382 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
In order to avoid the appearance of nakedness, 
numerous small trees are planted, the owner think¬ 
ing that he can thin them in time ; this he rarely 
does, but the trees grow up together, forming a 
thicket which is without beauty, and producing a 
shade so dense that nothing can grow beneath it. 
To plant a small area, even if it be only a village 
front yard, requires that some thought be given to 
a selection of trees and shrubs appropriate to the 
situation. The number of trees, both evergreen 
and deciduous, that attain only a moderate size, 
and present a pleasing outline, and beauty of foli¬ 
age, has increased very much of late years, and 
there is now no difficulty in procuring a large va¬ 
riety of trees and shrubs suited to the decoration of 
small grounds. In a recent visit to the Kissena 
Nurseries, Flushing, (L. I.), N. Y., we were struck 
with the attention given by the proprietors, M essrs. 
S. B. Parsons & Sons, to supplying the needs of the 
owners of small grounds. They do not, of course, 
neglect the larger trees—indeed, they make a spe¬ 
cialty of those suited for streets and avenues, but 
they seem to have brought together an unusual 
number of species and varieties of moderate growth. 
We shall have something to say about some of the 
less common and small evergreens at another 
time. Among the deciduous trees the most desir¬ 
able for a small place are those, which by their 
flowers, or some peculiarity of foliage, invite a close 
inspection, and if those are selected which flower 
when quite small, they may by proper pruning of 
Toot and branch, be kept at any desired size. The 
difference between tree and shrub is not very well 
defined, and refers more to habit of growth than to 
size. There are some trees that may be kept in the 
form of shrubs ; the Sorrel-tree, which in some of 
of the Southern States reaches 60 feet, will flower 
Fig. 3.— JAPANESE MAPLE, VARIEGATED. 
freely when 3 to 5 feet high, and may be always 
kept as a bush. The Japan Judas-tree, the Snow¬ 
drop-tree, ( Halesia ,) the Smoke-tree, the Fringe- 
tree, ( Chionanthus ,) and the Hawthorns, are other 
trees that may be made to adapt themselves to 
small places, and the list might be much increased. 
In view of the need of highly ornamental trees of 
moderate size, we especially welcome the new 
Japanese Maples, the introduction of which, so far 
as this country is concerned, is due to Mr. Thomas 
Hogg. There are numerous species of Maple in 
Japan, but what is called Acer polymorphum is espe¬ 
cially given to variation, and its numerous forms 
have long been favorite trees with the Japanese, 
and their gardeners have discovered or produced a 
number with foliage presenting a great variety in 
form and color. As there is some doubt, as to 
what species these garden forms are derived from, 
there being evidently three or more concerned, it is 
sufficient for garden uses, to call them as a class 
“ Japanese Maples,” and we hope that they may 
become sufficiently popular to make it necessary to 
give the individual forms distinctive common names. 
One variety is catalogued as Acer polymorphum dis- 
sectum roseo pictis; this is descriptive, but can 
hardly be called handy as a name to use frequent¬ 
ly. However, this is a matter that will cure itself. 
These maples have passed into the hands of S. B. 
Parsons & Sons, who are now multiplying them as 
rapidly as possible. A wood engraving, while it 
shows the form, altogether fails to give an idea of 
the colors of the foliage of these remarkable trees. 
Some have all the season the rich tints which we so 
admire for a few days in autumn, in our own ma¬ 
ples ; others give the most delicate markings of 
Fig. 4.— JAPANESE MAPLE, DISSECTED. 
green and white, others rose-colored and white, and 
when these colors are presented upon leaves so 
delicately cut that they appear like some costly 
fabric, rather than the foliage of a hardy tree, it is 
hardly possible to imagine anything more beautiful. 
It is an established fact that these trees are hardy, 
and another, that they can be multiplied with no 
great difficulty, and there seems to be no good rea¬ 
son why they should not become as popular as they 
are beautiful. Of course they can not be bought as 
cheaply as the common Red, or the Silver-leaved 
maples, but the prices at which they are offered are 
not so high as to place them beyond the reach of 
persons of moderate means. When one is beautify¬ 
ing the surroundings of his home, a work that once 
well done, is done for a lifetime, the difference in 
the cost between the choicest and the common, is 
not worthy of consideration. The engravings give 
some of the forms presented by the leaves of these 
Japanese Maples, selected with a view to show the 
extremes, from the most nearly entire, to the most 
finely dissected. Messrs. Parsons & Sons exhibited 
a set of these maples on the Centennial grounds, 
last year, but as with many other trees, the long 
continued drouth greatly injured their foliage, and 
they appeared to much less advantage than did 
those shown at the exhibition of the N. Y. Horti¬ 
cultural Society last fall, where they were one of 
the centers of attraction at that unusually fine dis¬ 
play. They can be seen at any time during the 
growing season, in the nursery grounds at Kissena, 
j and an inspection of these only, would repay any 
lover of fine plants for the trouble of a visit; but 
there are many other choice things to be seen there, 
about which we may say a word at another time. 
Notes from the Pines. 
The “Notes ” this time, though “from,” are not 
of “The Pines.” Some botanical work in hand, made 
it necessary to consult Doct. Gray’s herbarium, or 
as it is now properly called, the Herbarium of Har¬ 
vard University, and this kept me at Cambridge and 
vicinity for several days in the middle of August. 
As but few of your readers are familiar with the 
locality, it may be well to say that all that relates 
to botany at Harvard, is centered at the Botanic 
Garden, more than a mile from the college build¬ 
ings proper. As I entered the garden by a well 
kept drive, I could contrast its present appearance 
with that when I first visited it, now over 30 years 
ago. The house, occupied by Dr. Gray and former¬ 
ly Nuttall, and others, a rickety greenhouse, and a 
shabby house for the gardener, were all the build¬ 
ings at that time. The garden was a dense thicket 
of forest and undergrowth, with a few beds around 
the circular pond. The growth of Doct. Gray’s 
herbarium soon required additions to the house ; 
later a special fire-proof building, a fine hall, with 
a gallery around it, was erected for it; the old 
greenhouse in time gave way to a new and hand¬ 
some structure.—Later still, and within a few 
years, a botanical laboratory and lecture-room 
have been added, and this group of buildings, 
standing upon a terrace, and facingthe garden, pre¬ 
sent an appearance wonderfully in contrast with 
that of 30 or more years ago. It is satisfactory to 
know that the largest herbarium in the country is 
safely housed, and it would be a great relief to bot¬ 
anists to know that Columbia College had made 
similar provisions for the safe keeping of the Tor- 
rey Herbarium, in some respects the most valuable 
of any in the country. In the Herbarium and its 
adjoining studies, Doct. Gray and Prof. Watson are 
doing valuable work, while in the laboratory and 
lecture-room, Prof. Goodale was instructing a large 
class—nearly 40 I think—mainly of teachers. 
The garden itself presents a wonderful contrast 
to its condition ten years ago. Within a few years 
it has been placed in charge of Prof. Chas. S. Sar¬ 
gent, who has made a rearrangement of the grounds, 
and though his plans are far from completed, great 
improvement is already manifest. Much of the 
useless growth has been cut away, and the space 
for borders greatly increased; extensive rock-work 
has been planned and in part executed ; the ponds 
repaired, and order brought out of chaos. In this 
work he has the assistance of William Falconer, 
whose skill as a gardener is attested by the excel¬ 
lent condition of the plants in the houses, as well 
as in the neatness maintained outside. The care 
of the Botanic Garden is but a small portion of 
the labor of Prof. Sargent, who is also Director of 
Tile Arnold Arboretum. 
James Arnold, a wealthy merchant of New Bed¬ 
ford,whose garden was long one of the sights of that 
interesting city, left in his will a handsome sum for 
the establishment and maintenance of an Arbore¬ 
tum. The trustees of this fund finally conveyed it 
to Harvard University. To establish an Arboretum, 
which shall include every woody plant that is hardy 
in its locality, is no small task, and few have any 
idea of the immense amount of preparatory work re¬ 
quired. A large share of the plants needed in such a 
collection, can not be bought at nurseries, or else¬ 
where,but must be raised from seed or otherwise,also 
a large stock must be accumulated for the purpose of 
exchanging with public and private gardens and ar- 
boretums abroad, which contain plants which money 
can not buy, and which can only be had by giving 
an equivalent in other rare plants. It is very for¬ 
tunate that the very initiative of the Arboretum 
was placed in the hands of Prof. Sargent, as there 
are but few who would lay the foundations so 
deep, and begin with the patient and far-seeing 
labor that he has bestowed. It would be very easy 
to make a show with overgrown nursery trees, 
which their owners would be too glad to sell, and 
this is the way in which many would begin ; but 
Prof. Sargent, as the first step, has wisely started 
a nursery from which to draw for the planting of 
the Arnold Arboretum, and what is of quite as much 
importance, it is an accumulated fund to use in ex¬ 
change. At the risk of being somewhat personal, we 
say it is a grand thing to see a man in the prime of 
life, with an enthusiasm which will allow him to work 
for results which can only be seen at the end of ten 
or twenty years, and the full fruition of whose labors 
will only be witnessed by others, long after he has 
been “gathered to his fathers.” The natural growth 
of the tract has been cared for, poor specimens 
thinned out that better ones may develop, and much 
preparatory work of this kind has been done. The 
appreciative visitor will be much interested in the 
Propagating and Nursery Department, 
where, in a goodly range of houses and pits, seed¬ 
lings are raised in thousands, aud when large 
enough transferred to nursery rows. The nursery 
is in exceedingly thrifty condition, and in the va¬ 
riety and rarity of its plants, probably unequaled in 
the country. In this department Prof. Sargent is 
especially fortunate in his foreman, Mr. J. Dawson, 
who is a most enthusiastic and successful cultiva¬ 
tor. .. .As one travels through portions of Eastern 
Massachusetts, he is struck by the great area of 
Unoccupied and Useless Lnnd. 
There will be stretches, sometimes of miles, that 
are quite as wild as any part of the “Fa* West.” 
