84 Resemblances and Contrasts in Timber- Growth. 



United States ; but before doing this, we ■n-ill notice some points of 

 resemblance and contrast, due to great geographical and climatic 

 causes, which we must recognize in all attempts at the naturalization 

 of species, and which may afford a useful guide in their cultivation. 



Resemblances and Contrasts in the native Timber-growth of different 

 Regions of Hie United States. 



298. There has been noticed a wide difference between the forests 

 of the eastern and the western coasts of North America, and a 

 strong resemblance between the woodlands of the Atlantic States 

 and Canada and the eastern coast of Asia and the islands of Japan. 

 These resemblances apply to identical or representative species of the 

 genera that include the magnolias, lindens, sumacs, buckeyes, box- 

 elder, yellow-wood, honey-locust, pear, shadbush, dog-woods, rhodo- 

 dendrons, holly, persimmon, catalpa, sassafras, osage-orange, pla- 

 nera, walnut, butternut, hazelnut, birch, alder, yellow and white 

 pine, hemlock, arbor-vitse, bald cypress, and yews. 



299. None of these, excepting some representatives of the sumac, 

 box-elder, pear, shadbush, and dog-wood, appear on the Pacific 

 coast. The Himalaya region. Northern China, and Mantchuria 

 contain many native species that may be cultivated successfully in 

 ornamental plantations in our Atlantic States, and are already ob- 

 tainable from our great nurseries. It is already ascertained that 

 they have better prospects of success than most of the species that 

 thrive so remarkably in their native localities upon the Pacific 

 coast, but under a climate and in conditions that we can not provide 

 for them in the Atlantic States. They are accustomed to heavy 

 winter rains and long dry summers, and must have them. 



300. The same difficulty occurs when we attempt to cultivate on 

 the Pacific coast, many of the species that thrive in the Atlantic 

 States. The hemlock, spruce, Norway spruce, and Austrian pine, 

 among the conifers, and the sugar maple and the hickory among 

 deciduous kinds, grow but slowly there. The pecan and tlie beech 

 do better, but the locust tree is not at all reliable. Reasoning from 

 this analogy, we would expect trees from the west of Europe to 

 succeed in cases where they fail in the Atlantic States. It would 

 well be worth trial as to whether the maritime pine, for example, 

 that grows so luxuriantly in the rainy region of Southwestern 



