PARK AND CEMETERY. 
183 
There is a city not very far west that boasts itself 
to be of the east, that has encircled itself with a 
boulevard for pleasure traffic. There is at least 
one stretch of it a mile or so long passing through 
broken ground on a regular incline; and the effect 
is near as restful and inviting as that of any railway 
embankment of them all. But whether this be the 
reason or not, or all or only part of it, surely most 
people will agree that the u.'^e of a moderate 
amount of taste and skill in defining the lines of 
our public ways would make them vastly more 
agreeable to the eye and even to traffic. If the 
engineer is not able to accomplish this result, he 
ought to call in the help of someone who can; and 
those who are responsible for his work ought to 
see that he does so. H. A. Cnparn. 
FLOWERING TREES FOR ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 
—NO. 1. 
First in the list of floweiing trees for parks and 
gardens comes that extensive branch of ihe rose 
family, to which we give the name of Prunus 
Probably no other genus furnishes so many beauti- 
ful small trees, valuable for their early bloom ard 
decorative effect. The Japanese employ no plants 
so extensively for pure ornament. Plums, al- 
monds, peaches, nectarines, apricots and cherries 
are all included in this genus to the confusion of 
the amateur botanist, who does not see why the 
name Prunus, which he has been accustomed to 
associate with plums alone, should embrace so 
many other and such widely different kinds of 
fruit. Some botanists have tried to simplify mat- 
ters by giving cherries the sub-title of Cerasus, 
and peaches that of Amygdalus, but the great 
authorities tack the generic term of Prunus on to 
them all, and we lesser lights can only follow in 
their tracks. 
It is just as well to inform the ignorant, how- 
ever, that the nurserymen’s catalogues frequently 
drop the Prunus entirely, and describe cherries and 
peaches by their sub-title alone. 
But to go back to the Japanese who are, prob- 
ably, the most testhetic people on the earth, espe- 
cially in the art of landscape gardening. The 
Prunus group furnishes them with what they call 
their royal flower, the cherry blossom. But I be- 
lieve they thus honor more than one species of the 
genus. 
When the “Cherry” blooms they make holiday 
and repair to their parks and gardens to “view’’ 
the flowers, for that is what they call it. Their 
young men and maidens adorn themselves with 
garlands of blossoms and their poets hang verses 
in honor of the cherry on the branches of the trees_ 
Prunus mume is the name they give to their 
favorite species. I do not know whether this tree 
is offered for sale by any American nurseryman, 
but Mr. Watson, of Kew, describing it in Garden 
and Forest, said that it was distributed some years 
ago by Messrs. Baltel Bros., of Troyes, in France, 
under the name of Prunus myrobolan flore pleno. 
The Japanese nurserymen offer named varieties 
of these trees with flowers varying from white to 
rose purple. The flowers are as large as those of 
the almond, semi-double and delicately fragrant. 
It blooms very early before the leaves appear, 
Mr. Watson says: “It is distinguishable by the 
pale green color of its twigs, the long, pointed, 
apricot-like form of its leaves, and its globose, 
slightly velvety fruits, containing oval convex 
stones. ” 
Another favorite tree of the Japanese is Primus 
Pseudo-cerasus. It was introduced into England 
some years ago by Mr. Anthony Waterer, of the 
Knap Hill nurseries, where it is called Prunus 
Watereri. It blooms in April and has beautiful 
large flowers in crowded clusters. The Japanese 
nurserymen offer about a dozen named varieties of 
these trees, with white, pink, greenish-white, single 
and double flowers. Mr. Watson speaks of a yel- 
low-flowered variety at Kew Gardens. 
The tree is the largest member of the rose fam- 
ily known to Japan, and, next to the apricot, is 
more cultivated for its flowers than any other tree. 
In the forests of Yezo Prunus Pseudo-cerasus oc- 
casionally rises to the height of 80 feet and forms a 
trunk three feet in diameter. “Early in the fall the 
foliage of this tree turns to deep scarlet and lights 
up the forest before the maples assume their 
brightest colors.” I must not forget to state that 
the three first described in this article under the 
Japanese name of Prunus Mume is a species of 
apricot and it is to this tree that Mr. Sargent re- 
fers as the favorite tree of the Japanese. 
There is a mystery surrounding the origin of 
the Myrobolan plum, P. Myrobolana. It has been 
accredited to North ikmerica, but has not yet been 
found wild there. Seeds without name which 
were sent to the xVrnold arboretum by M. Leicht- 
lin, said to have been collected in Turkestan, pro- 
duced plants of this species. 
Prunus Pissardii, so generally offered by deal- 
ers under the name of the Purple-leaved plum, is a 
variety of this species. “It is recorded, “says Mr. 
Jack, “that it was first sent to France by M. Pis- 
sard from Persia, when he was gardener to the 
Shah.” 
As grown in our gardens this plum is a small 
tree about twelve feet in height, clothed early in 
