GREEN AUTUMNAL FOLIAGE. 109 



folm., which assumes still richer colors as a late autumnal 

 garb. Spiraea crispifoUa, rare, and recently introduced 

 from Japan, is a variety of S. Indlata ; a dwarf mass of 

 i-ounded, curling foliage, it is well preserved in fall: 



Salix laurifolia, or S. pentandra, the laurel-leaved wil- 

 lo^v, preserves a shining green late in the season. The 

 ornamental value of this tree is not sufficiently considered. 

 It endures all exposures and soils, even close to the sea- 

 shore, and is always clean and thrifty. 



The elms are remarkably deficient in attraction during 

 the fall, with one or two curious exceptions. The one 

 specially notable is the weeping — -so called slippery — elm, or 

 it may be simply a variety of the American, Avhich grows 

 with great rapidity, and has a fine vigorous foliage. So 

 rapid is this growth that grafts made in the spring will 

 attain six or eight feet during the folloAving summer. We 

 see a specimen before us, while we are Avriting, where a 

 large American elm has been stripped of its branches and 

 grafted at numerous points with cions of this weeping 

 elm. The effect produced after a few years has been most 

 extraordinary. Long, pendent branches, clothed with luxu- 

 riant foliage, swing and wreathe themselves about against 

 the sky like gigantic snakes. The most valuable quality of 

 this choice tree lies in the fact that its foliage is frequently 

 green until October, and always green -weeks later than 

 most other elms. There is one other elm which is rare 

 — JJlmus parvifoUa, — that holds its green so late that it 

 might be classed with oaks and beeches for this peculiarity. 

 It is of moderate, growth, and has rough, slightly curled 

 foliage, grouped closely along the branches. 



