the clusters of shining scarlet fruits are ripe and the leaves have 
turned scarlet no other small tree is more beautiful here. 
The leaves of the Scarlet Oak ( Quercus coccinea) are still green, or 
are only just beginning to turn, but in a short time this tree will be 
the most brilliant in color of all the Oaks which can be grown in this 
region. The Scarlet Oak is comparatively rare in the immediate 
neighborhood of Boston, but in Plymouth County it is, perhaps, the 
most common Oak tree, and the autumn splendor of the woods in which 
this tree abounds will well repay a late October visit to the Old Colony. 
The leaves of no other shrub in the Arboretum are now so bright 
scarlet as those of the common Highbush Blueberry of New England 
swamps ( Vaccinium corymbosum). This plant has much to recommend 
it for general cultivation; the habit is good, the flowers are beautiful, 
the large bright blue fruits which cover the branches in early summer 
are very handsome and of better quality than those of any other Blue- 
berry, and the autumn foliage is unsurpassed in brilliancy. Young 
plants can be easily transplanted from the swamps and succeed in any 
good garden soil in which they grow rapidly and flower and produce 
fruit in abundance. The Highbush Blueberry has been largely planted 
in the Arboretum shrubberies and there is a group of these plants on 
both sides of Azalea Path at its entrance from the Bussey Hill Road 
at the base of the Overlook. 
Almost as brilliant here as the Highbush Blueberry are the Japanese 
species of Enkianthus winch are established on the lower side of Azalea 
Path. The largest of these, Enkianthus cam,panulatus, is a tall nar- 
row shrub with slender erect stems and drooping clusters of pale, 
Heath-like flowers. Like the other species its greatest beauty, how- 
ever, is in the autumn when the leaves turn bright scarlet. This plant 
and Enkianthus japonicus , a much dwarfer species, are found in all 
Japanese gardens where they are grown for the colors of their autumn 
foliage. Although perfectly hardy and in every way satisfactory 
plants, the different species of Enkianthus are rarely found in Ameri- 
can gardens. 
One of the most interesting shrubs in the Arboretum in early autumn 
is the eastern Asiatic Evonymus alatus for, unlike those of any other 
plant in the collection, the leaves turn a clear rose color. This is a 
large, wide-screading, rather compact shrub with branches furnished 
with broad corky ridges and inconspicuous flowers and fruits. Its fine 
habit and the unusual color of the leaves in autumn are its chief claims 
for attention. Unfortunately the leaves fall early and their period of 
beauty is short. There is a large plant in the Evonymus group on the 
right-hand side of the Meadow Road and another on the left-hand side of 
the Bussey Hill Road above the Lilacs. 
Of the shrubs with leaves which turn orange and scarlet in the autumn 
the most conspicuous now is Fothergilla major. Fothergilla is a genus 
related to the Witch Hazels and is found only in the southeastern United 
States where four species have been distinguished; they bear leaves 
which generally resemble those of the Witch Hazels and showy terminal 
heads of small white flowers which appear in spring before the leaves. 
The largest and the handsomest of the species, Fothergilla major , some- 
times grows to be ten or twelve feet high, and it is the tallest of the 
species which is cultivated here. This and the related Fothergilla mon- 
ticola are mountain species and very hardy here. The other species 
