, S14 TBEES. 



good taste — oh ! that they knew aBd could understand the surpafca- 

 ing beauty 'of our native shade-tt-ees. More than forty species of aiak 

 are there in^Jforth Ame4ca (Great Britain has only two species — 

 Trance only five), and we are richer in maples, elriis, and ashes, 

 than any country in the old world. Tulip-trees and magnolias frdm 

 America, are ihe exotic glories of the princely grounds of Europe; 

 But (saving always, the praiseworthy partiality in New England for 

 our elms and maples), who plants an Ainerican tree — in America ? 

 And who, on the contrary, that has planted shade-trees at all in the 

 United States, for the last fifteen years, has not planted either ailan- 

 thuses or abele poplars ? We should like to see that discreet, sagacioiis 

 individual, who has escaped the national ecstasy for foreign suckers. 

 If he can be found, he is more deserving a gold medal from our 

 horticultural societies, than the grower of the most mainmoth 

 pumpkin, or elephantine beet, that will garnish the cornucopia of 

 Pomona for 18,62. , ■ 



In this confession of our sins of commission in planting filthy 

 suckers, and omission in not planting clean natives — we must lay 

 part of the burden at the door of the nurserymen; (It has been 

 found a convenient practice — this shifting the responsibility — ever 

 since the first trouble about trees in the Garden of Eden.) * 



" Well ! then, if -the nurserymen' wW raise ailanthuses and abeles 

 1)y the thousands," reply the planting community, ''and telling us 

 nothing about pestilential odors and suckers, tell us a great deal 

 about 'rapid growth, immediate effect — ^beauty of foliage-^Tate. 

 foreign trees,' and the like, it is not surprising, that we plant what 

 turn out, after twenty years' trial, to be nuisances instead, of ©rnbel- 

 lishments. It is the business of the nurserymen to supply planters 

 with the best trees. If they supply us with the worst, who sins the 

 most, the buyer or the seller of such stuff?" 



' Softly, good friends. It is the 6MS«»ess of the nurserymen to 

 make a profit by raising trees. If you will pay just as much for a 

 poor tree, that can be raised in two years from a sucker, as a valua- 

 ble tree that requires four or five years, do you wonder that the nur- 

 serymen will raise and sell you aUanthuaes instead of oaks ? It js 

 the business (duty, at least) of the planter,' to. know what he is about 

 to plant ;• and though there are many honest traders, it is a good 



