GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



fairly large, and although its sweet-scented June 

 flowers of greenish white are not particularly beautiful 

 or conspicuous, the remarkably large pods that follow 

 them make the tree at once known and remembered. 

 The foliage, which is acacia-like in outline, is set, 

 moreover, in such a way as to allow air and light to 

 slip through it freely, while its great abundance forms 

 a screen from the sun. The tree is regarded as giving 

 the most agreeable shade. 



The honey locust, Gleditschia triancanthos, is in 

 somewhat the same class with the Kentucky coffee 

 tree, since its habit of growth is also drooping and 

 picturesque, and its aspect light and graceful because 

 of the number of its long, compound leaves. It is 

 extensively used for hedges (page 80), while, perhaps, 

 the most disagreeable thing that can be said of it is 

 that it waits until late in the spring before unfolding 

 its leaves. 



The plane tree, buttonball, or the sycamore as it 

 is more generally and erroneously called, Platanus 

 orientalis, is not unlike the American buttonwood, 

 although in general a more satisfactory tree. The 

 peculiarity of its mottled bark makes it a well-known 

 figure; and since it is very hardy and grows rapidly 

 it has become something of a favorite. It is, however, 

 a gaunt individual, with foliage ruggedly formed and 

 quite lacking the elegance which marks that of the 

 sweet gum. This tree is almost the last of all to show 

 its leaves in the spring and the first to drop them in 

 the autumn. A few years ago, when the season was 

 unusually backward in early June, the plane trees of 



[ 22 ] 



