i^TRY HOji 
Yoii. XXXIX. No. 
Whole No. 1608. 
47 1 
NEW YORK, NOV. 20, 1880. 
i Price Five Cents. 
} $2.00 Per Tear- 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1880, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
Winter nakedness, hut these peculiarities, par¬ 
take after all, of the general characteristics of 
the genus. We feel, besides, that neither pen nor 
pencil can do justice to the subtler qualities of 
a tree. Every one should see a Cut-leaved 
Beech, and thus learn iu reality how excellent 
a tree it is. S. Parsons, Jr, 
The specimen from which our leaves were 
drawn was planted at the Rural Grounds six 
years ago. It i3 now scarcely six feet high, 
though the soil is fairly rich and no other tree 
or sbruh grows near enough to interfere with 
lt3 natural development. But it is just this 
class of trees that should be selected for small 
places—say from one to three acres in extent. 
They are always In beeping—always admit of 
that variety which gives to the owner hundreds 
of plants to see and to study, Instead of limit¬ 
ing him to a few, as must be the case where 
large-growing trees are employed. 
to make the orchard one of the Interests of 
the farm, can rarely be induced to so far in¬ 
form bimBelf as to varieties and management 
as to become qualified to decide and act wisely 
for himself. As a consequence, his selections 
for planting are largely the result of accident; 
or of the advice of the nurseryman or "ped¬ 
dler" who may have an interest iu his choice. 
Hence, conservative and 6low though he may 
be, he too often becomes the victim of sharp¬ 
ers and even swindlers and is not unfre- 
quently imposed upon with wonderful and 
even impossible fruits; sneb as tree straw¬ 
berries; hybrids of the plum and the grape; 
apples without cores; Utah hybrid cherries ; 
curcnlio-proof plums etc., etc., generally at 
prices as fabulous as the alleged qualities of 
the fruits palmed upon him. Occasionally a 
would-be progressive farmer ventures upon 
w hat may be termed a hybrid between farm and 
orchard, making commercial fruit growing a 
sort of adj unct of ihe family orchard. In such 
case, it is too often true that the slow farm¬ 
er’s idea, that "a tree can take care of itself” is 
acted out io the treatment of the orchard, 
» hich. as a very natural if not inevitable re¬ 
sult, becomes a practical and (in all proba¬ 
bility) a pecuniary failure. Somewhat ex¬ 
tended observation would seem to indicate 
that, as a rule, where the two are com¬ 
bined, the management of the orchard is 
rarely kept up to the highest point of effi¬ 
ciency and profit; and that, in case of neg¬ 
lect of either, the orchard is quite sure to be 
the first to suffer. 
Commercial OrrhardUts. 
who may be assumed to have the beet pos¬ 
sible inducements for intelligent and consid¬ 
erate practice, are bv no means always up to 
the standard requisite for intelligent and suc¬ 
cessful results; but are too often inclined to 
accept their information, as well as their 
practice, at second hand. One of their most 
noticeable failings, as a class, uiay be assumed 
to be a tendency to look too closely to im¬ 
mediate results—a disposition doubtless too 
common among all classes; but one which 
applies much less profitably to the orchard 
THE CUT-LEAVED BEECH. 
Fagus Sylvatica Heterophylla 
If the elm is, according to Loudon, the most that no loss of trees in transplanting should be 
magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone, considered strange, unless it is positively known 
the beech is at least the most magnificent shade that every precaution has been taken and the 
tree. England glories in her Burnham Beeches, best plants employed. 
her beeches at Windsor and her beeches on an ornamental tree, many consider the 
many an old estate throughout the kingdom. Cut-leaved Beech almost unsurpassed. Some 
America is also equally proud of her beeches distinctly place It among the best half-dozen 
on the few lawns she possesses that are worthy lawn trees. Its special and distinctive charm 
of the name. The European beech is not com- ^ es the a ' r Y outline of its foliage. Perfect 
mon on the lawns in America. Nor do we pyramidal symmetry might seem at first Its 
often see au American beech except as it may distinguishing attraction. If you will con- 
be a remnant of former native plantations. sider, however, more carefully the minutely 
The richly-colored Purple Beech is still more waving nature of the young and narrowly dl- 
uncommon, and the Weeping and Cut-leaved vided leaves of Its otherwise regular contour, 
Beeches are outy to be seen at rare Intervals. I believe that you will agree that the varied 
By what name shall we call the Cut-leaved delicacy of its airy outline makes, after all, its 
Beech? It is fern-leaved or eut-leaved—as- principal attraction. 
plenifolia or heterophylla—likewise lacinlata, One of tbo best instances of topiary work to 
quercifolia, incisa and dissecta. Crlstata and be seen In this country is on Mr. EL W. Sar- 
castanifolia are similar and vet different. For gent's lawn at Fishkill-on-the-Hudsou. It is a 
that matter, they are all different. The very Cut-leaved Beech some eight feet high trimmed 
leaves on the same tree are different, as may into a perfect pyramid or truueated cone and 
be seen by our illustrations, which represent pierced by a Gothic window ou a level with 
distinct foliage taken from one specimen. The the eye. The view thus revealed is a delight- 
existence of this strongly marked charaeteris- ful little picture of rock and tree aud distant 
tic has induced us to employ the name Hetero- mountain-side. Surprise, of course, adds 
phylia, or, as it may be trauslated, leaves with greatly to the inherent charm of such a scene, 
no regular form. The grandest Cut-leaved or Fern-leaved 
Cut leaved Beeches are slow of growth, hardy Beech In North America is unqtestionably 
and not easily transplanted nnless they have the magnificent specimen that stands in front 
fibrous roots io abundance. It is a fact not of the Redwood Library in Newport. Its pro- 
gencrally known that beeches, as well as mag- portions are colossal and the outline and 
nolius, are among the most difficult of docfdn- Bpread of its branches picturesque and irregu- 
oub trees to move The Cut-leaved Beech la lar in the highest degree. There are other 
no exception to this rule. When the disgusted large Cut-leaved Beeches in the country, twen- 
plauter gazes on the lifeless remains of his ty to twenty-five feet high aud as much in di- 
Purplo or Cut leaved Beech which he set out araoter, but uothlug like this beech of Ncw- 
in the Spring with many precautions, and feels port. 
disposed to blame the nurseryman, let him I might justly occupy still farther space iu 
flrstendeavor to recall whether he did notdo the describing the rich and varied coloring of the 
unpacked tree injustice by allowing its roots to leaves, the strangely picturesque bark and 
remain unprotected under the pitiless stress of | branches, and the marked and sturdy forms of 
HORTICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT IN 
MICH.-OBSTACLES IN THE WAY. 
T. T. LYON 
The Average .Michigan Farmer 
although doubtless fully as intelligent as 
the class generally ; and, as a rule, disposed 
