102 REPORT OF THE 



fine day under the shade of this tree. After the death of the 

 young lady her friends caused a tablet to be nailed on her 

 favorite tree with the simple inscription, "Nellie." 



The present Park Commission caused three flower-beds of 

 bright-foliaged plants to be made and planted around the tree 

 with the name "Nellie" formed out of them in the centre, in 

 memory of her love and affection for Prospect Park. 



The large number and variety of evergreens in the park 

 comprises one of its most interesting features. 



Opposite quaker cemetery on the west drive, near the 

 junction of the drive toward Look-out Hill, is a specimen par- 

 ticularly worthy of notice, the cedrus atlantica, or Atlantic 

 cedar, the only one in the park. It is some fifteen feet high 

 and of a beautiful form, with dark green foliage. 



Larix Europoea, or European larch, is a, native of France 

 and Switzerland, and rises to the height of eighty or ninety 

 feet, with a proportionate diameter. 



Soudin devotes fifty pages of his " Arboritum" to this species 

 alone. This larch appears to combine the qualities of rapidity 

 of growth, symmetry of form, durability of wood and adapta- 

 bility to a variety of uses. It grows from seed to about twenty 

 or twenty-five feet in height in ten years, requires but very 

 little pruning and seems to grow best on high ground. Our 

 American larch seems equal in all respects to the European 

 variety. 



The buxus semperoirens, or box tree, is a native of the 

 temperate climate of Europe and Asia, growing from twenty to 

 twenty -five feet in height, The wood is yellow and very 

 hard, is finely grained,, and so heavy as to sink in water. 

 It is used principally for wood engraving. It is a beautiful 

 tree, and appears at its best in winter when the ground is 

 covered with snow. Its foliage is most brilliant when partially 

 shaded by other trees. The seed should be sown as soon as 

 ripe in dry rich mold, and in a shady spot. It is 

 more commonly grown from cuttings about five inches 

 long, which readily root if put in a frame of sandy soil early 

 in the Fall and transplanted in the Spring. 



