HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 199 
mention his name, without prejudice to his cause. An article would scarcely 
be read that ventured a word in favor of such a tree, and the very mention 
of its name would likely enough induce the reader to turn to the next page. 
This must not be. 
The tree I write of is condemned as a nuisance in our public streets and 
squares, because, in the first place, it is said to have a very disagreeable odor 
when in blossom, and in the second place, because it sometimes throws up 
suckers. I shall show first, that when it exhibits these faults, it is through 
a want of knowledge on the part of its cultivators ; and secondly, that it 
possesses claims as a street tree superior to any tree we have. This is a 
bold position, but we shall see that it is a substantial one. 
In the beginning, be it remembered that the odor of flowers proceed from 
the stamens, or from glands or vessels belonging to, or in company with the 
male organs of plants. The female flowers of the Willow have no smell 
while the male catkins are frequently deliciously fragrant. If we wanted 
a fragrant "VYillow, we should not plant a female, nor vice versa, (learned 
lingo is sometimes convenient.) If you plant male trees, knowing, or in- 
diff"erent to the fact of their fragrance not being of the highest order, and 
that female trees have not a distant relation to an unpleasant class of smells, 
whose is the fault ? The tree or yours? Why, yours, to be sure, yet you 
vent your malediction on the whole stock. You must learn to be more dis- 
criminating in your judgments, less partial in your zeal. 
"But the tree in question throws up suckers." This is an outcry raised 
against many trees. Is there no cause for this phenomenon ? Most assu- 
redly. I transplanted a Persimmon tree last spring, — ^a tree of some size. 
It didn't live, though. Persimmons seldom do. No sooner, however, was the 
sap fairly dry in the trunk, tha,n suckers came out in abundance as far as 
the roots extended. The Persimmon does not throw out suckers under ordi- 
nary circumstances. V/hy it did so on the present occasion is evident. 
From similar observations, I deduce the principle that suckering in trees is 
induced by external causes so acting on the tree as to check the flow of sap 
upward through the trunk or stem, and which sap therefore seeks an outlet 
direct from the main roots, in the shape of suckers. There are very few 
trees indeed, which will not throw up suckers under these circumstances, 
and trees with an abundance of sap vessels in the wood are especially liable. 
A severe winter may kill the wood — it may not kill it outright, only some 
of the vessels may be injured, and although growth goes on the succeeding 
season, it may be far from vigorous, — or it may have been severely pruned, 
or it may have met with injury in many other ways, — these and all are com- 
prised under the term external causes. 
