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number of the trees planted was only limited by the ability of nursery- 
men to supply the demand. The popularity of the Ailanthus in the 
United States, however, was short-lived, for when the trees began to 
flower it was found that some of the flowers emitted a strong and to 
most persons an offensive odor, that the clouds of pollen shed from the 
flowers and the flowers themselves dropping on neighboring roofs so 
affected the water caught on them that it was unfit for use, and that 
the flowers which dropped on the ground made the city sidewalk and 
the country yard unbearably disagreeable. This peculiarity of the 
flowers discovered, the Ailanthus sank rapidly in popular esteem, and 
its general destruction in this country was advocated and put into ex- 
ecution. 
Unpopular as the Ailanthus has become, it is one of the handsomest 
and most valuable trees in the world. Planted in cities it can resist 
better than any other tree heat, drought, dirt, and gas escaping from 
defective pipes which menace the life of city trees. It grows rapidly 
even in the most unpromising situations; it is never seriously injured 
by insects; and few trees can be more easily propagated, for small 
pieces of the root covered with soil will soon grow into plants large 
enough to transplant. The suckers which the Ailanthus produces in 
great numbers from the roots are the real drawback to this tree, but 
when it is planted in city streets they are unable to force their way 
through brick sidewalks and concrete is impervious to them. The male 
and female flowers of the Ailanthus are chiefly produced on different 
trees; only the male flowers have a disagreeable odor and drop to the 
ground. The female flowers are scentless. In the clusters of female 
flowers occasional male flowers are foilnd, but there are so few of these 
that their odor is not perceptible. It is perfectly easy to propagate only 
the female tree which is the one which should be planted, and apart 
from the absence of the disagreeable smell of the flowers it is more 
ornamental than the male for the winged fruit of the Ailanthus pro- 
duced in great terminal clusters is handsome and conspicuous in the late 
summer and autumn. The fruit is usually yellow, but in one variety 
it is bright red (var. erythrocarpa) and more brilliant and conspicuous 
than the fruit of any tree of large size which can be grown in the 
northern states. The leaves of the red-fruited variety are darker on 
the upper surface and paler below than those of the yellow-fruited form; 
and the handsomer leaves and more brilliant fruit make this the desir- 
able form to cultivate. There is certainly no better tree than the Ail- 
anthus to shade the streets of American cities provided they afford 
sufficient room for its development, for the Ailanthus even when it is 
planted in cities may become a tall, wide-branched tree, demanding 
space in which to display all its beauties. Although the attempt 
has not been made on a large scale in this country to fix shifting sand 
dunes by planting the Ailanthus, it has been successfully used for this 
purpose in Europe especially in the neighborhood of Odessa on the Black 
Sea where large plantations of Ailanthus have been successful on sterile 
soil so shifting that other trees have not been able to secure a foot- 
hold on it. The Tree of Heaven produces valuable hard, heavy and 
close-grained wood of a pleasant clear yellow color, resembling that of 
satin wood; it is easily seasoned, and shows as little tendency to shrink 
or warp as the best mahogany. Beautiful furniture has been made 
from Ailanthus-wood raised in New England, and if the tree is ever 
