THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
381 
Weeping Trees. Those abnormal trees have been in¬ 
dustriously hunted for and largely propagated by nur¬ 
serymen because many of their customers are interested 
in curious plants which are the joy of the owners of 
many suburban gardens, especially in Europe where 
happily such plants are in more general use than they 
are in this country. It can be said that “weeping” trees 
are less useful than some of the pyramidal trees for they 
cannot be used in mixed plantations or bear crowding, 
and must stand as isolated specimens in the park or on 
the lawn or the effect of the peculiar habit for which 
they are valued will be lost. Weeping trees of many of 
the large Willows are propagated by cuttings, and those 
of other trees by grafting a weeping branch on a stem of 
a normal tree of the same or of a related species, and it 
can be said generally that the Willows with pendulous 
branches produced from cuttings are the handsomest of 
the pendulous trees because they appear less abnormal. 
Willows. The best known of the trees with pen¬ 
dulous branches is the Weeping Willow from China, a 
large tree with long slender drooping branchlets which 
sweep the ground, and narrow, dark green, very lustrous 
leaves. This is the common tree Willow in the region 
bordering the Yangtse River for tw o thousand miles from 
its mouth, and the one frequently planted in villages and 
cemeteries in other parts of the empire. For centuries 
this lias been a favorite tree with the Chinese, and is a 
a familiar object in many Chinese pictures, and is often 
represented on Chinese porcelains and wood-carvings. 
It is uncertain when this tree first reached Europe but it 
was probably brought to western Europe from Asia 
Minor late in the seventeenth or early in the eighteenth 
century, and as it was supposed to be a native of the val¬ 
ley of the Euphrates it was named Salix babylonica. It 
is unknown when this tree was first brought to North 
America where for many years it has been exceedingly 
common in the middle and some of the southern states. 
In Massachusetts it often suffers from cold, and this tree 
is less common here now than it was fifty years ago. 
Hybrids of Salix babylonica with the European S. alba 
and S. fragilis are sometimes cultivated in the northern 
states where they are very hardy and the must beautiful 
of the trees with pendulous branches which can be suc¬ 
cessfully grown in Massachusetts. The best known 
perhaps of these trees, S. Salamonii, is supposed to be a 
hybrid between S. babylonica and N. alba. It is a large 
tree with a broad head of drooping branches and leaves 
which are dark green above and silvery white on the 
lower surface. Only the female tree is known and it 
is not known w here it originated. This is a tree which 
should be more generally known and planted in this coun¬ 
try. The tree known as the Wisconsin Willow is prob¬ 
ably of similar parentage. This tree has been largely 
planted in the northern states where it is perfectly hardy 
and a handsome and useful tree; the branches are per¬ 
haps rather less pendulous than those of S. Salamonii. 
S. eleg antis sima, S. blanda and S. pendulina are sup¬ 
posed to be hybrids of S. babylonica and S. fragilis, and 
are intermediate in habit and foliage between their par¬ 
ents. S. elegantissima is often found under the name of 
N. babylonica in regions where the latter is not hardy. 
In the northern states it is sometimes called Thurlow’s 
Willow. S. alba vitellina pendula is usually considered 
a pendulous form of the Golden-barked Willow, or as a 
hybrid of the latter and S. babylonica. Whatever its 
origin may be this is one of the handsomest Willows 
which can be grown in the northern states. In nur¬ 
series in this country it sometimes appears as S. baby¬ 
lonica, var. ramulis aureis, or as the Golden-barked 
Babylon Willow. The Kilmarnock Willow is a form 
(var. pendula) of the European S. caprea. It is a plant 
with thick pendulous branches, and when grown as a 
standard these form a regular umbrella-like head. This 
is a popular tree with American nurserymen but the 
specimens which they produce are more curious than 
beautiful. 
Beeches. The European Beech, Fayas sylvatica, has 
produced several forms with pendulous branches. The 
best known of these trees, var. pendula, does not grow 
very tall, and the principal branches are horizontal and 
wide-spreading, and from them the branchlets hang 
down nearly vertically. In habit this is one of the most 
remarkable of all the trees of abnormal growth, and the 
great tent-like specimens which can be seen iu Europe 
are remarkable objects. This tree was first planted in 
the United States many years ago. It is perfectly hardy in 
the northern states but grows slowly here, and there are 
no exceptionally large specimens in this country. Other 
varieties of the European Beech are var. miltonensis and 
var. bornyensis, with more erect trunks and horizontal 
and pendulous branches; they are handsome trees still 
little known in this country. Other forms of the Weep¬ 
ing Beech are known as var. pagnyensis, var. remillyen- 
sis and var. tortuosa. 
Elms. There are two forms of the Wycli or Scotch 
Elm, Ulmus glabra, or, as it is often called, U. montana. 
The best known of these, the Camperdown Elm (var. 
camperdownensis) as it appears in gardens is a round- 
topped tree with stout pendulous branches w hich droop 
to the ground from all sides of the stem and form a 
broad-shaded arbor. Ulmus glabra, var. pendula, often 
called var. horizontalis, is a more graceful tree. The 
branches are usually best developed on one side of the 
stem and are wide-spreading, the principal ones slightly 
ascending and furnished with numerous pendulous 
branchlets. This tree is much cultivated in Europe, es¬ 
pecially in Germany. A form of U. americana with 
rather pendulous branches has been propagated in some 
American nurseries as U. fulva pendula. Trees of the 
American Elm with more or less drooping branches are 
not uncommon but none of them are likely to appeal lo 
the lovers of trees of abnormal growth. 
Birches. One of the European Birches, Betula pen¬ 
dula, is a tree with slender usually pendulous branches 
and some of its forms are among the best known and 
most generally planted weeping trees. The var. dale- 
carlica, sometimes called Betula alba, var. pendula lac- 
iniata or the Cut-leaved Weeping Birch, is a tree with 
pendulous branchlets and deeply divided leaves. For 
many years this tree was planted in immense numbers 
in all the northern states, but insects working under the 
bark of the trunk and branches have killed most of the 
trees and large specimens are now rarely seen in this 
country. The var. Youngii has more pendulous 
branches and when these are grafted on to a tall stem 
they form a picturesque head in general outline some- 
