THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
113 
section by the College of Forestry, covering a distance of 
approximately 60 miles and the final planting plans are 
now under way and will be finished within the next 
month or two. 
An added incentive for the development of roadside 
planting has been brought about thru the efforts of the 
College of Forestry to interest the State in plantings as 
memorials to our hero dead. It has been suggested that 
suitable tablets be erected at certain intervals along these 
newly planted roadsides in memory of the brave men 
whom we wish to honor. Similar work is being taken up 
by cities and states outside of New York, especially those 
thru which the Lincoln Highway passes. 
THE PLANTING OF THE HIGHWAY BETWEEN SYRACUSE AND 
Utica to be made a national demonstration of 
HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT 
The preliminary studies made in the small section of 
improved highway by the College of Forestry has caused 
widespread demand for the beautification of highways. 
It is believed that a small section of highway planted 
properly with trees and shrubs will be a real incentive 
for the carrying out of this work not only thm this state 
hut in other states. Aside from the ornamental value 
which trees have in adding to the attractiveness of the 
highway it has been found that they have a real value in 
protecting the roadbed from the heat of the sun in sum¬ 
mer, thereby making roadbeds more durable. In many 
instances trees where properly planted may be of consid¬ 
erable value in preventing drifting of snow on highways. 
Again, such plantings may serve as wind breaks in pro¬ 
tecting farm lands from severe winds. 
state to be asked to begin highway planting in 1919 
The New York State Motor Federation proposes to in¬ 
troduce a bill into the Legislature calling for the appro¬ 
priation of sufficient funds for the carrying out of the 
iDcautification of the highway between Syracuse and Utica 
as a demonstration of what may be done elsewhere 
throughout the state. With the state paying out millions 
of dollars annually for the construction and maintenance 
of highways, it seems reasonable that a few thousand 
dollars be expended annually to carry out such an impor¬ 
tant project as roadside development. It is hoped that 
those interested will take an active part in bringing about 
the beginning of a system of beautification of highways 
the present year. 
Notes from Arnold Arboretum 
Native and Foreign Trees 
PopuLus Maximowigzii. This tree is a native of eas¬ 
tern Siberia, eastern Saghalin and northern Japan. It is 
the largest tree of eastern Siberia where it sometimes 
grows eighty feet high with a trunk six feet in diameter 
and a broad head of massive spreading branches. On 
young trees the bark of the trunk is smooth and pale 
brown, but on old trees it becomes thick and furrowed. 
This Poplar was first sent to the Arboretum from Petro- 
grad in 1878 but its distinctive characters were not recog¬ 
nized until some years later. The plants now in the Ar¬ 
boretum were propagated from the Petrograd tree which 
disappeared when the Poplar Collection was rearranged 
on the southern slope of Bussey Hill. They are now 
twenty years old and about thirty-five feet high. They 
have never been attacked by borers which make the culti¬ 
vation of the Balsam Poplars and some of the Cotton¬ 
woods so difficult and unsatisfactory, and their leaves 
apparently have no attraction for leaf-eating caterpillars. 
The leaves are green and lustrous on the upper surface, 
silvery white below, three or four inches long, arid two 
or two and a half inches wide. The fruit, which is fully 
grown in May, unlike that of other Poplars, remains on 
the trees here until September without opening. 
Populus Maximowiczii is not only the hand¬ 
somest and most satisfactory tree in the Poplar 
Collection but it is one of the few large exotic 
trees with deciduous leaves which can be recommended 
for general planting in the northern states. For the list 
of such trees is a short one. It includes the Gingko, which 
stands alone in its class and is one of the great trees 
of the world. The only suiwivor of a race which was once 
widely spread over the northern hemisphere, this inhabi¬ 
tant of eastern continental Asia is long-lived and able to 
support extremes of beat and cold, and to grow equally 
well in Massachusetts, Georgia and California. The 
Ginkgo is appreciated and has been largely planted in the 
city of Washington, but in other parts of the United States 
the beauty of this tree when it gets beyond its juvenile 
habit is not understood. Pseudolarix is another Chinese 
tree which is alone in its class and, although discovered 
only seventy years ago, it has been long enough in this 
country to show that it is perfectly able to adapt itself to 
the Massachusetts climate. This is surprising for the 
home of Pseudolarix is on low mountain slopes not far 
from the coast and south of the Yangtse River. The 
European Larch, although less picturesque than the Larch 
of northeastern North America, is a larger and more val¬ 
uable tree, and the experience with it in New England 
shows that it is a tree which can be depended on to grow 
here rapidly to a large size. 
The two Silver Poplars of Europe {Populus alba and 
P. canescens) flourish in the United States where they 
have grown to a large size and are as much at home as 
they are in their native countries. The pale color of the 
foliage of these trees is unlike that of any of the American 
species, and their hardiness and vitality make them use¬ 
ful for planting in exposed positions. The Silver Poplar 
of northern China (P. tomentosa) is one of the handsom¬ 
est of all Poplar-trees. It has grown well in the Arbore¬ 
tum but it is too soon to form an opinion of its value in 
this country. Two European Willows, Salix alba and S. 
