TREES AND SHRUBS IN NORTH AMERICA. 375 



<wetl the leader leaves unfold, and the admirer of nature is 

 delighted b^ the fresbnsss and vividness of the young foliage. Sum- 

 mer comes he ; s refreshed by the fragrance of their blossoms 

 their shade is a welcome luxury in the noontide sun perchance 

 their fruit may be an acceptable offering to the palate and who in 

 this country has not witnessed the autumnal glories of an American 

 forest ? 



There is no countiy of the globe which produces a greater va- 

 riety of fine forest trees, whether considered for the purposes of orna- 

 ment or timber, than North America. Yet it is a fact that for both 

 these purposes, more particularly the first, they are horticulturally 

 better known in many parts of Europe, than they are now at home. 

 Those governments have imported the seeds of all our most valua- 

 ble forest trees, annually, for more than a century. Instead of 

 planting, our agriculturists have hitherto been engaged in destroy- 

 ing. In the Atlantic States, this period is now past; and we 

 would, therefore, first direct the attention of the arboriculturist to 

 our own trees. 



There is not in the whole catalogue, scarcely a more interesting 

 object than an immense oak tree, when placed so as to be consid- 

 ered in relation to the large mansion of a wealthy proprietor. Its 

 broad ample limbs and aged form, give a very impressive air of 

 dignity to the whole scene. It is a very common inhabitant of our 

 woods, there being forty-four species of indigenous growth between 

 the 20th and 48th degrees of north latitude.* The pendulous 

 branches of the American elm the light foliage of the birch the 

 cheerful vernal appearance of some of the species of maple the de- 

 licate leaf of the locust, and the heavy masses of verdure produced 

 by the beech, are sufficient to render them all ornamental in park 

 scenery, and they should ever find a proper situation in an extensive 

 lawn. Our American poplars should be recollected, when a rapid 

 growth and immediate effect is required. Gleditschia triacanthos, 

 or the sweet locust, is interesting from its long masses of thorns. 

 The plane or sycamore (Platanus occidentals) is too much neglect- 

 ed because it is so common ; but in favorable situations, in deep 



* Michaux. 



