60 
suffer from drought and insufficient nourishment. They are particularly 
liable to attacks of the San Jose scale, and in order to secure healthy 
plants it is important to spray them late in March or early in April 
with lime-sulphur. 
Viburnum prunifolium, often called Black Haw, is perhaps one of 
the handsomest of the small trees or large shrubs in the Arboretum 
with scarlet or purple leaves which are just turning. A common plant 
on hillsides in the middle Atlantic states the Black Haw, although not 
a native of Massachusetts, is hardy here and well deserves cultivation 
for it is an object of interest from early spring until the beginning of 
winter. The leaves are thick, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous 
above and pale below. The flowers are white, in slightly convex clus- 
ters, and these are followed by fruit pink at first when fully grown, 
becoming dark blue and covered with a glaucous bloom when ripe and 
persistent on the branches until winter. A southern representative of 
this plant with which it was long confounded is now called Viburnum 
rufidulum and is a larger and handsomer tree with thicker and more 
lustrous leaves which turn deep purple in the autumn. This tree, which 
under favorable circumstances becomes the largest and is perhaps the 
handsomest of all American Viburnums, is easily recognized by the 
large russet brown felt which covers the winter-buds. V. rufidulum 
grows in the .Arboretum where it flowers and ripens its fruit, but it 
is doubtful if it ever becomes more than a medium-sized shrub here. 
The leaves in autumn of some of the American Azaleas are almost 
as brilliant as those of Rhododendron japonicum. Perhaps the most 
brilliant of these is the late-blooming, yellow or flame-colored Rhodo- 
dendron calendulaceum which equals some of the other shrubs of the 
family which are unsurpassed in beauty during several months. 
None is more beautiful in the autumn than the crimson or purple of 
the leaves of the Highbush Blueberry so-called, Vaccinium corymbosum. 
This plant is handsome, too, in early spring when its white bell-shaped 
flowers open, and in August or September when the blue-black fruit 
covers the branches. A native of swamps, the Highbush Blueberry 
grows equally well in dry gravelly ground, and the best plants in the 
Arboretum are on Bussey Hill near the entrance to Azalea Path and 
opposite the overlook. The autumn color of the other northern Blue- 
berries and Huckleberries is as brilliant as that of the Highbush Blue- 
berry and some of them, especially Vaccinium pennsylvanicum, are 
invaluable for covering dry ground under Oaks and other hardwood 
trees. The white flowers are attractive; the bluish black berries, which 
are the earliest Blueberries to ripen, have a fair flavor and during a 
month or more in autumn the plants form broad masses of scarlet only 
a few inches high and more brilliant in color than the flowers of the 
Heather on the Highlands of Scotland. Every encouragement with good 
results has been given in the Arboretum to the spreading of these 
Blueberries. 
