114 
THE NATIONAL NUESERYMAN 
fragUis, and some of their varieties, have become com¬ 
pletely naturalized in the northeastern states where they 
grow as large or even larger than in Europe and are im¬ 
portant additions to the North American silva. The Chin¬ 
ese Weeping Willow {S. babijlonica) is not always per¬ 
fectly hardy in Massachusetts, but further south is valued 
as an ornamental tree. The so-called Wisconsin Willow, 
a natural hybrid between this Chinese Willow and S. 
alba, and other hybrids of the same parentage are useful 
ornamental trees in the northern states. 
Cercidiphyllum is the largest deciduous-leaved tree of 
Japan, and although it was introduced into the United 
States only forty years ago it gives promise of becoming 
a permanent addition to the trees of the largest size which 
can be successfully grown here. The Chinese White Mul¬ 
berry {Moras alba) is a larger and hardier tree than the 
Mulberry tree of the eastern states, and is perfectly at 
home here. Probably the most generally useful, however, 
of the large deciduous-leaved trees which have been 
brought into the northern states is the Ailanthus of 
northern China which must have been growing here for 
nearly a century. It grows rapidly and is perfectly 
hardy, and it can resist the heat, drought and dryness 
which trees have to suffer in our cities belter than any 
other tree with the exception, perhaps, of some of the 
Poplars. The Ailanthus, too, produces handsome wood 
valuable in cabinet-making. 
The Japanese White Oaks are handsome trees and pro¬ 
duce valuable timber. They grow well in the Arboretum 
and give every promise of living here for many years. 
Under the most favorable conditions in Japan they do not 
become as large as our native White and Bur Oaks, and 
do not produce more valuable timber than these and sev¬ 
eral other American White Oaks. All foreign Oaks which 
can he induced to live here are proper inhabitants of the 
Arboretum where they are needed for study and public 
display, but for general planting the Oaks of other coun¬ 
tries will never he used in New England in preference to 
the native species. Of all the Elm-trees of the world not 
one equals in grace and beauty the White Elm of eastern 
North America {Ulmus americana). It is a true lover of 
the country, how^ever, and only shows its greatest beauty 
in the deep moist soil of a New England intervale. Moved 
to the city it soon languishes, for it resents city conditions 
of overdrained soil, smoke and bad air. One of the so- 
called English Elms is better able to thrive in cities where 
the American Elm fails, and in Boston and its suburbs the 
English tree has been growing for more than a century 
and has proved itself valuable. None of the exotic Ash- 
trees are really valuable here. For general planting in 
the eastern United States no Ash is as good as the Ameri¬ 
can White x4sh (Fraxinus americana) for the decoration 
of parks and roadsides and the production of timber. The 
European Ash {Fraxinus excelsior) ^ which is a magnifi¬ 
cent tree in some parts of Europe, is a miserable failure 
here, and the great Ash-tree of northeastern continental 
Asia and northern Japan {F. mandshurica) can barely be 
kept alive in New England. European Birch-trees grew 
well in the northern states until they were attacked by 
a borer which destroyed them by thousands. The slender 
drooping branches of Betula pendula make it an inter¬ 
esting and attractive object but it is not as handsome a 
tree as the native Canoe Birch {Betula papyrifera) which 
is the handsomest of the white-barked Birches and in one 
of its forms exceeds all other Birch-trees in size. Betula 
Maximowiczii with pinkish bark, and a native of northern 
Japan, is, however, a handsomer tree than the Canoe 
Birch. It has been growing in this country for twenty- 
five years, and although it has grown well and is per¬ 
fectly hardy here it is too soon to speak of its permanent 
value. 
The pale gray bark of the trunk and branches of the 
American Beech makes it in winter the most beautiful of 
all Beech-trees, but as a planted tree it does not behave as 
well or grow as rapidly as the European Beech which, in 
spite of its darker colored bark, is a better tree for the 
decoration of our parks. The northern Linden {Tilia gla¬ 
bra or americana) is a noble tree in the northern forests 
where in deep moist soil it sometimes grows to the height 
of one hundred and thirty feet and makes a trunk four or 
five feet in diameter, hut it does not take kindly to cultiva¬ 
tion in a climate as warm as that of Massachusetts. 
Planted trees grow slowly here; the leaves are usually 
disfigured by red spiders and turn brown and fall during 
the summer. There are a number of Linden-trees in the 
middle and southern states but little is yet known about 
them as cultivated trees, and a planter who wants Lin¬ 
den-trees had best use some of the European species. 
There are five of these, and the three species of western 
Europe have been so thoroughly tested in the United 
States that it is possible to say that they are among the 
most valuable trees which have been brought here from 
foreign countries. The most satisfactory of them here is 
Tilia vulgaris, a widely distributed but rather rare tree in 
Europe and believed to be a natural hybrid between the 
other western European species T. platyphyllos and T. 
cordata. There are large specimens of this Linden in the 
suburbs of Boston. No American Ilorsechestnut or Buck¬ 
eye can compare in size or in the beauty of its flowers 
with the species of southwestern Europe (Aesculus Hip- 
pocastanum) , which is well known to many Americans 
who have never heard that there were Horsechestnut- 
trees growing naturally in the United States. The 
European Horsechestnut is another of the great trees of 
the world. It is as much at home here and grows to as 
large a size as it does in western Europe. Few trees have 
more conspicuous flowers or foliage of deeper green. It 
thrives, however, only in deep rich soil and usually re¬ 
sents city conditions. In some old gardens in Salem, how¬ 
ever, there are as noble Horsechestnuts as can be found 
in the United States or Great Britain. It is a miserable 
street tree, as can be seen in Paris, where the leaves turn 
brown and fall by midsummer, and in New York and Bos¬ 
ton where fortunately it has, not been generally planted. 
Among the Maples of large size which have been planted 
in the eastern states only the so-called Norway Maple 
{Acer platanoides) has shown real power to flourish here. 
It is a smaller and less beautiful tree than the native Su¬ 
gar Maple, but the Sugar Maple, too, resents city condi¬ 
tions and objects to living at the seashore, and as the 
Norway Maple has proved a valuable tree for city and sea¬ 
shore planting it must be considered one of the really val¬ 
uable foreign trees introduced into this country. The Old 
World Walnut-tree {Juglans regia) .sometimes called 
English Walnut or Persian Walnut, although it is a native 
of China, is a handsomer and more valuable tree than any 
