New-York tribune., 1882-02-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

occasion TO plant trees either for ornament Vi "'
They found wilderness of inhospitaoie "oou'
which numbered the ground and needoo W 10
laboronsv swept away to make room LOT o,Vp' ""1
focks. Their children who grew up WIN 'no Io,
ing that trees we're enemies to be destroyed cou'u
hardly b, expected to have much anecs'oh ioi
them or appreciation of their beauty Inc present
generation has not yet fairly begun to plant trees
for economical purposes aud it was not many years
AGO when an ornamental tree in the popular accep-
tation of the term was one which did not grow whd
In the woods or could not proftably be split INTO
rails or sawed up for lumber. Weeping WILLOWS
were strictly ornamental and switch from living
tree thrust anywhere into damp earth quickly ue-
velo,,ed into fountain of foliage. Nor was there
any doubt about the Lombardy poplar 1t had
stin, foreign air. was easily propagated. was good
for nothing and therefore ornamental. White elms
were trauspauted or left growing by the waysde
because their wood was of little value for fuel or
timber Maple saplings of two OF three varieties
could be had in any swamp for the digging and
thcy commended themselves because they rapidly
developed INTO pretty trees, healthy, symmetrical
and expressonlesS. IL to this list is added the
horse chestnut. and perhaps the locust tRobInla
psendacacaj, it would include nine tenths OF the
trees planted for ornament throughout New-Eng
land and the Middle States fftv years ago. When
Downing began to write. the great bulk of American
II such taste had existed there would have been
little announcement to plant for pOsterity in
population so shifting that nobody expected to
live where his grandfather did AS the desire for
planting increased it was natural that novel forms
of growth should have at first been preferred before
the familiar trees of our disappearing forests
Nurserymen could not sell American trees. Many
of them were hard to transplant. European species
were cheap and pretty. And thus 1t happened as
MIR. Robinson points out, that when Central fark
was designed few other trees than common Euro
pean varieties could be had to plant there. IL
should be remembered that some of our native
trees have not the reputation they deserve because
they are SO rarely at their best. Our ems
have been preserved because they were not worth
destroying Many grand chestnuts and hlckories
were lett standing because OF the annual crop OF
nuts they bore. But how many Americans have
ever seen a white oak like the one in the Friends
Burying Ground at Salem, New-Jersey, or the
white pine which STOOD and it is TO be hoped still
stands, at Montgomery Place, Barrytownf These
trees are so valuable that only here and there has
been allowed TO develop into ltS noolest proper
tions in the open ground
Our native trees have found an able and earnest
advocate in Mr.. Robinson. The purpose of this
essay originally read at meeting OF the Massa-
chusetts State Board of Agriculture, is to lay down
certain general principles to guide planters in their
choice of ornamental trees The first thesis man-
tanned is that Naw-England trees are the best to
plant in New England. 1t would seem that this
propostion needs little argument, although 1t has
been so constantly ignored in practice AS the
scientific basis for this preference Mr.. Robinson
thus states widely accepted theory For countless
generations species have been slowly adapting
themselves to their fitting places. Natural selec-
tion and the survival of the fttest forms for tue
positions they to occupy have placed on the
earths surface the exact species IN the exact posi-
tions best suited for their development" fortu- |
nately Massachusetts is rich in arborescent Species
the single State containing greater variety than
can be found in any country of Europe. There |
need be no lack of diversity and contrast even if |
planting were restricted to native forms eXclu- |
siyely The trees, too singularly beautiful. |
Here are found the white and red pines. the |
spruces the hemlock, the cedars, the white OAK the
chestnut the butternut, the hickores, the beeches
and horn beams the ems and naples, the but |
tonwood. the linden, the tulip tree, the pepper
idge the sassafras, the red mulberry, the
birches aud alders: while among lower growing
forms are the blackberry the dogwoods, amelan-
chieIs, viburnums hawthOrns, sumachs and
elders, the spicewood and witch-hazel. besides the
conspicnousy beautiful shrubs of the heath family, !
Including rhododendrons kalmas azaleas, clethra
and rhodora together with host OF other shrubby |
Species each one with beauty OF It's own and
hardness which does net need TO be tested. For
our own latitude land it should be said that the
essay throughout is practically as useful for the
Middle States as for New England the list of first
class native trees could he increased by the addi-
ton of the familiar liqudamber and the rOckchest
nut oak. besides the abounding pin oak and black
walnut which are so rare in Massachusetts that
MIR Robinson does not class them among the ma
tives of that State.
But New -Englanders VIII not be satisfied with |
New England trees alone and Mr.. Robinson adj |
dresses himself to inquire, in the second place. to
what region are TO turn for species which can be |
added to home plantations with the assurance |
of permanent success The trees of NewEngland |
and New-York belong botanically 10 the Appaa |
chan fora, which embraces the plants OF Canada |
and all the Northern States east of the Mississippi,
descends along the Allegheny Mountains rs far as
Georgia and in the high mountains OF North Carolina
reaches in the multiplication Of tree species its
greatest development. Here, in a comparatively |
small area are more than twice many species of
trees as grow naturally in all the continent of
Europe" Upon these high Southern mountain |
slopes the trees with which are familiar thrive
by the side of strange and beautiful forms which |
Houish in climate not mike our own, and to this
region we must look the great storehouse of the
most available material for enlarging our orDa-
mental plantations From this abundant fora our
parks and lawns have been enriched by the intro
duction of the cucumber tree and other magnolias,
the bald cypress the honey-locust, the willow oak,
the virgilia or yellowwood, the Kentucky coffee
tree the Buckeyes, the catalpas, the persmmOn,
the red bud the boxelder, the Virginia frngetree.
the sorrel tree and the HaleSia or silver bell tree,
besides many choice shrubs Ike the Stuartia the
Philadelphus, and the andromedas. Fortunately |
the prejudice against American trees is about out
grown. 1t now pays nursery men to propagate
4 -. 4r,Y,, .f