THE OA.NADrAN H0ETI0ULTUBI8T. 



13 



CUT-LEAVED WEEPING BIRCH. 

 (Betula Laciniata) 



Of all the lawn trees in cultivation 

 there is nothing that can compare with 

 this beautiful and graceful tree. When 

 well grown it attains a height of 

 twenty-five or thirty feet ; the main 

 stem is very erect ; the branches are 

 exceedingly fine and delicate, on which 

 is suspended a wreath of foliage and a 

 rich harvest of green catkins early in 

 the year. The weight of these on the 

 long, slender sprays make the tree look 

 like a very waterfall of verdure. The 

 stem and larger branches are snow 

 white. Scott says of this tree that it 

 is " the acknowledged queen of all the 

 airy grades," and he is quite right." 



I fancy there is a difliculty in pro- 

 pagating it, or else there must be a 

 great run on the nurseries for plants. 

 Some few years ago the city of Ottawa 

 required a couple of dozen for its parks 

 and ornamental grounds, but could not 

 get them at any price. I have a very 



fine specimen on my lawn, and people 

 in passing stop to gaze at it. One 

 friend, seeing how dazzling white the 

 bark was, asked me in all seriousness 

 why I whitewashed that particular 

 tree. I notice that some people who 

 grow them, trim the stem up for eight 

 or ten feet. It is difficult to spoil so 

 beautiful an object, but such a course 

 is down-right cruelty. The lower 

 branches should spring from the stem 

 about three or four feet from the 

 ground ; the tree would then make a 

 perfect cone to its apex, the lower 

 sprays sweeping the grass at its feet. 

 The seed of this variety is infertile, so 

 that no seedlings can be obtained from 

 it. There are other forms of Betula 

 that are ornamental, such as the Purple- 

 Leaved Weeping Birch ( Pendula ele- 

 gans), and Young's Weeping, the lat- 

 ter very suitable for cemeteries when 

 top-grafted, and Betula Nana, a small 

 dwarf tree with many branches and 

 dense foliage. 



(Concluded in next number.) 



THE HARD MAPLE (Acer Sacchai-'uium). 



