The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-11
NATURE.

perlmental work quite apart from the
efforts OF man to interfere with the
usual order OF things. Indeed. man
often flnds It best TO follow In the trail
she blazes. Some OF the most interest
ing and valuable trees and shrubs
which we possess are natural hybrids
or abnormal forms which have been
discovered by various alert persons
and rounded up for cultivation. Some
of the things which Nature produces
are simply freaks, yet even they may
have their uses.
There is no better place TO study the
unusual forms assumed by different
trees and shrubs than the Arnold Ar
boretum In Jamaica Plain. near Boston.
Among the most interesting of the
trees to be found there is a tall, slen-
der form OF the sugar maple. This
i fastigiate maple Immediately reminds
one OF Lombardy poplar, and in time
may be substituted for 1t by landscape
architects, for 1t Is handsomer tree.
although making less rapid growth.
Tho original tree of this columnar
form was found in a Newton. Mass,
cemetery in 1885.
Another maple in the arboretum
and planted not far from the one mem
toned has a similar upright habit.
although it is a little broader. This is
red maple, and has been given the
botanical name OF acer rubrum column
mare. The graft from which the arbo-
return specimen was raised came from
Long Island in 1889, and nothing fur
Their is known about its origin. There
is also pyramid form of the silver
maple which originated in Europe,
but the arboretum has only small
specimens at present.
Nature has not spent all her efforts,
though. in producing abnormal naples
with an upright growth. Occasionally
she has tried the variation of keeping
tree very close TO the ground and To
illustrate this fact the arboretum is
growing a wonderful round headed
Norway maple blcssed~with the name
OF aCer plantanoides globosum. Al
though this tree was planted in 1888,
1t Is only eight or nine feet tall now
| and with greater breadth than height.
All OF the curious VARIATIONS in the
maple are confined to unusual habits
OF growth. Sometimes the leaves are
altered to such an extent that most
remarkable effect is produced. In the
case OF the cut leaf maple this effect
is delightful, but quite the contrary in
that of the Eagle Claw maple, which
, Is actually freak The leaves are
not only divided. but are twisted and
| curled in such n way that they really
suggest a great bird claw. Visitors
to the arboretum often account for the
unusual appearance of this tree bv
saying that it must have been at
tackled by some new insect pest or
! fungus trouble.
Or course Nature has not kept to the
naples when producing new forms, al
, though the naples seem especially
susceptible to variation. There is a
very handsome upright tulip tree, a
specimen OF which has been growing
in the arboretum since 1888. This tree
| originated in nursery in Alsace.
There are fastigiate forms among
many other trees too, including the
conifers. Some of the young white
pine trees In the arboretum have erect
branches, which give them n most dis
tinct and unusual appearance. They
have been raised from gratis taken
some years ago from tree then grow
ing near Stamford. Conn. The hand
somest confer OF this type in the ar
ooretum. though, is Thuya occidentalis
pyramidalis raised by Robert Douglas
years ago in his nursery at Wauke-
gan. III. 1t Is a smaller plant than
the fastigate cypress common in for
NAL gardens all through southern Eu-
rope. but Prof Charles s. Sargent, di-
rector Of the arboretum, says that It