272 THE P HILADELP HIA FLORIST. [Jin'V 



^country and on its own waters some poets have given it, is the last ofr© 

 all oaks to surrender its freshness to an American frost. 1 have seen 

 it full of green leaves two weeks after the willow-leaved, the latest 

 of our oaks, had given up every leaf to the enemy. The Elseagnus an- 

 gustifolius will retain its willow-like foliage nearly the whole winter, 

 so that at Christmas one unused to its "American" appearance, would 

 deem it an evergreen. The Hippophae rhamnoides has, in a great 

 measure, this characteristic also. The JRhamnus catharticus is green to 

 the "last," as also is Paliurusaculeatus. When in their spring advanc- 

 ing hahits, the Horse Chestnut by its earliness, and the English But- 

 tonwood by its lateness, give a high interest to a landscape. The late 

 Mr. Downing observed, that the latter was exempt from the disease 

 which renders the American variety so obnoxious in many situations. 

 He was led to believe the cause of the disease to lie with spring frosts. 

 This is confirmed by the fact of the American buttonwood budding 

 forth from a week to ten days earlier than the other. Whether this 

 be the reason or not, the disease has given the English variety a po- 

 sition in landscape gardening which no other tree can fill so well. 



The landscape gardener then can know no difference in his opera- 

 tions between "native" and "foreign" in his materials — he has ideas 

 to express; whatever expresses these ideas most suitably he must use- — 

 and a "foreign" or rare plant will often become indispensable, while 

 its very rarity will give it an additional charm, which in every cir- 

 cumstance is sure to please. 



RETROSPECTIVE CRITICISM. 



Progress of American Horticulture. — Judging from what we see 

 around us, the number of new places springing up, and the increased 

 horticultural structures in those already established, the number of 

 horticultural societies and the addition to the horticultural press, we 

 may say that American Horticulture is progressing, and very rapidly. 

 As we heard it predicted a few days since — in a few years we shall be 

 tip with, if not ahead of, England in gardening, as we are so energetic 

 in every thing we do. Certainly, comparatively speaking, we are now 

 before the English, for in proportion to the time and wealth, we have 

 done more than they. More actual attention is paid by amateurs here 

 to their gardens than there, for they have these places for their own 

 amusement, and because they take an interest in them y while in the 

 eld country a gentleman or nobleman has conservatories because his 

 place would not be complete without them. He gives orders to his 

 steward to hire him a gardener, who gets up houses and vineries;* when J 

 cV they are finished and supplied with plants, the family walk in, per- A 

 hb haps once a day, admire, and walk out. This causes much difficulty (V 



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