusetts, and which, at present, are useless for tillage and 

 unprofitable for pasture. The European species is considered 

 preferable for this purpose, on account of its more rapid 

 growth compared with the other, and its equally valuable 

 timber. 



FRUITING NECTARINES OUT OF DOORS. 



BY PROF. CHAS. Q. PAGE, M. D., TTASmNGTON, D. C. 



The nectarine tree is very common in this region, but the 

 fruit is extremely rare. I have watched great numbers of 

 trees for sixteen years, and I have never yet seen upon them 

 one ripe fruit. They bloom profusely, set the fruit most 

 promisingly, but, as soon as it attains the size of a nutmeg, 

 the whole drop, each one containing from one to five eggs of 

 the curculio. Some years since, I found an isolated tree on 

 a dry hillock in the centre of a dense swamp in Virginia, and 



VOL. XXII. NO. VI. 35 



