JULY. 317 



on the Pacific coast, like the European yew. The same is 

 true of the alder. The birches, on the contrary, which are 

 large trees in this part of the continent, are scarcely more than 

 shrubs west of the Rocky Mouutains. The Juniper^ (Juni- 

 perus Virginiana) often called the Red Cedar, and recognized 

 in certain vicinities as the Savin, is well known to every- 

 body, and is associated with the most rugged scenery on our 

 coast. Wherever, within half an hour's ride of the ocean, the 

 dry rocky hills have been stripped of their virginal growth, 

 the Juniper springs up, as if it found there a soil congenial to 

 its wants and habits. From the slowness of its growth, and 

 the inferior size it attains in this vicinity, I should judge that 

 our climate, or our soil, is uufavorable to it, as it seldom at- 

 tains its full stature on the coast of Massachusetts. As we 

 journey southward we find it in perfection in New Jersey and 

 Maryland, and especially around the city of Baltimore, where 

 are very many noble trees of this species, bearing a favorable 

 comparison with the spruces of the north. In all the Atlantic 

 States south of Baltimore, the Junipers are fine trees, and it is 

 evident, without questioning their superior hardiness, that a 

 southern climate is the most congenial to them. 



At the north they are not only inferior in size, but also in 

 the beauty of their shape and foliage, which is faded into a 

 rusty hue by the first severe frosts of autumn, and never 

 attains that fine verdure which I have observed in the south- 

 ern trees of this species. On our barren hills, where they are 

 so common as to be a distinguishing feature of some of our 

 landscapes, they assume all sorts of shapes and grotesque pe- 

 culiarities of outline. I am no contemner of this tree, which 

 has always been a familiar object to my sight, and in which 

 I can behold beauties that compensate for all its imperfections. 

 Even its rusty green foliage serves to add variety to the col- 

 oring of the landscape, and by contrast to brighten the verd- 

 ure of other trees in the adjacent grounds. This effect is the 

 more remarkable after midsummer, when the woods have a 

 tendency to exhibit a uniformity of verdure, which is agree- 

 ably set off by a mixture of duller tints. 



The Juniper is very full of branches, irregularly disposed 



