148 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A desirable shrub . will grow well in any 
ordinary soil.* 
Broad-leaved Laurel, (Kalrnia latifolia.) A 
low growing shrub, flowers very plentifully, 
foliage lively green. One of the finest na¬ 
tive American plants. 
Fiery Thorn, (Crataegus pyracantha,) a 
showy and very ornamental shrub, worthy a 
place in every garden. 
Red Wood, (Taxodium sempervirens,) a 
very beautiful„tree, the fine foliage of which 
is of a peculiarly delicate green color. This 
is a deciduous—leaf-shedding—plant. 
Rosebay, (Rhododendron Ponticum.)— 
There are many varieties ; all are splendid, 
and cannot be too highly recommended.— 
The soil should be rich, and they thrive best 
planted in masses, and when thus planted, 
in variety, nothing can exceed the splendor 
of their rich foliage. One or more should 
be cultivated by every lover of plants. 
We intend to give in our next, a special ar¬ 
ticle upon the varieties of Rhododendrons, 
manner of cultivating, &c.—E d. 
ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
Tim Bunker says he would give one hund¬ 
red dollars in clean cash if he had the dea¬ 
con’s big elm tree in front of his house. It 
is a noble elm, planted a hundred years ago 
by the deacon’s grand-father, also a deacon 
in the same church, when the sanctuary, 
with its square pews, high galleries and 
sounding-board, was the type of all ornament 
tolerated in things sacred or secular. But 
the first deacon loved shade and meditation 
if he failed to appreciate the beautiful in 
trees, and so planted this elm and the row of 
maples that adorn the street leading from his 
house to the meeting-house. The elm is 
now a very majestic object, and probably no 
one passes under the shadow of its wide¬ 
spread branches, and looks up into its leafy 
arches in summer, without admiring it, and 
blessing the memory of its planter. The 
offer of so conservative a man as Mr. Bunk¬ 
er, is a good indication of its value. Even 
he would shell out the cash if he could rear 
such a noble creation in a day, in front of his 
dwelling. 
A good many of his neighbors would give 
half as much for such an elm, but for some 
strange reason, neither Mr. Bunker nor his 
neighbors plant ornamental trees, though 
they are still plenty enough in the forests, 
and the nurseries have them in great variety, 
for a mere trifle. It does not occur to them 
that time will make of the humblest sapling 
as lordly a tree, and as graceful in its pro¬ 
portions as the big elm. They have only to 
plant it in good soil, and guard it against in¬ 
jury, and nature will do the rest without 
compensation. Every year will add to its 
gracefulness, and to the value of the home¬ 
stead that it adorns. The time has come 
when farmers should think more of planting 
ornamental trees as a matter of economy. 
They can be planted at the road side with 
little disadvantage to the adjacent land. If 
maples are planted they will in a few years 
be yielding sugar. If elms, they will soon 
turn a barren and uninteresting road into a 
graceful, shaded avenue, in the summer. It 
should be a part of the settled policy of eve¬ 
ry farmer to adorn all the roads leading 
through his farm in this manner. If he con¬ 
tinues in possession, these trees will be ob¬ 
jects of interest to make his home attractive 
as long as he lives. If he removes, his 
place will be more saleable to any reasona¬ 
ble purchaser. We are sorry to make this 
latter supposition, but the truth probably is 
that a large majority of all the farmers in 
the east do not feel settled for life. They 
purpose, if they can ever sell their farms to 
good advantage, to look up a new home, and 
this feeling of unrest is the bane of all per¬ 
manent improvement and ornament upon 
the farm. We heartily wish our farming 
population, at least the middle-aged portion 
of them, could feel settled. They would 
then plant orchards and ornamental trees, 
and make their homes attractive. Let the 
good work be commenced this month. 
For a description of some of the best kinds 
of shade trees, see other articles on the 
same subject in this number.—E d. 
WHAT SHADE TREES TO SELECT. 
This month is especially adapted to setting 
out shade trees, and notwithstanding 
other articles in this number, we will add 
something more on the. same subject. In 
December we published a very carefully pre¬ 
pared article describing those trees best 
suited for public and private grounds, which 
gives a direct answer to a dozen letters of 
inquiry received during a few days past, and 
we cannot do better than to reprint apart of 
that article, especially as it will in this num¬ 
ber reach many hundreds of new readers. 
A smaller class of trees is required for 
the streets of cities and compact towns, than 
for parks, and for more thinly settled villages, 
and the grounds surrounding rural residen¬ 
ces, where there is abundance of room. 
For compact streets, we recommend the 
following as among, the best : Oriental 
Plains, Paulovvnias, Oatalpas, and the Silver- 
leaf Poplar. 
The Oriental Plain is a pyramidal tree, 
with clean stem and foliage, is scarcely ex¬ 
ceeded in the rapidity of its growth, and has 
as yet no insect enemy. 
The Paulowniais of very rapid growth, 
has a large leaf, often two or more feet in 
diameter on young trees. We measured 
some of them last season that were over 
two feet in diameter. The size of the leaves 
diminishes with the growth of the tree. The 
leaves resemble the ordinary Palm leaf fan. 
The tree is perfectly hardy, though introdu¬ 
ced originally from the climate of Japan ; and 
it is chiefly remarkable for the exceeding 
beauty of its flowers, which before the leaves 
appear in the Spring, cover the trees in large 
clusters, from six to nine inches in length. 
The flowers are of a rich purple color, and 
fill the whole air around them with fragrance. 
This tree bids fair to supplant the Ailantus. 
as it grows quite as rapidly, excels it in 
many things, and is without its objectionable 
features. 
The Catalpa is more generally known, and 
need not be described. The only objection 
to this tree is that its “pods” or seed ves¬ 
sels furnish the rudiments of cigars to 
“Young America.” 
The Abele, or Silver Leaf Poplar, grows 
as rapidly as any one of the others. The 
upper side of the leaf is of a rich dark green, 
the under side a silver white, and the con¬ 
trast of these colors produces a pleasing ef¬ 
fect upon the eye, when the leaves are set in 
motion by the wind. It is, however, only fit 
for paved streets, on account of the multi¬ 
tude of suckers it throws up from open 
ground. 
For open streets and grounds the follow¬ 
ing list comprises the most choice collection ; 
we place first in order those which we con¬ 
sider the best, all things taken into account ; 
Silver-leaf Maple, Oriental Plain, English 
and American Elms, Tulip-trees, Sycamore 
Maples, SugarMaples, Pin Oak, Scarlet Oak, 
Burr Oak, Catalpa, Linden, Deciduous Cy¬ 
press, Liquidamber or Sweet-gum, Labur¬ 
num, Cucumber Magnolia, Kentucky Coffee- 
tree, &c. This list embraces all those rec¬ 
ommended for streets, except the Silver-leaf 
Popular, which is left out for reasons given 
above. 
The Silver-leaf Maple in its foliage some¬ 
what resembles the Silver-leaf Poplar, and 
is by many persons preferred to it. It is the 
most rapid growing of the Maples. 
The other Maples are well known as strong 
robust growing trees, with thick, dense fol¬ 
iage, holding on to late in the autumn ; and 
they are among the most desirable of shade 
trees. 
The Elms are well known—the American 
for its gothic arch, and the English for its 
dense foliage. 
The Oaks are of a more slow growth, and 
are well known. The Pin Oak is the finest 
of them, on account of pyramidal form, and 
glossy foliage. 
The Linden, (bass-wood.) is known for its 
symmetry of form, and the Mountain Ash 
for its beautiful red berries. 
The Deciduous Cypress has a soft feath¬ 
ery foliage, of a delightful light green, and 
very unique in its character. 
The Liquidambar, or Sweet-gum, has a 
star leaf, which assumes a beautiful red tint 
in autumn. This is one of the finest native 
trees, and is not half as well appreciated as 
it should be. 
The Laburnum is noted for the abundant 
clusters of rich yellow flowers with which 
it is clothed in June. 
The Cucumber Magnolia is a tall growing 
tree, with large leaves and symmetrical 
habit. 
The Kentucky Coffee is a handsome tree, 
its light foliage somewhat resembling the 
Locust. It produces a bean which was used 
as coffee by the early settlers.— Ed. 
SCYTHE AND MACHINE MOWING, 
Father Buckminister is down upon the 
mowing machines. What ails the man 1 He 
seems to think scythe mowing as cheap as 
machine ; and so far as the past is concerned, 
he may not be far from right; but it can not 
he so in the future. The machines we 
must have. Any machine, which, in our 
hurried climate, substitutes brute fpr human 
