Trees, Shrubs and Vines 
it challenges admiration beyond almost any other 
growth. 
The ailanthus is what botanists call dicecious ; 7.¢., its 
stamen-bearing flowers grow on one tree, and the pistil- 
bearing on another. The staminate blossoms emit a 
very disagreeable odor in June, which caused a reaction 
from its popularity when first introduced into the coun- 
try. But pistillate trees are now being exclusively 
planted, and for certain situations nothing could be 
more desirable ; and with large room a stately ailanthus 
becomes the focal point of a broad landscape. 
BeEecH.—One of our staple decorative trees is the 
beech, a forest ornament, but much more beautiful 
when, in ample space, with light and air on every side, 
it can realize its type as a broad and shapely growth of 
elegant form, with handsome bark and well-fashioned 
leaf. An atmosphere of serenity always envelops a 
beech ; we as instinctively associate it with sunshine as 
the oak with storm. Its noble trunk and bark of fine 
texture, with shelving sprays of full foliage, betray a dif- 
ferent temperament from that of any other forest tree. 
No tempests ever invade its spirit. 
Our one native species will do credit to the most 
select surroundings, but it is the European beech that is 
commonly cultivated, having the slight advantage of 
more delicate leaves, and the important merit of coming 
into leaf earlier than our own by a couple of weeks. 
This fact, and its great abundance in the Park, make it 
the most conspicuous foreign species in spring. Noth- 
ing sets off the prevailing green more effectively than 
66 
