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of black alder, (Ilex verticillata) is a favorite winter 

 decoration, the scarlet berries remaining on the stems 

 after the leaves fall. Another, growing in swamps, 

 (Ilex laevigata) , bears the same beautiful berries, while 

 the leaves turn bright yellow in October. The first is 

 common along the roadsides, but the latter is rather 

 inaccessible in such places as at Cedar Pond, Lynn, and 

 by other swampy ponds. The ink-berry (Ilex glabra) 

 has evergreen leaves and is a shrub, — hardly as tall as 

 the others, however, — abundant in the Magnolia and 

 Wenham swamps. The mountain holly (Nemopanthes 

 fascicularis) is more tree-like and grows with the last 

 two in low wet ground. None of these plants, except 

 in rare cases the first, are found in cultivation, but they 

 well deserve places in our shrubberies. 



The horse-chestnut (^sculus hippocastanum) , was 

 introduced in Europe during the sixteenth century, but 

 not until much later, of course, in this country. It is 

 known in the wild state in Greece. Its striking ap- 

 pearance and ready adaptability to various soils and 

 climates have made it a great favorite. There is a 

 famous row of these trees in Bushy Park, London, 

 said to be the finest in England ; and certainly one can 

 recall more fine horse-chestnuts here than almost any 

 other tree. Dr. Holmes, in his "Over the Tea Cups" 

 series in the Atlantic, speaks of the fine horse-chestnuts 

 he has noticed in Salem ; and as his path in the city led 

 him naturally by the fine trees by Judge Osgood's stable 

 yard in Cambridge street, and the tree by the "Studio," 

 at the corner of Summer and Chestnut streets, it is 

 probable that these were in his mind when writing ; the 

 last named tree is about seventy-five years old and is 

 nearly eight feet in circumference. There is a beautiful 



