of Eastport^ Me. and vicinity. 407 



market as Eastport affords, there might be some very plau- 

 sible excuse for repeated experiments in raising the better 

 kinds of vegetables and hardier fruits. I believe the soil 

 capable of any thing of the kind. Experiment alone is 

 wanting to ascertain how much more productive a farm or 

 a market garden could become. 



It is generally conceded by strangers that the annual 

 growth of forest trees and of cultivated shrubs is more lux- 

 uriant and vigorous than we see about us here. Even in 

 the annuals, both indigenous and foreign, I noticed the 

 same fact. Shrubs, such as viburnums and vines, as the 

 Virginian creeper, {Atnpeldpsis hede?-dcea,) clematis, &c., 

 produced most superb sized foliage. The beginning of a 

 considerable taste is observable about the houses of the cit- 

 izens, and the American mountain ash (PyV?^5 atnericchia, 

 D. C.) seems to be a decidedly universal favorite. Cer- 

 tainly they were great ornaments, and at this season their 

 rich scarlet berries contrasted finely with the dark green 

 and spreading foliage. It is rather surprising that so con- 

 spicuous a tree should not be more cultivated about Boston, 

 and that the European co-species, {Pyyns aucupdria,) 

 growing, to be sure, much larger, and forming a longer 

 lived and more regular shaped plant, should be almost ex- 

 clusively cultivated. Beside the mountain ash, in many 

 instances growing on the very streets and embowering the 

 houses, I noticed the elegant cranberry bush, (Yiburnitm 

 oxycoccos,) whose rather acerb berries are not overlooked in 

 culinary operations. Occasionally the striped maple, (AVer 

 striatum,) was to be seen, and some other smaller trees, 

 interspersed with the Balm of Gilead poplar, {Popuhts cdn- 

 dicans,) and the Horse Chestnut, {M'scnliis hippocdstanuni.) 



This general taste for ornamental shrubbery was also, in 

 many instances, accompanied with some attention to the 

 culture of flowers ; and some very good varieties of dahlias 

 were displaying a most exuberant bloom. The plants are 

 generally set out rather late, and the rich, stiff, clayey soil 

 soon produces stout, large-leaved and dwarf-sized plants, 

 the envy of many an amateur of this king of flowers, who 

 has to contend, as I have the past summer, with drought, 

 the vile spindle worms, and other plagues too well known 

 and too much felt. Besides these, I saw elegant plants of 

 Clarkia pulchella, Chryseis californica, sweet sultans, 

 variegated poppies, candytuft, snapdragons, balsams, lark- 



