36 
they are among the most valuable trees which have been brought 
here from foreign countries. The most satisfactory of them here 
is Tilia vulgaris, a widely distributed but rather rare tree in Eu- 
rope and believed to be a natural hybrid between the other western 
European species T. platyphyllos and T. cordata. There are large 
specimens of this Linden in the suburbs of Boston. No American 
Horsechestnut or Buckeye can compare in size or in the beauty of its 
flowers with the species of southwestern Europe {Aesculus Hippocas- 
tanum), which is well known to many Americans who have never heard 
that there were Horsechestnut-trees growing naturally in the United 
States. The European Horsechestnut is another of the great trees of 
the world. It is as much at home here and growls to as large a size 
as it does in western Europe. Few trees have more conspicuous flow- 
ers or foliage of deeper green. It thrives, however, only in deep rich 
soil and usually resents city conditions. In some old gardens in Salem, 
however, there are as noble Horsechestnuts as can be found in the 
United States or Great Britain. It is a miserable street tree, as can 
be seen in Paris, w’here the leaves turn brown and fall by midsummer, 
and in New York and Boston where fortunately it has not been gen- 
erally planted. Among the Maples of large size w^hich have been 
planted in the eastern states only the so-called Norw-ay Maple {Acer 
platanoides) has shown real power to flourish here. It is a smaller and 
less beautiful tree than the native Sugar Maple, but the Sugar Maple, 
too, resents city conditions and objects to living at the seashore, and 
as the Norway Maple has proved a valuable tree for city and seashore 
planting it must be considered one of the really valuable foreign trees 
introduced into this country. The Old World Walnut-tree {Juglans 
regia) sometimes called English Walnut or Persian Walnut, although 
it is a native of China, is a handsomer and more valuable tree than 
any of the American Walnut-trees, but unfortunately it is only doubt- 
fully hardy in the northeastern states and will probably never grow 
to a large size here or produce the great crops of nuts and the timber 
which make this such a useful tree in many parts of the world. Chest- 
nut-trees (Castanea) are fast disappearing from the United States 
as the Chestnut-tree disease spreads, and there is now little interest 
in drawing a comparison between the American and foreign species. 
The European Chestnut is not hardy in Massachusetts. The Japanese 
Chestnut is a small tree of no great value, and the Chinese Castanea 
mollissima, which it is hoped may prove resistant to the disease, has 
only been in the country for fifteen years. It has proved hardy in the 
Arboretum and produces a little fruit here. 
It appears therefore from the experience gained in Massachusetts 
during about a century that only the following deciduous-leaved trees 
of large size have proved themselves to be worth general planting in 
the northeastern states for ornament or timber: — the Gingko, the 
Pseudolarix, the European Larch, three species of Poplar, three Wil- 
lows and their hybrids, the Cercidiphyllum, the White Mulberry, the 
Ailanthus, the European Beech, the English Elm, one Birch, three 
Lindens, the European Horsechestnut, and the Norway Maple, twenty 
in all. At the end of another century the record of the Arboretum 
will, it is to be hoped, be able to tell a story of greater successes. 
