BULLETIN NO. 55. 
The number of trees and shrubs really valuable here which western 
Europe has contributed to New England plantations and gardens is not 
large. Of the trees the Beech, two or three of the Elms, the Birches, 
the Mountain Ash, the Laburnums, the Norway Maple, the Hawthorn, 
the Hornbeam, the Poplar, several Willows, the Alder, two or three 
of the Cherries, the Plum, the Apple and the Pear flourish in this 
climate. Although some of them will drag out a more or less un- 
happy existence for several years, the Oaks of western Europe, the 
Ash, the Sycamore Maple, and all the conifers are not desirable trees 
for our region. From western Europe, too, we have obtained a few 
shrubs which are important in New England gardens. The Heather 
gives summer brightness to New England gardens and hillsides, and 
the little Daphne cneorum, a native of the mountains of central Europe, 
is now covered with its clusters of fragrant rose-pink flowers. One of 
the most beautiful of all dwarf shrubs suitable for the decoration of 
the rock-garden, it is rather capricious as to soil and situation, and 
does not always flourish in this country as well as it does in the Ar- 
boretum. 
None of the Barberries which have been brought into our gardens in 
the last thirty years is more useful than the comipon European 
Berberis vulgaris which has long been naturalized in eastern Massa- 
chusetts and years ago was selected by one of the wise men of Bos- 
ton as a typical New England plant for the decoration of a monument 
to be erected to some departed New England worthy. For thirty 
years, too, much attention has been paid to the introduction and culti- 
vation of the different species of Privet from eastern Asia, but there 
is not one among them which is as valuable in New England as the 
common Privet of Europe which must have been cultivated here for 
two hundred years and is now sparingly naturalized in some of the 
eastern states. The black and shining berries in large terminal clus- 
ters are unsurpassed in beauty by those of any other black-fruited 
shrub which can be grown here, and as they remain in good condition 
until into the winter they are valuable on the plants and, when cut, 
for late autumn and early winter decorations. Among the shrubs of 
western Europe which are really valuable in New England must be in- 
cluded the Wayfaring-tree, Viburnum Lantana. With the exception 
of the Korean Viburnum Carlesii mentioned in a recent bulletin, and 
of our native northern Hobblebush, Viburnum alnifolium, the Wayfar- 
ing-tree is the earliest of the Viburnums to flower. It is a tall, com- 
pact, round-headed shrub with large, thick, dark green leaves and 
broad, compact, convex clusters of white flowers. The fruit when 
fully grown is bright red but finally turns black, fruits of the two 
colors often appearing at the same time in the same cluster. This 
shrub is therefore as beautiful in the early autumn as it is in the 
middle of May; it can be seen in the general Viburnum collection near 
the junction of the Bussey Hill and Valley Roads, and it has been 
largely planted in the Boston parks. Near it and just coming into 
flower are several plants of Viburnum burejaeticum from Manchuria, 
Korea, and northern China. This is a neat shrub with small leaves 
and small compact clusters of creamy white flowers which are followed 
by small black fruits. As compared with most of the American Vibur- 
