63 
This tree is interesting as a conspicuous feature of the Texas flora, 
but less ornamental and less valuable as a fruit tree than most of the 
tree plums of the United States. Among the hybrids which have ap- 
peared from time to time in the Rochester parks is one between the 
Beach Plum (P. maritima) common on the northeast coast and the Wild 
Plum of the eastern states (P. americana) . This hybrid is a bush five 
or six feet tall and eight or ten feet through the branches; it bears 
large crops of purplish fruit intermediate in size between that of its 
parents, and of better quality than that of either of them. Judging 
by the fruitfulness of this hybrid at Rochester it should prove a valu- 
able plant for small gardens. 
All the Plums which have been brought to Rochester from the south- 
west are growing in the Arboretum, but Boston is not sufficiently civ- 
ilized to see and enjoy these plants at the season when they are most 
interesting, and in the case of several species most beautiful. In Roch- 
ester Plum-trees loaded with ripe and tempting fruit standing close to 
the sidewalks of streets near the parks and without the protection of 
a fence are not interfered with or injured. The fruit is there for the 
public to look at and enjoy, and spring and autumn throngs of visitors 
enjoy these wonderful plants. In the Arboretum it has been found 
necessary, in order to save the trees from injury, to pick every plum 
and cherry as they begin to color. Boys, and they are not always 
boys, break down the branches in their efforts to secure the half ripe 
fruit. Two years ago the best plant of Prunus hortulana in cultiva- 
tion which had been growing in the Arboretum for twenty-eight years 
was so broken down that it was necessary to destroy it. It is the 
business of the Arboretum to furnish information about trees, and it 
is the public which suffers when the Arboretum is not protected from 
the public by the police and the courts. 
Street Trees. There is at present a widespread interest in the United 
States in Nut-trees and their cultivation, and the general planting of 
Walnut and Hickory-trees on country roadsides in some of the northern 
states has been advocated. There are objections, however, to the use 
of these trees for such a purpose. Walnut and Hickory- trees are diffi- 
cult to transplant, and the best success is obtained by planting one or 
two-year-old seedlings, that is plants only a few inches high. Such 
small plants must be kept clear of weeds and encroaching shrubs by 
which they might be easily destroyed, and with the best of care they 
would not be large enough to give much shade or produce many nuts 
in less than twenty-five or thirty years. The difficulty of growing the 
young trees can of course be overcome if cost is not considered; more 
difficult will be the protection of the trees when they bear nuts. Nuts 
are assiduously sought by men and boys who do not hesitate to break 
down nut-trees wherever they are left unprotected, and as the number 
of motor cars increase on country roads the facilities for robbing the 
trees will also increase. 
The selection of trees for street and roadside planting presents many 
difficulties. In the interior of large cities, especially in those where 
bituminous coal is principally used, the Ailanthus is best able of all 
