Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



fine specimens a little west of the menagerie, at Sixty- 

 fourth Street, East. The delicately scented spice-bush is 

 soon a yellow mist throughout damp woods, and, ple- 

 beian as it is, is rendering artistic service in the Park, 

 although it takes a million of its tiny flowers to produce 

 a strong dash of color. Numerous Norway maples (the 

 handsomest maple blossomer, next to the red maple, 

 and often eclipsing it) are now in bloom, and add their 

 quota to the prevaiUng tint, robed in countless clusters 

 of greenish yellow flowers, like a sudden gleam of sun- 

 shine through a cloud-rift. 



But it is the stately weeping willows that late in April 

 are the centres of attraction in these grounds. Magnifi- 

 cent in figure, their long wiry pendent yellow branches, 

 flushed with the yellow hue of myriad catkins and bud- 

 ding leaves, look like huge arboreal fountains of golden 

 light. Throughout the year the Park shows nothing 

 that is at once so majestic, airy, graceful, luminous; 

 but it is an ephemeral display ; in a very few days they 

 assume a deepening green, the light fades out, other 

 trees come into leaf, and the willow's peculiar glory has 

 departed for another year. 



These are a few chance glimpses; but the Park is 

 full of them ; scene crowds upon scene through the hur- 

 rying days and weeks, until the landscape lies beneath 

 an icy mantle of repose. 



One of the most interesting features of arboreal 

 study, especially in winter, and one for which the Park 

 offers better opportunities than any number of woodland 

 walks, is the character of trees as expressed by their 

 bared figures, into which far more individualism has 



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