100 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUXDS 



that the Oriental plane, above all trees, seems even in 

 those early days to have surpassed other species in lon- 

 gevity, tales being told of specimens living more than a 

 thousand years ; and yet this tree presents the apparent 

 anomaly of being, in spite of the fact that quickness of 

 growth and shortness of days in arboreal life often go 

 together, one of the most rapid-growing and easily-trans- 

 planted trees that we can employ on the lawn in either 

 country or city. In Europe, and all over the East, it has 

 long been highly valued for lawn planting, but in Amer- 

 ica, of late years, it has been undeservedly neglected, 

 although appreciation of its value is again growing rap- 

 idly. 



From the very start, the plane tree grows vigorously, 

 and as the years go by its vigor never flags nor its foli- 

 age fails to grow large, umbrageous, and healthy. In old 

 age the trunk is disfigured by scaling bark, and, on the 

 American plane especially, the top of the tree sometimes 

 dies, an accident, however, which may, perchance, happen 

 to any rapid-growing tree, like the American elm, for 

 instance. 



If it were necessary to seek for a more hardy, vigorous 

 tree, under adverse conditions, than the plane tree — and it 

 would be hard to imagine that it would be worth while — 

 we would, perhaps, turn to the honey locust (gleditschia 

 triacanthos). This tree has graceful foliage, and a dark, 

 attractive-looking stem, covered vnth thorns, which is a 

 drawback, it must be confessed. Its light shade, more- 

 over, renders it scarcely fit for a street tree. The chief 

 value of the honey locust, though otherwise a fine tree, 

 after all lies in its wonderful adaptability to all soils, 

 which enables it to thrive in the sands of the seashore 

 and the slums of a large city, and to cling to the scanty 



