PARK AND CEMETERY. 
i6S 
cities to take in hand the work of planting trees 
freely throughout their streets. Trees about three 
inches in diameter and fourteen feet high can be 
planted in a city, including transportation from nur- 
sery, opening and relaying the pavement, providing 
suitable iron box and the necessary earth, at an ex- 
pense of from $5 to $7 each. — Record, Chicago. 
SOPHORA JAPONICA, JAPANESE PAGODA TREE. 
It is with much pleasure I am able to present to 
the readers of Park and Cemetery an illustration 
of the rarelyseen Sophora Japonica, called Japanese 
Pogoda Tree. The lovely specimen, or specimens 
rather, for there are three of them, are growing at 
Belmont, in the West Park, Fairmount, Philadel- 
phia. Mr. C. H. Miller, the superintendent of the 
grounds, thinks the trees all of 75 years old. The 
three trees, by whomsoever 
planted, were set I2 feet apart, 
in triangular shape, and are about 
40 feet high, and spread quite as 
much. In fact such a beautiful 
shady grove do they form, that it 
is a favorite one lor picnic parties, 
as the benches under it indicate. 
The number of bunches of flo wers 
on this group runs into the 
thousands; and when in bloom, 
as it was in August, it was truly 
a magnificent sight. Even in 
late September, when last I saw 
it, the cluster of bladder-like pods 
made a most ornamental display, 
appearing at a distance just like 
clusters of -flowers, and this fea- 
ture it possesses well into Octo 
ber. This tree belongs to the 
natural order Leguminosae, which 
takes in peas and similar plants 
with like flowers. The clusters 
of flowers are cream colored, and when they are so 
abundantly produced as they are this season, the 
display is grand indeed. 
I do not know why it is so scarce in cultivation 
unless it may be because it takes some years before 
it flowers. It has been known in cultivation since 
1763, yet trees of any size are rare even in such a 
centre for rare old trees as Philadelphia. 
It is easy enough at this time to get fair sized 
plants of it, as most nurseries contain it. 
It is probably accustomed to more heat in its 
native country than it gets with us or else the sea- 
son is more prolonged, as the seeds in the trees in 
this park do not ripen unless in unusually favor- 
able seasons. 
When planted alone, where it can develop freely. 
it makes a round headed tree of great beauty, 
usually spreading as many feet as it is in height. 
Besides the common form there is an exceed- 
ingly beautiful weeping variety, Sophora Japonica 
Pendula, which is as pretty in winter, when bereft 
of foliage, as it is in summer, as indeed is the case 
with many other weeping trees. There is besides 
a variegated leaved sort, a species, or variety, I am 
not sure which, called violacea, which is also in 
nurseries in this country. 
The bark of young trees of sophora is quite 
green, much like that of laburnum, and this color 
is retained until the tree is quite large. 
It will interest many readers to know that 
Belmont, where the trees illustrated are growing, 
is quite historic. Belmont Mansion, as the house 
is called, commands a view of a large portion of 
Sophora Japonica— Japanese Pagoda Tree, 
the city of Philadelphia, standing on an elevation 
243 feet above tide level. It was erected by Judge 
Peters in 1745 - Judge Peters, in the days of the 
Revolution and subsequently, entertained a host of 
notable personages within its walls. Franklin, 
Rittenhouse, the astronomer, Bartram, the botanist, 
Wharton and distinguished scientists were frequent 
visitors. Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Talleyrand, 
Louis Phillippe, Robert Morris, John Adams and 
the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
Thomas Jefferson, have all stood within its walls 
and trod its grounds. Washington’s memory is the 
most sacred legacy of these grounds. The biogra- 
pher, Thomas Breck, says of this. “Whenever a 
morning of leisure permitted that great man to 
drive to Belmont, it was his constant habit to do so. 
