56 
eastern Asia can only reach other gardens slowly for the plants in a 
large collection like that of the Arboretum hybridize so persistently 
that seedlings raised from seeds produced here are' rarely like the seed 
parents, and the Arboretum Crab apples in their true form can only be 
obtained by grafting or budding. 
Chinese Cotoneasters. The handsomest shrub in the Arboretum dur- 
ing nearly the entire month of September was a form from western 
China of Cotoneaster racemifiora which has been called variety soongor- 
ica. It is a tall shrub with spreading and drooping stems, pale 
leaves, white flowers, and large bright red fruits which completely 
cover the branches. Some of the Chinese species have more conspic- 
uous flowers and handsomer foliage, but none of them have yet equalled 
in the Arboretum this inhabitant of the dry arid river valleys of west- 
ern Szech’uan in the size, brilliancy and abundance of their fruits. 
Cotoneaster divaricata. Of the large-growing Chinese species this is 
perhaps the handsomest at this time, for the small bright red fruits 
which are produced in great abundance make a handsome contrast with 
the small, dark green, shining leaves. The flowers of this shrub are 
small and bright rose color. The new Chinese Cotoneasters are best 
seen on the southern slope of Bussey Hill, and the collection will repay 
careful study as it contains some of the most valuable shrubs for 
American gardens of recent introduction. 
The Sassafras. There is now no more beautiful tree on the margins 
of New England woods and by New England roadsides than the Sas- 
safras, as the leaves have turned or are turning orange or yellow more 
or less tinged with red. The autumn -colors of several trees are more 
brilliant but none of them equal the Sassafras in the warmth and deli- 
cacy of their autumn dress. The Sassafras is a handsome tree at other 
seasons of the year. In winter it is conspicuous by its deeply furrowed, 
dark cinnamon-gray bark and slender light green branches; in early 
spring before the leaves appear it is covered with innumerable clus- 
ters of small bright yellow flowers which make it at that season a 
conspicuous and delightful object. The leaves are thick, dark green 
and lustrous above, paler below, and vary remarkably in shape as they 
are sometimes deeply three-lobed at the apex and sometimes entire 
without a trace of lobes. The fruit is a bright blue berry surrounded 
at the base by the much enlarged and thickened scarlet calyx of the 
flower and raised on a long bright red stalk. No other northern tree 
produces such brilliantly colored fruit. Unfortunately there is little 
time to enjoy it for the birds eagerly seek it as it ripens. The living 
wood of the Sassafras is not attacked by borers and the leaves 
are not destroyed and are rarely disfigured by insects. The thick 
spongy roots of the Sassafras produce suckers freely and these with a 
little care can be easily and safely transplanted. How many persons 
now plant the Sassafras and in what American nursery can it be found? 
It was, however, one of the first North American trees carried to 
Europe as it was established in England some time before the middle 
of the seventeenth century. The American tree was believed to be 
the only Sassafras until 1879 when another species, S. tzumv, was dis- 
co-'ernd in c^ntrai Chir-a. This tree is now in the Arboretum but its 
ability to gi'O'v neie has not yet been established. 
