THE MAIDENHAIR TREE. 



359 



to establish the claims of the Maidenhair 

 Tree to a place among " the GreaterTrees 

 of the Northern Forest." The fine stature 

 and extraordinary beauty of the trees we 

 mention are seen in conditions which 

 exist over a very wide area of our country, 

 and failures are probably accounted for 

 in this way. When a tree is uncommon 

 it often gets into a staggy state in the 

 nursery, and its increase by layers or 

 cuttings is also against success. We 

 can never get a fine tree in that way, 

 and cutting propagators have done 

 much harm to forest trees. There 

 is not the slightest need for these §^ 

 practices, because, apart from the 

 abundance of seed yielded by the 

 tree in its own country, it seeds 

 freely in the south of Europe, and 

 I have seen trees of it in Austria 

 loaded with their yellow fruit. A 

 hindrance to success is placing the 

 tree isolated on grass (which gets 

 all the moisture) or in a hungry 

 shrubbery. I have lately seen one 

 in Derbyshire struggling with gor- 

 mandising evergreens, and, though 

 fine in its October hues, in a position 

 where it was almost choked. The con- 

 ditions to ensure success is above all 

 things to get healthy seedling trees, not 

 too large, and for position choose a 

 vale in a sheltered wood ; put enough 

 plants in, do not depend on one or 

 two trees but plant a bold group or 

 colony, so that one can take choice of 

 the strongest as they grow up, putting 

 Larch or other trees between them at 

 first to keep the ground cool, though 

 these can be removed in due time. To 

 establish a group in the pleasure ground 



it is best to keep the soil "open" about 

 the trees, that is to say not in grass, using 

 perennials or other flowers to keep the 

 ground cool and the surfacegreen. The 

 culture of the flowers will help the trees 

 until they are large and deep-rooted 

 enough to stand free upon the turf. 



Forms of the Maidenhair 

 V iyn" Tree (of little value) are 

 sold in nurseries, and seve- 

 ral varieties find a place in the Kew list. 

 They include an upright form — that 

 used in the States for street planting; a 



MAIDENHAIR TREE I LEAF, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT. 



slightly drooping form ; and two or 

 three with leaves variegated orvariously 

 cut. Of these the most distinct is ma- 

 crophylla^ a French variety in which 

 the leaves are much larger, measuring 

 as much as 10 inches in circumference, 

 with two to five lobes and minor sub- 

 divisions. The name Ginkgo has been 

 variously rendered as Ginkoz.n& Gingko, 

 but the first spelling is that of Linnaeus 

 and considered correct. Objecting to 

 the ugliness of the name, Smith changed 

 it to Salisburia adiantifolia — by which 

 the tree is still known in England — but 



z 4 



