DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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old, on that account. It is this variety which Coleridge 
pronounces, 
“ Most beautiful 
Of forest trees — the Lady of the woods.” 
And Bernard Barton, speaking of our native species, says, 
“ See the beautiful Birch tree fling 
Its shade on the grass beneath — 
Its glossy leaf, and its silvery stem ; 
Dost thou not love to look on them?” 
The American sorts, and particularly the Black birch, start 
into leaf very early in the spring, and their tender green is 
agreeable to the eye at that season ; while the swelling buds, 
and young foliage in many kinds, give out a delicous, though 
faint perfume. Even the blossoms, which hang like little 
brown tassels from the drooping branches, are interesting to 
the lover of nature. 
“ The fragrant birch above him hung 
Her tassels in the sky, 
And many a vernal blossom sprung, 
And nodded careless by.” 
Bryant. 
Nothing can well be prettier, seen from the windows of the 
drawing-room, than a large group of trees, whose depth and 
distance is made up by the heavy and deep masses of the ash, 
oak, and maple, and the portions nearest the eye or the 
lawn terminated by a few birches, with their sparkling white 
stems, and delicate, airy drooping foliage. Our White birch, 
being a small tree, is very handsome in such situations, and 
