396 
DECIDUOUS TREES. 
of life when young, or perhaps unusually fastidious in soils. On 
the other hand, a planter in Rochester tells us that he has no more 
difficulty in making it grow than with any other tree. 
The virgilia forms a compact head usually heavier on one side 
than the other ; and somewhat resembles the horse-chestnut, though 
its foliage is of finer texture, and its leaves mass in short hori¬ 
zontal layers, forming sharper lights and shadows. These shadows 
are as sharply defined as those of the beech tree, but not so thin, 
nor so regular. The color of the foliage is remarkable for its 
purity. The leaves are compound, and a little larger than those 
of the shell-bark hickory, with from five to eleven alternate, ovate, 
pointed leaflets. The leaves expand with the hickory, and keep 
the purity of their color till frosts, when they turn to a warm 
yellow. 
The flowers appear about the middle of May in large white 
racemes or clusters of pea-shaped blossoms six to eight inches 
long, and cover the tree, so that it is then one of the most charming 
of all trees. It commences to bloom young, and develops its 
beauty from the start. The bark is so smooth that this feature 
alone would attract attention to the tree, and suggest the con¬ 
clusion which all its other traits confirm, that it is one of the most 
polished and elegant of lawn trees. It will show to best advantage 
if planted northward from the point from which it is to be seen 
most, so that its southern side will be towards the observer, and 
its northern and western sides can be shielded from wind by ever¬ 
greens. A dry, deeply-drained, porous soil is essential ; and also 
full exposure to the sun, and some protection from wind. 
At the residence of Miss Price, Manheim street, Germantown, 
Pa., the tree mentioned by Michaux forty years ago as a fine speci¬ 
men at that time, is still a hale tree, sixty feet high, and extends 
its branches over about seventy feet, mostly on one side of the 
trunk, the other side being shaded and confined by large pines and 
a lofty cucumber tree that overtops it. It is remarked by those 
familiar with the tree that there seems an irresistible tendency of 
the virgilia to grow principally on one side, even when fully ex¬ 
posed on all sides to the sun. The place where this virgilia grows 
is completely exposed to the deepest freezing of the soil; as the 
