308 TREES. 



The principle wtioh would govern us, if we were planting the 

 streets of rural towns, is this : Select the finest indigenous tree or 

 trees ; such as the soil and:dlimate of the plaee mil hrvngto the 

 highest perfection. Thus, if it were ft neighborhood where the elm 

 flourished peculiarly well, or the maple, or the beech, we would 

 directly adopt the tree indicated;. We would then, in tiine, succeed 

 in producing the finest po»ible specimens df the species selected: 

 while, if we adopted, for the sake of fashion or novelty, a foreign 

 tree, we should probably only succeed in getting poor and meagre 

 speeimenSb , ' -^ 



It. is because Uiis principle has been, perhaps accidentally, pur- 

 sued, that the villages of New England are so celebrated for, their 

 sylvan charms. The elm is, we think, nowhere seen in more ma- 

 jesty, greater luxuriance, or richer beauty, than in the valley of cthe 

 Connecjiout; and it is because the soil. is so truly congenial to it, 

 that die elmvadomed streets of the villages , there,^elicit' so much ad- 

 miration.. They are not only well pjanted with trees — ^but with a 

 (kind of , tree which , attains its greatest perfection there. Who can 

 forget the, "fine lines of the sugar-maple, in Stockbridge, Massachu- 

 setts? They are in our, eyes the rural glory of the place. The soil 

 there is their own, and they have attained a beautiful symmetiy 

 and development. Yet if, : instead , of maj)les, poplars or willows 

 had been planted, how marked woiild have been, the difference of 

 effect. ■ , . , ' •■ . ■ ' 



There are no gander or more superb trees, than our American 

 oaks. Those who know them oilly as they gi'ow in the midst, or 

 on the skirts of a thick forest, have no piEoper notibn of their dignity 

 and .beauty, when planted and grown in an avenue, or where they 

 have, full space to develop • Now, there are many districts where 

 the native luxuriance of the oak woods,' points out the perfect adap- 

 tation of the soil for this tree. If we mistake not, such is the ease 

 where that charming rural town in this State, Canandaigua, stands. 

 Yet, we confess we were not a little pained, in walking through the 

 streets of Canandaigua, the past season, to find th«m mainly lined 

 with that comparatively meagre tree, the locust. How mUch finer 

 and more imposing, for the long principal street of Canandaigua, 



