58 
otherwise abnormal, or with double or other unusual flowers, or with im¬ 
proved fruits. Little has yet been done anywhere to propagate trees 
with exceptionally brilliant autumn foliage, but the fleld is an interest¬ 
ing and an important one for the makers of autumn gardens. That 
the making of such gardens will sooner or later receive attention in 
this country there can be little doubt, for the pleasantest months of 
the year in eastern North America are the autumn months, and in no 
other part of the world is the autumn foliage so brilliant and varied, 
and nowhere else are the fruits of trees and shrubs more abundant, 
varied and interesting. 
The “Flowering” Dogwoods. Among the smaller trees with scarlet 
or crimson autumn foliage none is more beautiful now than the so-called 
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus fiorida) which is unusually brilliant this 
year in its shades of crimson, scarlet and green. Its autumn beauty 
is increased by the contrast of the color on the upper and lower sur¬ 
faces of the leaves for only the upper surface changes color, the lower 
surface retaining the pale sometimes nearly white color of the sum¬ 
mer. For regions with a winter climate as severe as that of eastern 
Massachusetts the eastern Asiatic relative {Cornus kousa) of the native 
Flowering Dogwood is a more reliable plant. It is a smaller tree than 
the eastern American plant; the leaves turn as brilliantly in the autumn; 
the flower-buds are not killed or injured by the severest cold of our 
winters, and open from two to three weeks later, and the floral bracts 
which surround the clusters of small flowers and are the conspicuous 
feature of the inflorescence are narrower, further apart and pointed, 
not broad and rounded, at the apex. The fruit is even handsomer than 
that of the American plant for the individual fruits are united into a 
globose scarlet head which is raised on a long slender erect stem and 
are not, like those of the American plant, in clusters of separate fruits. 
The form discovered and introduced by Wilson from western China 
promises to be even a better plant in this climate than the Japanese 
form, for it appears to be equally hardy, and the floral bracts are larger 
and overlap below the middle, forming a cup like those of the Amer¬ 
ican species. This plant is still rare, but as it produces good crops of 
seeds in the Arboretum it is to be hoped that it will soon be within 
the reach of lovers of handsome hardy trees. 
The Sassafras. There is now no more beautiful tree on the margins 
of New England woods and by New England roadsides than the Sassa¬ 
fras, as the leaves have turned or are turning orange or yellow more 
or less tinged with red. The autumn colors of several trees are more 
brilliant but none of them equal the Sassafras in the warmth and del¬ 
icacy of their autumn dress. The Sassafras is a handsome tree at other 
seasons of the year. In winter it is conspicuous by its deeply fur¬ 
rowed, dark cinnamon-gray bark and slender light green branchlets; 
in early spring before the leaves appear it is covered with innumer¬ 
able clusters of small bright yellow flowers which make it at that 
season a conspicuous and delightful object. The leaves are thick, dark 
green and lustrous above, paler below, and vary remarkably in shape 
as they are sometimes deeply three-lobed at the apex and sometimes 
entire without a trace of lobes. The fruit is a bright blue berry sur- 
