1852.] THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. 21.7 



m~°y^ — : SsCSegE 



L-jBut, why are not American trees more in demand for planting'? sim-^* 

 q° ply because they have not had attached to them, according to the prin- 

 ciples of political economy a value sufficient to make them desirable. 

 Their beauty is acknowleged when pointed out — "Look at that 

 stately Tulip tree" says one, "with its splendid flowers." Splendid ! 

 superb ! answers his friend, "Where can I procure a number of them 

 to ornament my lawn." "At the nurseries," is the reply. The nur- 

 sery is sought out and the cost ascertained ; and the proprietor per- 

 haps questioned as to where they were obtained. If in the woods his 

 customer replies that he too can procure them there. And the dealer 

 thus disconcerted, either does not care to keep a supply on hand, or 

 if he do, must not sell them as American plants at all, but call them 

 Liriodendron tulipifera, and import them from France, where they 

 have been cultivated from seeds obtained from North America. But 

 this is the same North America which we live in, and the Lirioden- 

 dron is our familiar friend the Tulip tree. We once travelled a good 

 distance in England to obtain specimens, and these were obtained 

 with no little difficulty from a splendid specimen growing in an 

 extensive park, and so valued that our depredations on the flowers 

 would have been treated if discovered, as peculiarly officious. Now 

 we see it everywhere, and we admire it none the less. The Catalpa 

 is another specimen which we once held as rare and desirable, but 

 such miserable specimens of it as we have seen in the English nurse- 

 ries. Why they-gave us no conception of the plant whatever. Now 

 we view it as a rich and luxuriant tree with tropical aspect, and quite 

 refreshing to the eye. If it could be transformed into a hothouse 

 plant by acclimatisation in an opposite direction to that, towards 

 which these experiments generally tend, it might yet become popular 

 and valuable in America. 



And our Gymnocladus is no mean specimen of the richness of 

 spontaneous American Arboretums. We think few can help admi- 

 ring the Kentucky Coffee tree, with its pompous botanical title Gyno- 

 cladus canadensis, pared down to the simple Kentucky coffee tree. 

 And then for an ornamental shrub, what is more graceful than Chio- 

 nanthus Virginica or fringe tree; even the Dog Tree in its snowy beau- 

 ty, is by no means a mean accompaniment to our rural landscape; 

 true, it is without' the fragrance of the Hawthorn, so valued bv "our 

 excessively travelled friends," and without the freshness which its 

 foliage imparts to the Crataegus contrasting with its flowers, but the 

 Cornus Canadensis is a splendid plant. The sweet Chestnut, Casta- 

 nea Vesca is not to be overlooked as an acquisition to a lawn, peculi- 

 ar in its outline, but striking in its habit; with its deep green and long ) 

 continuing foliage no more beautiful object can be found for certain A 

 ( % , purposes — 'tis true the Horse Chestnut produces abundant pyramids Q\ 



% 29^. *&*** 



28 





