DECIDUOUS TREES. 
13 
attractive contrast with the green of other trees. The cnt-leaved 
( incisa ) forms, while young, a vigorous, well-marked tree with 
leaves variously cut, resembling in some cases ferns, in others 
willows ; as it gets age, however, these markings of the foliage 
become less and less distinct. The crested, silver, and gold- 
striped leaved varieties are all singular and pretty, but their 
growth is feeble, rendering them only desirable for an arboretum. 
The oak-leaved (quercifolia) and large-leaved (macrophylla) are 
varieties of comparatively new introduction, and may prove 
valuable for general planting, but as yet it can only be advisable 
to give them place in large grounds. 
Birch — Betula. — Few of our native trees grow more rapidly 
while young, or are more easily transplanted than the birch. It 
grows freely in any soil, not wet ; and where a graceful, light- 
foliaged tree is wanted, few have better claims on the planter’s 
attention. There are many varieties, some of them growing only 
a few feet high, as fruticosa , nana, etc. ; but the common black 
birch (nigra), and the tall birch (< excelsa ), together with the 
European white birch (alba), are the varieties most in use. They 
are admirable for crowning a rocky point or ledge ; for grouping 
with the larch or hemlock, and by their pensile spray and 
adaptation to poor soils well suited for planting in cemeteries. 
In autumn, the foliage when about to drop olf becomes a bright 
yellow or scarlet. 
Butternut — Juglans cinerea . — Although not strictly to be 
classed among ornamental trees, yet the rapidity of growth 
while young, the habit of early bearing, together with the great 
value of its fruit, make the butternut a tree desirable to plant 
wherever a suitable place can be found. Its branches spread 
out horizontally, so that often the tree has more breadth than 
height, and its foliage is so sparse that it must not be counted 
upon as a shade under which to rest from the noonday sun but 
if there is a rich spot of ground — for it requires rich soil — where 
