36 STATE rO.MOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



barberry; but there is soinethiug in the fruit that makes it very sccept- 

 able to the birds ; where a large quantity of this Japanese barberry is 

 growing side by side with the common barberrj% the latter remains 

 untouched while the Japanese barberry is eaten so fast that it is almost 

 impossible to save seeds. 



Among low-blooming shrubs we have the althaea, and hydrangea 

 paniculata grandiflora. They are desirable because the flowers come late 

 in the season after the usual bloom of summer shrubs, and in this class is 

 the witch hazel ; it is one of the beautiful things that cheer the landscape 

 in the dull October and Xovember days. 



There are many beautiful spiraeas. These are plants that T would 

 recommend you to put in about the foundation walls of your houses, 

 wherever you want a comparatively low shrub. One of them grows per- 

 haps two or three feet in height and the other seven or eight feet in 

 height. Thej- are both comparatively newly introduced plants, but their 

 hardiness, their durability, has been thoroughly tested. The low-grow- 

 ing Spirofia, Thunbergii, is distinguished by the great mass of small white 

 flowers early in the season. The flower as seen in a mass is fine, for use 

 as cut flowers it is of small account. The foliage, however, is good. It 

 is rather a light yellowish green and staj-s on well and during the autumn 

 months it presents the brightest, the gayest of autumnal coloring. 



When }'ou plant elms or maples in the street perhaps it may not have 

 occured to you that one reason for choosing them, was because they 

 were easj^ trees to handle. If they are nursery grown they soon pro- 

 vide tliemselves with fibrous roots. 



We are debarred from using many of our useful and beautiful trees, 

 simply because they cannot be transplanted easily. A tree that will be 

 suitable for the purposes of which 1 am speaking must be fairly long- 

 lived. 



I mention this because thei'e are a great many European trees which 

 have been largely planted throughout the Xew England and Middle 

 states which are beautiful trees for a short time only. The English 

 oak is one of them ; after they attain a certain age they begin to fade ; 

 they are not long-lived trees. A good many of the trees will be debarred 

 from the list which I am to present to you simply on that account, — 

 thej' are good for a short time, but they are not sufiicientlj' long-lived to 

 warrant our planting in any considerable quantities. 



This list of plants I have divided into various groups. In the first 

 place, we have the evergreen trees. We have a few evergreen shrubs ; I 

 am sorry to say the list is very limited. Then we have deciduous trees, 

 the maple, the elm and the like; we have the deciduous shrubs; tliMe is 

 also a small class of vines which are convenient and useful for many 

 purposes. 



AVe come to Maine to get what I considei" our handsomest evergreen 

 tree, that is the white pine. I hope I shall not seem foolish in recom- 

 mending you ladies and gentlemen in Maine to plant white pines ; but 

 there is no tree that is better. It is a tree which will last our lifetime 

 and the lifetime of generations to follow; it is one of the most graceful, 



