188 Brmime^s Forest Trees of America. 



and its head was hemispherical. This tree is said to flower, and occasion- 

 ally to produce fruit. 



The Ailantus glandulosa was introduced into France in 1780, by M. 

 Blaikie, and the oldest specimens are at St. Leu, and at Paris. At St. 

 Leu, there is a tree, planted by M. Blaikie, in 1794, which attained the 

 height of eighty feet in forty years, with a trunk from three to three and a 

 half feet in diameter. In the Jarden des Plantes, at Paris, there is another 

 tree, which, in 1835, had attained the height of sixty-eight feet, with a 

 head forty-four feet in diameter, flowering most years, and occasionally 

 ripening seeds. 



At Geneva, in Switzerland, at the entrance of the botanic garden, there 

 is a tree of this species, fifty or sixty feet in height, which, when in flower, 

 emits so powerful an odor that it may be perceived at a distance of nearly a 

 quarter of a mile, (cinq minutes de distance.) The suckers from this tree 

 shoot from the ground in every direction, for forty or fifty feet. 



Many other interesting specimens are to be met with in the chief gardens 

 and collections in Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe, and the tree is 

 generally cultivated for ornament in all the temperate countries of the civi- 

 lized world. It is not destined to thrive, however, in a very rigorous cli- 

 mate, for it dwindles down to a mere shrub, no farther north than Montreal, 

 in Lower Canada. 



The Ailantus glandulosa found its way into the United States from two 

 distinct sources- It was first introduced from Europe, in 1784, by Mr. 

 William Hamilton, at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia, and a sucker, 

 planted from the original tree, in 1809, is at present standing in the Bar- 

 tram botanic garden, which is sixty feet in height, with a trunk nearly two 

 feet in diameter. 



On the authority of Governor Charles Collins, of Newport, this species 

 was brought from South America, in about the year 1804, and was pre- 

 sented to General Andrew McCorrie, of Portsmouth, in Rhode Island, by a 

 master of a vessel. From this tree there were numerous others produced 

 by cuttings, and six or eight of them were planted in 1807, by Governor 

 Collins, at Bristol, several of which were felled and sawn into boards about 

 twenty years after. In about the year 1810, Rev. Henry Wight, of the 

 last named place, procured a young shoot, and planted near his house, 

 which has grown to a magnificent tree, fifty-five feet in height, with a 

 trunk seven feet in circumference, at a yard above the ground, and an am- 

 bitus or spread of branches of fifty feet. In Portsmouth, Bristol, and 

 Providence, there are numerous other trees of this species with trunks 

 nearly two feet in diameter. 



In about the year 1820, Mr. William Prince, of Flushing, Long Island, 

 imported the ailantus from Europe, and from this source, most of the plants 

 of this species in New York and vicinity, have been supplied. It may here 

 be remarked, that both male and female trees grow in abundance in the 

 last-named places, and that the male may generally be distinguished by its 

 more graceful leaves and handsome form. 



Propagation, Culture, <fc. — The Ailantus glandulosa may readily be 



