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grown on a large scale on the sandy now unused lands of our seacoast 
it will supply the cabinet-maker with wood which in quality and beauty 
equals that of the White Oak, the Black Walnut and the Wild Cherry. 
It is an interesting fact that although the Ailanthus is now known in 
all the countries of the world which enjoy a temperate climate its true 
home in China, that is the region where it is a really wild tree, is still 
unknown to European and American botanists who have now travelled 
in nearly all parts of the Celestial Empire. Two other species of Ail- 
anthus, A. Giraldii and A. Vilmoriniana, are known, however, as wild 
trees in western China. The former which differs in the presence of 
prickles on the branches has not proved hardy in the Arboretum; the 
other, which chiefly differs from the common Ailanthus in the downy 
covering of the young branchlets, is now established here but has not 
yet produced flowers or fruits. 
Mountain Ashes. The abundant flowers on these trees and shrubs 
la^t spring have been followed by an unusally heavy crop of fruit on 
most of the species, and Mountain Ashes have probably never been 
more beautiful in this part' of the country than they are this autumn. 
Their fruit is now the most conspicuous in the Arboretum and deserves 
the attention of persons interested in plants which produce handsome 
and conspicuous fruits. There are two principal groups of Mountain 
Ashes in the Arboretum, one on the bank above the Shrub Collection 
and near the Forest Hills gate and the other on the left hand side of 
the Valley Road near and under the group of Swamp White Oaks. None 
of these plants have more abundant or brilliant fruits in larger clusters 
than the two Mountain Ashes of northeastern North America, Sorbus 
americana and its variety decora with broader leaflets and larger fruits. 
The value of these two trees is increased by the brilliant colors which 
their leaves will take on now in a few days. The various forms of the 
European species, Sorbus Aucuparia, in the collection are all fruiting 
well this autumn, the handsomest perhaps being a tree from northern 
Austria known as var. moravica or dulcis. This is a tall, slender, fast- 
growing tree with smooth bark, leaves with narrower leaflets than those 
of the common form, and larger and sweeter fruit which in its native 
country is used as food. The leaflets of the European Mountain Ash 
vary greatly in width, and in the group near the Forest Hills gate there 
is a nandsome specimen of this tree with exceptionally narrow leaflets. 
The branches of the large plant of the Japanese Sorbus commixta in 
this group have never before been so weighed down by its clusters of 
small fruit although it has been growing in the Arboretum for more 
than thirty years. The bright orange and red autumn colors of the 
leaves add to the value of this tree. Near it a small plant of Sorbus 
amurensis from eastern Siberia is fruiting well for the first time in 
the Arboretum. The plants of Sorbus pekinensis which are in the 
Valley Road-Group have been covered with their large, open, drooping 
clusters of yellow fruit which is now beginning to fall. Both in spring 
and autumn this slender tree with narrow leaflets is handsome and con- 
spicuous. It well deserves a place in collections of such plants. In this 
group, too, Sorbus pohuashanensis, so named from the mountain range 
in northern China, the Pohua-shan, where it was discovered, is covered 
with its erect clusters of large orange-red fruits. It is a handsome plant 
with leaflets broader than those of the common form of the European 
