OCTOBER 183 



mention but three, which display various tints of 

 yellow. First comes the Fringe Tree (Chionanthus 

 Virginica), which atones by the profusion of its foliage 

 for failing in this country to produce its quaint white 

 flowers in such clouds as to make it one of the chief 

 ornaments of the woods in the southern United States. 

 Next is the Himalayan Sorbus vestita, the finest of the 

 white beams, with great oval, white-backed leaves from 

 five to eight inches long. And lastly, the strange 

 Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba}, compared with which, 

 for antiquity of descent, man himself appears but an 

 ephemeral phenomenon an afterthought of yesterday. 

 The ginkgo has not been found in a wild state 

 anywhere ; but the occurrence of its leaves and fruit 

 in the Lias clay at Ardtun, in the Isle of Mull, proves 

 that it flourished in what is now Scotland before the 

 enormous period required for the formation of the 

 chalk. It owes its preservation to our day to the care 

 of Chinese priests, who from immemorial time have 

 planted it round their temples. The theme is a 

 suggestive one, but at present all I have to say is that 

 the ginkgo is quite hardy in this country and turns 

 late to a charming clear yellow. 



One more must be added to secure a flame of scarlet 

 in late autumn, and it shall be the North American 

 sorrel tree (Oxydendron arboreum, better known as 

 Andromeda arborea}, though it is not everybody's 

 plant, and requires attention to its peculiarities as a 

 member of the Heath family. Given a well-drained 

 but moist peaty soil, it furnishes a fine succession to 

 Vaccinium Corymbosum, which casts its leaves earlier. 



