40 



The natural result of tiiis early introduction of Amer- 

 can plants into Europe, and the continued interest in 

 them there, was that American plants could be obtained 

 from English dealers before they were grown by our 

 home nurserymen, who, curiously enough, neglected 

 our own plants, the trees especially, and were satisfied 

 to import their stock from across the water. There 

 have also originated in English gardens many sports 

 and hybrids of American plants, and these abnormal 

 children of American parentage have come home to our 

 gardens almost entirely from this source. 



An American garden, or bed, is a common term used 

 in Europe when referring to the class of plants known 

 as the Ericaceas, which includes the laurel, rhododen- 

 dron,.andromeda, swamp azalea and other plants, natives 

 of this country. Many of these, with the varieties 

 which have sprung from them, are now imported from 

 England for our gardens. Oaks, walnuts and other 

 trees have been re-introduced in a similar manner, and 

 for this reason it often happens that a person will insist 

 that a certain tree is European, when it is but the off- 

 spring of American parents returning to its native land. 



But none of the plants of the Ericaceae are trees in 

 this region. The laurel becomes a tree at the south, 

 and some of the southern tree-like rhododendrons are 

 cultivated here as shrubs. The same may be said of 

 another family to which the snow-ball, the cranberry- 

 tree, and the elders belong. The sheep-berry, (Vibur- 

 num lentago) common in our woods, and the old garden 

 snow-ball, however, are often quite tree-like although 

 they are naturally shrubs. 



The persimon (Diospyros virgiaiana) whose fruit 

 requires a hard frost upon it to make it palatable, is 



