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NO.

THE ROMANCE OF
OUR TREES

BOOKS BY THE SAME
AUTHOR

ARISTOCRATS OF THE
GARDEN

CONIFERS AND TAXADS
OF JAPAN

CHERRIES OF JAPAN

A NATURALIST
IN WESTERN CHINA

WILLOW OF BABYLON IN WESTERN CHINA

THIS TREE IS A NATIVE OF CHINA AND IS NOT THE TREE RE-
FERRED TO IN PSALM CXXXVII, V. 1,2 WHICH WAS IN FACT A
POPLAR. THERE ARE MANY "WEEPING" OR PENDANT BRANCHED
WILLOWS, SOME OF WHICH ARE MORE HARDY THAN THE "BABY-
LON " WILLOW, AND ARE VERY COMMONLY ACCEPTED FOR IT

(Salix babylonica)

THE ROMANCE
OF OUR TREES

BY
ERNEST H. WILSON, M. A., V.M.H.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ARNOLD ARBORETUM
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

I LLUSTRATED

FROM
PHOTOGR A PHS

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1920

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT, LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF ARBORICULTURE, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR

OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

AUTHOR OF THE

"SYLVA OF NORTH AMERICA"

WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF

TREES

AND WHO, MORE THAN ANY OTHER MAN IN AMERICA,

HAS AWAKENED INTEREST AND PROMOTED KNOWLEDGE

IN THE TREES OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

AS A TOKEN OF THE AUTHOR'S ADMIRATION

AND ESTEEM

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED

vii

128470

PREFACE

IN THE following pages an effort is made to tell
of the intimate association of trees and mankind
from the earliest times. Simplicity combined
with accuracy has been the aim, and technical
language has been avoided. The opening chapters
treat of trees in general and serve to illustrate the
mutual dependence of the animal and vegetable king-
doms. The records of geology bear witness to the
continuous and progressive change in character of
the tree types, of the complete disappearance of
many, and of the persistence of a few from Coal-
measure times down to the present. The protective
influence of religion of many creeds is emphasized
by the history of the Ginkgo and of the Cedar of
Lebanon. The immense value of the Yew-tree to
the warriors of the Middle Ages and influence of
war-like migrations and wars of invasion in the dis-
tribution of fruit trees is told. As a corollary to the
development of the civilizations of the Orient and
Occident two parallel groups of fruit trees have

x PREFACE

been developed, and the blending of these two groups
by hybridizing may result in future fruits superior in
quality to any we now enjoy. The romance, the
more interesting folk-lore and mythology that have
gathered round certain trees like the Apple and
Yew give an insight into the early life of our fore-
bears.

The types selected represent the patriarchs, the
giants, the pygmies, and the curiosities of tree growth,
and their importance in the embellishment of gar-
dens, parks, and pleasure grounds is emphasized.
The beauty of trees at all seasons, of their bark, their
flowers, and their autumn foliage finds expression,
and the cardinal idea permeating the whole work is to
increase interest and love for trees and gardens.
Trees are much more than sticks bearing leaves and
useful as fuel and as a source of timber for construc-
tion purposes. They are, indeed, the most vigorous
expression of life and its most enduring form this
planet boasts, and a nation's trees should be esteemed
as national treasures. A measure of a country's
culture may be very accurately taken by an analysis
of the position gardens hold in the people's esteem.
In history books too much is told of man's destruc-
tive quarrels and too little about his constructive
work in developing the arts of peace. Truly, if we
delve into such mundane affairs as the development of

PREFACE xi

the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, and the common
flowers of our gardens we may learn more concerning
the real progressive development of the human race
than is possible from the history books.

The preparation of these essays has been largely a
recreation, and in sending them forth in collective
form it is hoped that readers may find in the romance
of our trees not only interest but inspiration. A
resume of twelve chapters has appeared in The
Garden Magazine for 1919-20; that on the autumn
tints is reprinted from my "Aristocrats of the
Garden." To the esteemed editor of The Garden
Magazine I am indebted for helpful criticism; to the
publishers, Messrs. Doubleday, Page&Co., my thanks
are extended for the courteous manner in which they
have met all suggestions.

E. H. Wilson.
Arnold Arboretum,

Harvard University.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface ix

CHAPTER

I. Their Ancient Lineage 3

II. Their Present-Day Distribution . 15

III. Their Rugged Trunks 27

IV. Their Autumn Glory 35

V. The Story of the Ginkgo .... 49

VI. The Story of the Cedar of Lebanon . 77

VII. The Story of the Common Yew . . 99

VIII. The Story of the Horsechestnut . . 117

IX. The Magnolias 133

X. The European Beech 155

XL Our Nut Trees 173

XII. Our Common Fruit Trees . . . . 199

XIII. The Lombardy Poplar and Willow of

Babylon 227

XIV. Trees of Upright Habit 241

XV. Pygmy Trees 255

Index 271

xiii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Willow of Babylon in Western China . . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

The Oldest Living Thing in the World — A Tree! ... 6

The Greatest Memorial Avenue in the World .... 7

The Famous Burnham Beeches 14

Cypress of Montezuma 15

Ancient English Oak at Blenheim, England .... 22

The American Elm 23

A Comparison of Tree-Bark Characters — I .... 26

A Comparison of Tree-Bark Characters — II .... 27
Abnormal Channeled and Fissured Bark of Beech-Tree

Growing on a Dry Soil 30

Typical Smooth Bark of the Beech 30

Two Forms of the Ginkgo 50

Ginkgo at Koyengi Temple, Japan 51

The Ginkgo is a Link with the Limitless Past .... 66

Ginkgo Avenue at Washington, D. C. . .... 67

The Cedar of Lebanon .... 74

Typical English Yew .... 102

Clipped Yew in an American Garden. . .... 103

Japanese Yew in Its Native Land ....... no

Japanese Yew in

Two Famous Yews at Haddonfield, N. J 114

The Horsechestnut Avenue at Bushey Park, England . . 115

Three Glories of the Horsechestnut 130

Two Popular Asiatic Magnolias . '• '3'

Magnolia Flowers 146

European Beech jfo

XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Weeping Beech at Flushing, N. Y 163

Eastern and Western Hazels 178

Japanese Walnut 179

American Chestnut 182

Common Fruits Which Take Us Back into Ancient Days . 183

The Apricot in China, Where it is a Native 190

The Shade of the Old Apple-Trees 191

Cherries and Apples 210

A Chinese Pear at Home 211

Korean Wild Pear-Tree 226

Weeping Willows 227

The Lombardy Poplar 230

Florence Court or I rish Yew 23 1

Upright Growing Forms of Native Maples 238

Unusual Upright Forms of Two Well- Known Trees. . . 239

Dwarf Mountain or Mugho Pine 258

Pendulous Dwarf Hemlock 258

Some Really Dwarf Evergreens 259

Prostrate Form of the Red Cedar 259

CHAPTER I
THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

CHAPTER I
THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

FROM the earliest glimpses preserved to us of
the development of the human race we find
that trees have exercised a beneficent influ-
ence on man's character and uplift. They figure
prominently in the records, written and oral, of all
religious systems in all parts of the world. Indeed,
the connection of trees with religion is as old as the
conception of the deity itself. North and south,
east and west, we find the same idea. In the most
universally prized of all the books, the Bible, trees
are ofttimes mentioned. In Genesis, chap. II, v. 9,
"And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." All
are familiar with the biblical story of man's fall and
banishment from the Garden of Eden through dis-
obeying God's commands in reference to these trees.
3

0. H. HILL LIBRARY
North Carolina State College

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Those who have studied the folk-lore of primitive
man tell us that the legend of good and evil trees is
almost universal, and that they are intimately
connected with man's own story of his develop-
ment. As man congregated, built homes of mud,
brick, and stone, his energies became more and more
absorbed in gaining wealth, and this has repeatedly
led to his own destruction and that of his kindred.
The same thing obtains to-day. The happy and con-
tented among us are those whose thoughts are not
wholly engrossed in laying up treasure in gold, silver,
and precious stones but who take an intelligent inter-
est in Nature's treasures, preserve them, and prize
them at their true worth.

When looking at a tree — any tree — say in summer,
what do we see? A stout stem or trunk firmly fixed
in the earth and bearing aloft many branches, great
and small, each more or less crowded with green
leaves; occasionally flowers are conspicuous. Con-
templating a wood or a forest we note the fact that
trees are not all alike. They differ in size and form
and in shades of colour, and, looking closer, we see
that the stem may be white, gray, or nearly black,
and that its surface may be smooth or rough; also
that the outer covering of the stem may be loose and
scale off in patches, thin or thick, in papery rolls, or,
it may be firm and deeply fissured. In the autumn
4

THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

we note that on many trees the leaves change from
green to beautiful hues of purple, crimson, orange,
yellow, and leather-brown; in the winter that many
trees are entirely leafless, look stark and dead, others
bear brownish leaves which rustle in the wind but are
obviously lifeless. Other trees, on the contrary, are
clothed with small dark green or gray-green leaves
even as they were in spring, summer, and autumn.
Those of an inquiring turn of mind are quick to per-
ceive other points of difference and soon realize that
among the group of life-forms we designate as trees
variety is infinite. Scarcely two are identical in out-
line and detail, and although some sort of classifica-
tion is obviously possible, almost every tree has an
individuality of its own. The beauty of trees — their
form, foliage, flowers, and the tracery of their branches
— appeals to the artistic instinct of man; their cool,
shade-giving qualities in the heat of summer are ap-
preciated by man and animals alike, and so also are
the edible fruits which many kinds of trees produce in
the autumn. But alas! the utilitarian spirit so domi-
nates the world in general, and modern civilization
in particular, that comparatively few people see any-
thing in the trees which form our woods and forests
except a source of fuel, of lumber, of pulp for paper-
making or of some other product useful for manu-
facturing purposes. Too often even their very use-

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

fulness in the arts and crafts of man is ignored and

trees are regarded as mere useless encumbrances of

the ground to be ruthlessly felled to make room for

houses, fields, and highways.

Since our earliest days we have been familiar with

trees as things that are: what they are, and why they

are, interest but very few. A trip across the dreary

deserts and treeless plains of the western part of this

country brings many to an appreciation of trees and

green things generally. Would that more of us

could realize the truth so admirably expressed in the

splendid tribute to "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer who

was killed in the trenches of battle-scarred northern

France:

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree;
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet-flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Rightly considered trees are the noblest product of
the earth. Look how they rear themselves against
gravity for from 50 to 100, aye to 400 feet; how
6

THE OLDEST LIVING THING IN THE WORLD

A TREE

GENERA1 SHERMAN BIG I KM IN SEQUOIA NA-
TIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA, 2,000 \l VRS OLD WHEN
JESUS OF NAZARETH WAS BORN. II IS NOV 2~i) I I.

high; ;<>' ft. in diami 1 1 k {Sequoia sempervii

THE GREATEST MHMOKIAL AVENUE IN THE WORLD

PLANTED ALONG 24 MILES OF HIGHWAY AT NIKKO, JAPAN,
LEADING TO THE TOMB OF IEYASU, FATHER OF THE SECOND
SHOGUN OF THE TOKUGAWA DYNASTY. BEGUN IN l6>I AND
COMPLETED IN 20 YEARS. THERE NOW STAND 18,308 TREES

(Cryptomeria japonica)

THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

they resist the storms of every season, the winter's
cold, the summer's heat. They are a most wonder-
ful expression of life, year by year adding to their
dimensions — often through centuries — flourish whilst
generations of mankind come and go, reach their
optimum, produce seeds to perpetuate their kind,
and finally obey the law inevitable: die, and give
place to others. Their structure built of myriads
of minute cells piled on and around each other and
differentiated into tissues of varying thicknesses and
forms as best adapted to the work each has to per-
form in the life economy of the whole organism.

The big roots firmly anchor the tree to the earth
and give off tiny rootlets that absorb water and
various food salts in solution which are carried up-
ward through special tissues to the leaves. The
leaves — the lungs and chemical laboratories of the
tree — breathe in from the air during daylight a gas
deleterious to man (carbon dioxide), break it up, ex-
hale a part as pure oxygen essential for the life of the
animal kingdom, and combine the remaining carbon
and oxygen with the water and food salts supplied by
the rootlets into simple forms of sugar, in which man-
ner they are immediately available as food to nourish
the tree's growth in all its complicated parts. So
much of these sugars not at the moment wanted is
converted into forms of starch and stored away for

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

the tree's future needs. No chemical factory in the
world built by man and fitted with all the wonderful
appliances of modern science is half so marvellous as
the leaf of any one kind of tree; no system of collec-
tion and transportation devised by human ingenuity
and skill so perfect as that which serves each and
every tree.

All who keep gold fish in a bowl or in an aquarium
know that green weeds of some sort must be kept in
the water or the fish will die. Why? Because the
fish inhale all the free oxygen in the water and poison
themselves with carbon dioxide, which they exhale
unless plants are present to take up this gas and in
exchange give back free oxygen and thus maintain
the balance in nature. So on the grander scale.
But for the presence of vegetation this earth would be
unhabitable for the animal kingdom in all its forms,
man included.

The two kingdoms — vegetable and animal — are
interdependent, but the vegetable kingdom is the
more ancient of the two. Men of great minds, both
of the past and of the present, who have studied
deeply the problems concerning the origin of the
world of life are of the opinion that the present
state of development of the animal kingdom — the
living types of to-day including man the complex —
has been made possible by the steady change in the
8

THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

development of the vegetable kingdom. The fossil
remains of plants and animals imbedded in the rocks
of the different geological epochs of the world's his-
tory tell the story of the progressive changes that
have taken place during the earth's history, from its
youth and adolescence to its present age. Indeed
this progressive development of organic life through
successive geological periods is the theory on which
the modern teaching of the science of natural history
is based, and it must be confessed that it goes far
toward rendering intelligible natural phenomena as
they exist to-day.

Trees by no means represent the oldest type of life-
forms in the history of the vegetable kingdom; on
the contrary, they are fairly modern. Geologists
tell us that in the earliest phases of the world's his-
tory of which organic remains exist, the vegetable
kingdom was represented by simple, aquatic, or semi-
aquatic plants, and the animal kingdom by sponges,
worms, centipedes, and spiders. In succeeding ages
land plants were developed. During the period
represented by our coal measures (the Carboniferous
period) and the lengthy epoch preceding it, the whole
earth became more or less forest-clad with a low
type of vegetation mostly allied to our Ferns, Horse-
tails, Lycopods, and ancestral forms of the Cycad
and Ginkgo families.

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

This earliest luxuriant land vegetation — that
which formed the great coal-fields of the earth — was
probably adapted to the physical environment alone
and was almost uninfluenced by the scanty animal life
of the period. Reptiles and mammals were then
differentiated, but the former, being better fitted to
live upon the vegetation and to survive in the heavily
carbonated atmosphere, increased more rapidly.
This increase continued through the next two geolog-
ical epochs and culminated in the next, the Jurassic
period, which has been fitly termed the "Age of Rep-
tiles." Rocks of this age are prevalent in the states
of Wyoming, the Dakotas, Kansas, and Texas, and
from them have been excavated, and sent to museums
for preservation, remains more or less complete of
the largest, the ugliest, and the most extraordinary
forms of animal life the world has known.

The development of vegetation reacting on the
climate and on the animal kingdom, and each on the
other, induced constant change. In due course rep-
tiles gave place to mammals, birds were differenti-
ated and likewise insects in variety; Cycads, Arau-
carias, Ginkgos, Yews, Cedars, and other conifers
came into being and, later, broadleaf and coniferous
trees similar to those of to-day. It is not my purpose
to trace this progressive change in further detail but
the fact I do wish to emphasize is that isolated types
10

THEIR ANCIENT LINEAGE

of the archaic forms of trees have persisted down
through remote ages to the present day. Of such
may be instanced the Araucarias, now confined to
South America and Australasia. A familiar example
of these trees is the Norfolk Island Pine {Arancaria
excelsa), so much in request for indoor decorative
purposes in the colder parts of this country, and
quite hardy in California. Other examples are the
Cycads, which are found scattered through the
Southern Hemisphere and northward to the Tropic
of Cancer, the Cedars of Lebanon, of Cyprus, of
the Atlas Mountains and of the western Himalayas;
also the Ginkgo of China, Korea, and Japan.

CHAPTER II

THEIR PRESENT-DAY
DISTRIBUTION

CYPRESS OF MONTEZUMA

AT TULE, MEXICO, 1 6() FT. HIGH, I 46 GIRTH. ESTIMATED TO B E
MUCH OLDER THAN 2,000 YEARS

{Taxodium mucronatum)

CHAPTER I I

THEIR PRESENT-DAY
DISTRI BUTION

MANY persons take it for granted that the
types of trees with which they are familiar
are found all the world over; others more
discerning know that every tree has birt a limited dis-
tribution covering at most a limited range of degrees
of latitude and longitude. They know that the Oaks,
Elms, Maples, Pines, and Firs are different on the
east and west seaboards of this country; also that
both differ from those of Europe on the one hand and
of eastern Asia on the other. If one looks into the
subject all sorts of curious facts are unearthed. For
instance, the Tulip-tree and the Kentucky Coffee-
tree are each represented by two species only, one of
each in the eastern United States and another of
each in central China. Of Douglas Firs, two species
grow on the mountains of the Pacific Slope and two
species in eastern Asia. The Honey-locusts grow
in eastern North America, in eastern Asia, and in the
Caucasus region. One species of Incense Cedar is
15

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

native of the mountains of California, another of the
mountains of Formosa and southern China, while
several species are indigenous to South America and
New Zealand. Some groups of trees are represented
by many species, others by one or two species. And
so as study follows interest it is clearly seen that
some groups are in the heyday of their youth, others
in their prime, others on the wane — not as individuals
but as groups. Reasoning on these facts the con-
clusion is naturally reached that in the progressive
development of types of trees this is the natural se-
quence. It has been the same through the world's
history. Types have arisen and disappeared, some
completely, while others, altered and modified to
meet the climatic and other changes, have persisted
through very long periods of time, and are, as it
were, living fossils.

With three of these ancient types of trees I shall
deal at length in succeeding chapters, but, as an ex-
planatory introduction, it is necessary to enter a
little into the subject of plant distribution in general.
A popular book is hardly the place for a full discus-
sion of these matters, yet they are of such interest
and importance that a few salient points cannot fail
to be of use in understanding present phenomena of
tree distribution. Savants have written much to
explain particular cases, and as knowledge increases
16

PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION

the whole question becomes more simple. The
geological records, even of the Northern Hemisphere,
are notoriously imperfect but as investigations pro-
ceed many links are forged and abysmal chasms
bridged. The human mind, collectively or individ-
ually, will never achieve the infinite but it may learn
enough to explain much intelligently.

If we are in the least degree to understand
the present-day distribution of plants, and especially
the isolation of groups of trees like for instance the
Honey-locust (Gleditsia), and Sweet-gum (Liquid-
ambar), which occur in Asia Minor, China, Japan, and
eastern North America and each separated by thou-
sands of miles of land and sea, it is necessary that we
try and picture some of the changes time has wrought
in the climate of the Northern Hemisphere. Geolo-
gists are pretty well agreed that the two great oceans,
Atlantic and Pacific, have not changed much in the
aeons of time since this earth began to cool. Seas,
plains, mountain ranges, and large areas of land
have, however, changed vastly though probably the
depressions and elevations have maintained a fairly
stable equilibrium — a sort of compensation balance.

The Tertiary period, that is the geological era imme-
diately preceding the present, was one of great dis-
turbances and the folding of the earth's crust, due to
internal cooling and consequent contraction, made
17

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

vast changes in the earth's surface. Its close was
marked by a period of great cold which wrought
havoc among vegetation, and to-day much land that
in Tertiary times was forested is hidden under enor-
mous ice-fields. In Tertiary times most of the
present Arctic Zone was probably free of ice, at any
rate Spitzbergen, Greenland, Iceland, the extreme
north of the mainland of America and Asia enjoyed a
climate at least as mild as New England does to-day.
Vast forests circled the whole of to-day's Arctic
regions, for the land connection was complete. In
those times the types of tree vegetation were similar
throughout the whole Northern Hemisphere. Doubt-
less, then as now, species had a limited distribution,
but the genera then, much more so than to-day, were
widespread. Tulip-trees, Magnolias, Sweet-gums,
Ginkgos, Sassafras, Sequoias, and, indeed, countless
others grew in Europe, in America, and in Asia.

As the period of great cold came on so the vegeta-
tion was forced to migrate down the mountains and
southward to escape destruction. As the ice crept
southward so it destroyed the vegetation. The
trees of Greenland, Spitzbergen, Iceland, of the re-
gions separating North America and eastern Asia,
were all destroyed. In this country they were forced
south of Philadelphia (Lat. 400 N.) and where there
was no continuous land connection they were oblit-
18

PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION

era ted. In Europe they were swept almost to the
very fringe of the Mediterranean and virtually all
destroyed. In Europe to-day, only about three
dozen genera of trees are found and even the species
are very limited in number.

We are not concerned with the theories as to what
particular astronomical change induced the Ice Age,
but it is important to realize that the ice did not
descend to equal latitudes all round the Northern
Hemisphere. Japan and China escaped glaciation
and, though the temperature must have been lowered,
the vegetation suffered little harm. Of course there
was a migration toward the south and a reverse
one at the close of the glacial epoch. The net result
is that the existing flora of the Chinese Empire and
of central Japan southward, is really a miniature of the
whole flora of the Northern Hemisphere in pre-glacial
times. In China and in the parts of Japan indicated
grow to-day many peculiar types, and all the princi-
pal genera of trees known from the other parts of the
Northern Hemisphere except Robinia, Laburnum,
Platanus, true Cedars (Cedrus), Sequoia and Taxo-
dium; and of the latter two there are such very closely
allied trees as Taiwania and Glyptostrobus. Fossils
of many types which grow in the Orient to-day occur
in Europe, and recent dredgings off the Dutch-
English coast have added much to prove that the
'9

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

ancient flora of Europe was similar to that now flour-
ishing in the Far East. I do not mean that they were
specifically identical but that the generic types were
similar. If we picture to ourselves the onward, in-
evitable creeping southward of the ice we can easily
understand how trees and other forms of vegetation
were destroyed in its path, and only those which were
able to reach places of sufficient warmth to maintain
life survived. The greater the land extension toward
the south the greater chances had the vegetation, and
where the country was broken by mountain ranges
advantageous regions were more easily found.

The ice on its path ground off the tops of moun-
tains and scoured out valleys to a great depth, and
when it retreated the face of much of the Northern
Hemisphere was changed. It disappeared from sea-
level valleys earlier than from mountain ranges and
so isolated groups of vegetation. If we picture this,
and remember that before the period of great cold set
in the vegetation of the North was everywhere very
similar, we can understand how to-day are found here
and there groups of trees isolated by thousands of
miles from their kindred. This explains the sepa-
ration of the Cedars of Lebanon, of the Taurus, of
Cyprus, of the Atlas Mountains and of the western Him-
alayas; also the isolation of the Nettle-trees, Honey-
locusts, Sweet-gums, Walnuts, and others in the
20

PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION

Caucasus region, in eastern North America and in the
Orient. What were temperate regions in the north
in Tertiary times are even now the frozen North,
and the land of this region capable of growing forests
is infinitely less than it was then. Deserts, seas,
lakes, high plateaux, and mountain ranges influence
climates, which strongly affect plant distribution.
Birds, animals, air- and water-currents are all agencies
in plant dispersal, and so to understand why this tree
is here and not yonder involves the study of a num-
ber of cognate branches of natural history. Com-
plex is the problem, but however little it is studied
the marvels of the world we live in become more and
more apparent.

Brief and fragmentary as this sketch is it would
be more so did we omit mention of the influence of
man. At what period in the world's history man
first appeared is much disputed, but certain it is
that, as soon as he became a sentient being, hunger
caused him to investigate the vegetation and taught
him to appreciate what was wholesome as food; pro-
viding himself with clothes, shelter, and weapons for
protection followed. As he migrated so he carried
with him plants that were of service to his needs,
and, later, such as were a delight to his higher
being. We know so little of the early peregrinations
of the human race, or of where it had its cradle, that

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

wecan say nothing of that remote and most interesting
period. In the mythology, folk-lore, and sacred writ-
ings of all races of which we have knowledge frequent
mention of trees is made. I nvading armies devastated
countries and carried off useful plants, including fruit
trees and the like, as spoils of war. Alexander the
Great is but a name in history in spite of his great
conquests, and of his work the only beneficial result
to mankind remaining is the Orange-tree which his
soldiers are said to have carried back from India to
the shores of the Mediterranean.

Of the mighty migrations across Asia we know very
little though it is certain that for centuries the great
highways of commerce of the Old World were across
central Asia. That the peach, orange, and certain
of its relatives, were carried from China to Persia
and that neighbourhood is certain, and that the wal-
nut and grapevine were brought back is equally true.
From the rich and famed China of old, plants useful
and ornamental were also carried to Korea and Japan ;
even as the apple, the pear, the cherry, wheat,
and barley were carried here from Europe and later
the peach, apricot, almond, date, vine, and the like.
From this country the potato, tobacco, and maize
were taken to Europe and to China. In later times
ornamental trees, shrubs, and herbs have been car-
ried far from their original homes.

< s

0 a

§ « a

< - 5

PRESENT-DAY DISTRIBUTION

In all this beneficent work man has been the or-
ganizing power, and could a thousand and one of
the common plants around us tell their story it
would fascinate the least attentive. This pen is
indifferently equipped, but the purpose of this work
is to show the intimate connection, the bond of com-
panionship, as it were, between ourselves — mankind
in general — and certain groups of plants. Animal
life, in all its higher forms at any rate, is depend-
ent for its very existence on the vegetable kingdom.
Man draws much of his bodily sustenance from the
products of plant life, and trees will yield, to all who
heed their beauty and study them, mental enjoyment
and healthful recreation.

n M Mill IIRDADV

CHAPTER I I I
THEIR RUGGED TRUNKS

MUCH of the beauty of any region is due to
the trees which clothe the mountain slopes
and river valleys or line roadsides and hedge-
rows. This statement is commonplace, yet those
who have crossed the treeless areas in this and other
lands can best appreciate its full significance. In the
summer time, when clothed with leafage, all deciduous
trees may look very much alike to a casual observer.
In the fall, when the change of colour in the leaves
takes place, variety becomes apparent, but it is in
the winter when the trees are naked that they best
display their peculiar characteristics. A very brief
study will enable any one in winter to pick out the
Elm, Oak, Sugar Maple, Beech, Hickory, and Silver
Birch. The general aspect, position of main branches,
thickness of shoots, character of the bark, and often
of the buds, each or several, afford easy clues to iden-
tity. Those who are born and live in the country
readily recognize by intuition their neighbouring
trees. Townsfolk have not the same opportunities

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES
and must learn by study what countryfolk acquire
through association.

Of the many attractive features of trees not the
least is their bark, and in winter this feature is not
only very pronounced but is often characteristic.
The various organs of a tree, like those of the human
body, have each their function, and that of the bark
is protection. It protects the vital tissues, which lie
near the periphery, from the heat of the sun's direct
rays and from the intense cold of winter. We are
not concerned with a scientific treatise on the origin
of bark but a few simple facts are instructive since
they enable us to understand how the various forms
of the bark arise. When transplanting trees it is
well known that care must be taken not to injure the
bark, especially when it is smooth, and that in cer-
tain trees, the Holly for example, even moderate
injury is fatal. In the Holly (Ilex), in Acer striatum,
and other striped-barked Maples, and in a few other
trees, the original cells of the outer surface keep pace
by growth with the formation of new tissue in the
interior. In this case no proper bark is formed, and
any considerable injury to the skin, as it may be
termed, of the trunk is fatal, since it cannot heal over.
Such trees grow naturally in the shade of others and
are thereby much protected. Most commonly, how-
ever, it is the layer of cells immediately within the
28

THEIR RUGGED TRUNKS

outer surface which becomes active and forms bark
and continues to do so during the life of the individ-
ual. In some trees, like the Birch, as new layers are
formed the older ones are partially or completely
thrown off. In others, like the Beech, the growth is
such that the bark firmly coheres and remains smooth
on the outside. In the Oak, Elm, and Chestnut suc-
cessive formations are amassed and the bark, though
firmly coherent, becomes fissured and with age deeply
and ruggedly so. In some trees the bark-forming
cells, after a time, cease to function and fresh layers
arise successively deeper and deeper within the tis-
sues. When this happens, as in Sequoia, the bark is
made up of different tissues and is known as fibrous.
In most cases the bark is either thin and papery,
firm and smooth, or fissured, but in some — Cork
Oak, Cork Elm, and other trees — it is thick and
corky.

Without entering further into the origin of bark,
our purpose is served if it be remembered that the
character of the bark depends largely upon its seat of
origin and the nature of the tissues of which it is
composed; that its appearance depends mainly upon
degrees of coherence and upon the stress and strain it
is submitted to as growth continues year after year.
It is the tree itself that fashions the bark in all its
varied forms and not external elements, though wind,
20

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

heat, and cold assist in the removal of loosely coherent
barks.

In different groups of trees the bark varies enor-
mously in thickness. We have stated that in the
Holly no true bark is formed; in the Beech it is firm
and smooth, and on trees several hundreds of years old
it is scarcely more than one half an inch thick; in
the Chestnut it is thicker, but in none of our common
trees is the bark of any great thickness. In the Big
Trees of California it attains its maximum develop-
ment, being in adult trees often as much as thirty
inches thick!

But mere thickness has no bearing on the orna-
mental character of bark. The White or Paper Birch,
often felicitously called "My Lady of the Woods,"
is known to all by its smooth white bark which
peels off in thin layers. No other tree has such pure
white bark though many Poplars have pale, yellowish-
gray bark, smooth except on the lower and older
parts. In the River Birch the papery gray-brown
bark clings in loose masses of irregular shape. The
Beech has smooth, grayish-white bark and in the
American species in particular the effect from a dis-
tance is like white mist. The Hornbeam also has a
pale gray bark like the Beech, but rather darker,
and on old trees it becomes shallowly fissured. The
Red, Silver, and Sugar Maples have smooth, pale
30

THEIR RUGGED TRUNKS

gray bark which becomes darker and on old trees
fissured.

The deciduous Oaks according to their bark fall
into two groups. Many of the White Oaks (Quer-
cus alba, Q. macrocarpa, Q. bicolor, Q. stellata) have
light gray bark which becomes fissured with age.
Others like the European Oak (Quercus robur), and
the Red, Black, and Chestnut Oaks of America have
dark gray bark, varying from nearly smooth to
deeply fissured according to the species. The Chest-
nut also has dark gray, deeply fissured bark. In
the Sweet Birch the bark is smooth and almost
black, and in the Cherries lustrous, chestnut-brown,
and peeling. In the Plane and certain Hickories the
bark flakes off in plates or strips leaving smooth
white or pale brown scars; in Stuartia and the
Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) this is carried to the
extreme and the trunks become smooth and polished.
The Robinia has a grayish, deeply fissured, fibrous
bark, and that of the Elm, Linden, and many other
common trees, is dark and irregularly fissured. In
the American Honey-locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)
the bark is almost black, cracked and fissured,
whereas that of its Chinese relative {G. macracantha)
is quite smooth and pale gray. A similar difference
obtains between the Kentucky CofTee-tree and its
Chinese congener. In the former the bark is dark,
31

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

fissured, and rugged, in the latter perfectly smooth
and gray-green. Many are familiar with the dark,
fissured bark of the valuable Black Walnut but fewer,
perhaps, with that of the American Persimmon
(Diospyros vir giniand) . In this tree the bark is al-
most black and is deeply fissured, both longitudinally
and transversely, in such manner that the trunk is
studded with close-set rectangular knobs which form
a perfect mosaic. Among trees I know of only one
other, the Korean Cornel (Cornus coreana), that
has this peculiar and striking kind of bark. In
conclusion it may be said that nearly every kind of
tree has its own peculiar form of bark, differing
slightly or conspicuously from that of its neigh-
bours. Quite often the bark is remarkable for its
colour or form, and in winter it is especially attrac-
tive and beautiful.

CHAPTER IV
THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

IN SEPTEMBER, when the beauty of the Aster
displaces that of the Goldenrod, when blue and
purple transcend the yellow in field and border,
the deep green mantle of foliage draping hill and dale,
mountain and ravine, streamside and roadside com-
mences to show portentous signs of change. The
Pines, Hemlocks, and their kin look even darker as
the contrast with their deciduous-leaved neigh-
bours becomes stronger. In the swamps, about the
last week of August and at the first whiff of autumn
in the air, the Red Maple begins to assume a purplish
tint and its example is soon followed by other kinds of
trees. To all of us the season of the year becomes
apparent, warning signs of stern winter's approach
increase rapidly, and soon the whole country puts on
its gayest mantle of colour. The peoples of the
tropics, where monsoon rains are followed by burning
heat and where the young unfolding leaves of many
forest trees are brightly coloured, never enjoy the
wonderful feast of colour displayed in the forests
35

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and countrysides of this and other northern conti-
nental areas. They have other things for which we
may envy them but the autumn tints of leaves are
peculiarly our own. The brightly coloured Codiaeums
of the tropics and of our hothouses, beautiful as they
are, do not equal the Red Maple, Sugar Maple, Sas-
safras, and Tulip-tree in the fall. No scene in nature
is more delightful than the woods of eastern North
America in the fulness of their autumn splendour.

It is a weakness of humans to crave most those
things beyond their immediate reach, but the wise
among us are content to enjoy those which fall within
the sphere of every-day life. To revel in the splendid
riot of autumn colour no long journey has to be under-
taken. It is at our very door. From the St. Law-
rence Valley and the Canadian lakes southward to
the Alleghany Mountains there is displayed each
autumn a scene of entrancing beauty not surpassed
the world over. Central Europe, Japan, China, and
other parts of eastern Asia have their own season of
autumn colour and each area has an individuality of
its own but, if they rival, they cannot surpass the
forest scenes of eastern North America.

But wherefore and why all this gay autumnal

apparel? Is it the handiwork of the charming

fairies and wood-nymphs of our childhood beliefs

and nursery days? Surely some guiding hand, some

THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

beneficent agency, some lover of mankind must
have prepared the scene as the final tableau of the
seasons! Of a truth the talent of the Master Artist
is unveiled, and the picture surpasses the dreams of
those who live in less-favoured areas of the world.

Those skilled in the mysteries of organic chemistry
and plant physiology tell us that autumn tints are
due to chemical changes associated with the storing
away of food material and the discharge of certain
waste products. This explanation, though matter
of fact and disturbing to our youthful belief in fairies
and wood-nymphs, opens up a field of inquiry which
must tend to enlarge our viewpoint and increase our
appreciation of Nature's wonderful methods. We
find that all is governed by laws which act and react
in such manner as to insure the end and object de-
sired.

Briefly the autumn metamorphosis is effected as
follows:

At the approach of winter leaves which cannot
withstand frost cease to function as food factories and
the residue food substances are conveyed from the
leaf-blade into the woody branches or subterranean
rootstock and there stored, chiefly in the form of
starch, until the season of growth recommences the
following spring. The leaves from which everything
useful has been transported form nothing more than a
37

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

mere framework of cell-chambers containing merely
waste products such as crystals of calcium-oxalate
which are thrown off with the leaves and help to en-
rich the soil. But while the process of food evacu-
ation is going on other changes take place. In many
plants a chemical substance, known technically as
anthocyanin, is produced in the leaves and often
to such an extent as to become plainly visible on the
exterior. It appears red in the presence of free acids
in the cell-sap, blue when no acids are present, and
violet when the quantity of acids is small. In a
great many leaves the bodies which contain the
green colouring matter become changed to yellow
granules while the evacuation of food substances is in
process. Sometimes these granules are very few
and anthocyanin is absent, then the leaf exhibits
little outward change except losing its freshness be-
fore it falls. In others the yellow granules are
abundantly developed, and if anthocyanin is absent
or nearly so the whole leaf assumes a clear yellow
hue. If there is an abundance of yellow granules
together with free acids and anthocyanin the leaf
assumes an orange colour. Thus the leaf at the
period of autumnal change by the presence of these
substances in a greater or lesser degree loses its green
hue and becomes brown or yellow, crimson or or-
ange, purple or red. The play of colour is greater
38

THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

according to the number of species and individuals
associated together in a particular spot. But the
greatest display of colour is seen when the neigh-
bourhood is sprinkled with trees having evergreen
foliage, when it often happens that a relatively small
area of woodland appears decked in all the colours of
the rainbow.

The most casual observer knows that all trees
do not assume tinted foliage in autumn. Some, like
the Alder, the Locust (Robinia), the Elder, and most
Willows exhibit little or no change save, perhaps, a
number of yellow leaves scattered through the green
before the fall. But this group is relatively small
and only adds additional contrast to the landscape.
Again, plants whose leaves are covered with silky or
woolly hairs or with a felted mat of hairs never
present any autumn colouring, and in those in which
the green colour disappears the change is to pale
gray and white.

In a rather large group of trees which includes the
Walnut, Butternut, Catalpa, Elm, Hickory, Chest-
nut, Horsechestnut, Linden, Button-tree, White
Birch, and others, the tints are a general mixture of
rusty green and yellow and, occasionally, pure yellow
under favourable circumstances. In the Poplar,
Tulip-tree, Honey-locust (Gleditsia), Mulberry,
Maidenhair-tree or Ginkgo, Beech, and most of the
39

THE ROMANCE OF OUR. TREES

Birches, the leaves change to pure yellow of differ-
ent shades. In none of the above-mentioned groups
is purple or red of any shade developed.

In favourable years the American or White Ash
(Fraxinus americana) is unique in its tints passing
through all shades from a dark chocolate to violet,
clear brown, and salmon but it has no reds.

The Peach, Plum, Pear, Apple, Quince, Cherry,
Mountain-ash, Hawthorn, and the Silver Maple, have
a predominance of green with a slight or considerable
admixture of purple, red, and yellow, and individuals
are frequently strikingly brilliant. In another
group purple, crimson, and scarlet, with only a slight
admixture of yellow if any, obtain. Here are the
Tupelo, Scarlet Oak, White Oak, Sumach, Viburnum,
Sorrel-tree, Cornel, and many other trees. A final
group — to which belong the Red, Sugar, Striped, and
Mountain Maples, the Smoke-tree (Cotinus), Poison
Dogwood, Sassafras and the Shadbush or Snowy
Mespilus — has variegated tints comprising all shades
of purple, crimson, scarlet, orange, and yellow on the
same or different individuals of the same species.
Often the leaves are tinted and sometimes figured like
the wings of a butterfly.

Careful observers will note that the gradations of
autumn tints in all cases are in order of those of sun-
rise: from darker to lighter hues, and never the re-
40

THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

verse. The brown leaves which long persist on
some trees (Beech, Chestnut, and certain Oaks),
though darker than the yellow or orange from which
they often turn, are no exception, since these leaves
are dead and the brown colour is only assumed after
vitality has vanished.

Some species are perfectly uniform in their colours;
others, on the contrary, display a very wide range of
colour. For example the Maidenhair-tree, the Tulip-
tree, and Birch are invariably yellow; the Tupelo,
Sumach, and White Oak chiefly red, while Maples are
of as many colours as if they were of different species.
But each individual tree shows nearly the same
tints every year even as an Apple-tree bears fruit of
the same tints from year to year.

The Red Maple (Acer rubrum), so abundant in
swamp and wood, roadside, and on dry hilltop, is
the crowning glory of a New England autumn. By
the last week of August it commences to assume a
purplish hue; sometimes a solitary branch is tinted,
frequently the colouring process begins at the top
of the tree and the purple crown of autumn is placed
on the green brow of summer. Trees growing side
by side are seldom alike, and in a group may be seen
almost as many shades of colour as there are trees.
Some are entirely yellow, others scarlet, some crim-
son, purple, or orange, others variegated with several
41

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

of these colours. Indeed on different individuals in
the Red Maple may be seen all the hues that are ever
displayed in the autumn woods. The Sugar Maple
{Acer saccharum), though more brilliant, has a nar-
rower range of colour and is more uniform in its tints,
which range from yellow and orange to scarlet.

The common Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) more in-
variably shows a mass of unmixed crimson than any
other New England tree. The foliage first assumes
shades of purple which changes into crimson or scar-
let before it falls.

The Oaks, the noblest group of trees in eastern
North America, assume their autumn tints very late
and are not at their zenith until after those of the
Maples have past. In the Scarlet, Red, and White
Oaks the tints are ruddy, varying from reddish purple
and crimson to pale red, and when at their best, after
the middle of October, these trees are the most beau-
tiful of the forests and pastures. The Black and
Swamp Oaks develop imperfect shades of orange to
leather-coloured tints.

In the White Oak, the Beech, the Chestnut, and
the Red Oak when young, the leaves as they die be-
come russet-brown, and, remaining on the trees
through the winter, give a sensation of warmth to
the woods and landscape in the coldest days of
winter. The period of retention varies greatly in
42

THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

different individuals, often the leaves are retained on
the lower branches when the upper parts of the tree
are bare.

In Great Britain the native trees, with few excep-
tions, such as the wild Cherries and Beech, assume no
autumn tints comparable with those of their American
relatives. Indeed, in England the most varied and
brightly coloured tints are found not on the indige-
nous trees but on the Brambles (Rubus). Long ago
many English trees were planted in eastern North
America and some, like the Elm, Linden, and Oak,
have grown to a large or moderately large size. In
autumn such trees stand out very clearly with their
mantle of green foliage when the native trees around
are of all tints or have shed their leaves. These Eng-
lish colonists preserve their green hues until late into
October when finally the leaves become mottled,
yellowish or brownish, and fall.

The Asiatic trees in cultivation assume their
wonted tints, and so also do those of central Europe.
The trees of Japan and China colour with us rather
later than the native trees and lengthen the season
of colour fully two weeks.

In Japan, where an intense love of nature is

innate among all classes, there prevails a custom

which might well be adopted in other lands. The

beauty spots in that country are many and are justly

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

celebrated in poetry and song: august Fuji-san with
its perfect cone and snowy mantle; the Pine-clad
islets of Matsushima; the Inland Sea with its hun-
dreds of islands clad with verdure to the water's edge;
the Nikko region with its mountains and lakes, its
waterfalls and woods, and hundreds of other places
more or less famous. In October, when the woods
assume their autumn splendour, children from pri-
mary and secondary schools, high schools and colleges
with their teachers and professors make excursions
of three or four days' duration to noted places and
revel in the feast of colour. The railways offer
cheap fares and from all the large towns and cities
children, youths, and maidens journey to the moun-
tain woods. In the autumn in the Nikko region I
have seen thousands of scholars, boys and girls
varying from eight to twenty years of age (and a
happy, orderly throng they were), enjoying to the full
the scenery, breathing in the freshest of mountain air,
and building up healthy minds and bodies. Their
joyousness was wholesomely infectious and it was
good to mingle with them. As I look back on the
many pleasant experiences I have enjoyed in that
pretty land none gives me greater pleasure than the
memories of those throngs of happy scholars in the
woods and woodland paths of Nikko, Chuzenji, and
Yumoto.

THEIR AUTUMN GLORY

Autumn tints is a subject that belongs more to
the sphere of the artist than to that of the scientist;
the poet can sing their song more easily than a
writer of prose can describe their beauty; yet, equally
with all, ordinary folk can enjoy their splendour.
Let us then in autumn time lay aside for a brief
moment the cares of life; let us break away from en-
grossing tasks of every kind and linger for a while
among the trees and shrubs of the roadside and wood-
land, drink in cool draughts of fresh air, and revel
in the galaxy of colour that beneficent Nature so
lavishly displays on every side.

4'~>

CHAPTER V
THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

THE oldest existing type of tree, a veritable
"living fossil," is the Ginkgo or Maidenhair-
tree. It is the sole survivor of a family,
rich in species, which was distributed over the temper-
ate regions of both the Northern and Southern hemi-
spheres during the periods when the Terrible Lizards
(Deinosaurus and Iguanodon), the Winged Lizards
(Pterodactylus — possible ancestors of our birds),
and the Paddle-bearing Lizards (Plesiosaurus)
roamed the earth, and whose fossil remains, so plenti-
ful in the rocks of Wyoming, North and South
Dakota, Kansas, Texas, and elsewhere, alone remain
to tell of their existence. The fossil evidence is in-
sufficient to prove the existence of members of the
Ginkgo family in the age of the coal measures (Car-
boniferous period), but there is a strong suspicion of
their presence in the next (Permian), as fossils from
Virginia show. From the Triassic rocks (the oldest
group of Secondary period) several species of Ginkgo
have been described from Australia, and it seems

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

fairly certain that during this epoch the tree flourished
in the Southern Hemisphere. In the strata of the
next era — the Jurassic or Reptile Age — the Ginkgo is
abundantly present in America, Asia, and Europe.
From rocks of this age in Canada, China, Japan, north-
ern Germany, and England northward to Greenland,
Siberia, and Franz-Joseph-Land many fossil species
have been described. In some of them the leaves
are quite indistinguishable from those of the existing
species. From the rocks of the Chalk Age (Cretace-
ous) of North America, Greenland, and Vancouver
Island, fossil species have been named which are prob-
ably identical with that living to-day. From the
Tertiary period, fossils of several species have been
described from widely separated parts of the Northern
Hemisphere, and it may be concluded with approxi-
mate certainty that the living Ginkgo biloba flourished
at that period; also that it was a common tree in the
present temperate and circumpolar regions of the
v/hole Northern Hemisphere.

The close of the Tertiary period was marked by a
glacial epoch which, in Europe and North America
in particular, destroyed much of the vegetation.
In eastern North America the ice-cap extended as
far south as Philadelphia (Lat. 40°N.) as the scarred
rocks, erratic boulders, and detritus amply testify.
This ice-cap did not reach any part of China, Korea,
50

MAT1 RE HABIT OF AGE (BOSTON PUBLIC GARDENS')

TWO FORMS
OF THF.
GINKGO

GINKGO AT KOYHNGI TEMPLE

A PAN

THIS HAS A GIRTH OF 20 II. AND FITTINGLY EXHIBITS THE
RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION OF THIS TREE, THROUGH WHICH ALONE
ITHAS BEEN PRESERVED TO THIS AGE

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

or Japan, though, of course, the climate there was
very considerably modified by its influence. The
glaciation of North America, Greenland, Europe,
and western Siberia probably caused the extinction
of the Ginkgo in those lands, whereas in the Orient,
thanks to the milder climate that obtained, it
survived. But be the explanation what it may, the
record of the rocks demonstrates both the antiquity
and wide geographical range of the Ginkgo-tree down
to the Tertiary glacial epoch. To-day, the Ginkgo,
statements to the contrary notwithstanding, no
longer exists in a wild state, and there is no authentic
record of its having ever been seen growing spontane-
ously. Travellers of repute of many nationalities
have searched for it far and wide in Japan, Korea,
Manchuria, and China but none has succeeded in
solving the secret of its home. Once or twice the
statement has been made that it "was seen wild" in
northern Japan, in western oreastern China, or in Korea,
but subsequent visits by those competent to judge
have shown the authors of such statements at fault
in their identification of the tree, or misled and
hasty in their findings. It is known in Japan, Korea,
southern Manchuria, and in China proper as a planted
tree only, and usually in association with religious
buildings, palaces, tombs, and old historical or geo-
mantic sites. Whilst excessive cold may reasonably
5i

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

explain its disappearance from much of the Northern
Hemisphere it does not account for its absence in a
wild state in the Orient, where fossil evidence proves
its presence in epochs coeval with those in America
and Europe. Having successfully withstood varying
conditions throughout an inconceivable period of
time, as proved by the geological record, it seems
passing strange that it should so comparatively
recently have disappeared. What caused its disap-
pearance we shall never know, but the same has hap-
pened to billions upon billions of organic forms since
first progressive organic development began. More
marvellous is the fact that this extraordinary type of
vegetation should have persisted through the aeons
to the present.

The earliest known mention of the Ginkgo in books
is in a Chinese work on agriculture which dates from
the 8th century of our era. At the beginning of
iooo a.d. the fruit was taken as tribute by the newly
established Sung Dynasty being known as "Ya-
chio-tzu," which signifies "Silver-apricot," from its
resemblance to the kernel of an apricot. In the great
Chinese Herbal, issued in 1578, the author calls
it the "Ya-chio-tzu," which means "the tree with
leaves like a duck's foot" and is quite descriptive.
These old names may be in use in parts of China to-
day, but I never heard them used; the names in
52

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

general use in those parts of the Flowery Land I
travelled through are " Yin-kuo-tsu" (Silver nut-
tree) and "Pai-kuo-tzu" (White nut-tree). In
Korea it is known as the "Eun Haing-namou" which
is simply the Korean rendering of the Chinese name.
In Japan the tree is known as the I-cho, and the fruit
as Gin-nan, which again is a translation of its Chinese
name. The tree reached Japan with Buddhism in
the 6th century of the Christian Era, and "Ginkgo"
is simply the Japanese rendering of the Chinese name
"Yin-kou." In this connection it must be remem-
bered that the Chinese ideograph and Chinese lit-
erature were adopted by the Japanese long, long
ago. The best authorities claim that the first
Chinese books were brought to Japan in 285 a.d.;
that Buddhism was introduced from China via
Korea in 552, and that the Chinese calendar was
introduced in 602. It is, of course, possible that the
Ginkgo in those early days existed as a wild tree in
the forests of Japan, but it may be assumed with al-
most absolute certainty that in any case it was
brought to Japan by Korean and Chinese Buddhist
monks and planted by them in the earliest days of
their proselytizing. Many of the magnificent old
Ginkgo-trees in Japan are claimed to be more than a
thousand years old and there is no valid reason for
disputing the statement.

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

We of the West owe our first knowledge of the
Ginkgo-tree to Engelbert Kaempfer, who, as a sur-
geon in the service of the old Dutch East-India Com-
pany, visited Japan in September, 1692, and during
the time made an overland journey from Nagasaki
to Tokyo. He returned to Europe in 1694, and
published a book in 17 12 in which he gives a good
figure of the Ginkgo. An Englishman named Gor-
don, in 1 77 1, sent a plant of it to the great Linnaeus
who adopted Kaempfer's name for the generic title of
the tree, calling it Ginkgo biloba. In 1796, an English
botanist, one Smith, renamed it Salisburia adianti-
folia on the grounds that Linnaeus's name was
"equally uncouth and barbarous." This act of
pedantry was very properly objected to at the time
and later Smith's name was abandoned for the older
and legitimate one given by Linnaeus.

The Ginkgo-tree was first introduced into Europe
by the Dutch sometime between 1727 and 1737, and
planted in the Botanic Garden at Utrecht, but the
date is uncertain. It came to England between 1752
and 1754, presumably by seeds brought direct from
Japan. The first tree to flower in Europe was in
Kew Gardens in 1795 and proved to be male. The
famous Jacquin planted a tree in Vienna about 1768,
and this tree when it flowered, proved to be a male
also. Of its first introduction to France the following
54

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

interesting story is on record as related by M. Andre
Thouin, when delivering his annual Cours d'Agricul-
ture Pratique in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. In
1780 a Parisian amateur named M. Petigny voy-
aged to London in order to see the principal gardens
there. Among those he visited was that of a nur-
seryman who possessed five young Ginkgo plants,
all in one pot, raised from seeds received from Japan.
The plants were very rare and the nurseryman val-
ued them highly but after abundant hospitality, in
which wine was not omitted, he parted with them for
twenty-five guineas which the Frenchman promptly
paid, and lost no time in taking away his valuable
acquisition. Next morning the Englishman's gene-
rosity of spirit induced by the wine was replaced by a
keen sense of business acumen and he bewailed his loss
of the five Ginkgo plants. He sought out M. Pe-
tigny and tried to buy them back, finally offering
for a single one the twenty-five guineas he had
received for the five. The Frenchman refused and
carried the plants to France. His story of out-
witting a native of "perfidious Albion" was much
enjoyed in Paris, and, as each plant had cost him but
about 120 francs or 40 crowns, the tree was chris-
tened "Arbre aux quarante ecus!" Most of the older
trees in France are said to have been derived from the
above five, but Sir Joseph Banks, in 17S8, gave to
55

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES
Broussonet, who was then in London, a Ginkgo plant
and he sent it to Professor Gouan of the Montpellier
Botanic Garden where it was planted. In 1790, an
English amateur named Blake, sent a Ginkgo plant
to M. Gaussen de Chapeau-rouge who had a garden
at Bourdigny, a village two leagues from Geneva,
Switzerland, where he cultivated many rare trees.
This tree is historical. It proved to be a female,
the discovery being made by Auguste Pyramus
De Candolle in 1814. Scions from this tree were
distributed over Europe by its discoverer and grafted
on the male trees including those at Vienna and
Montpellier. In fact, all the fruiting trees in Europe
up to 1882 are believed to have originated by graft-
ing from the tree near Geneva. As a result the tree
at Montpellier produced perfect fruit for the first
time in Europe, in 1835. The original female tree at
Bourdigny was cut down before 1866 by order of a
new proprietor of the grounds who cared nothing for
trees.

The introduction of the Maidenhair-tree to Amer-
ica is said to be due to William Hamilton who ob-
tained it from England in 1784 and planted it in his
garden at Woodlands, near Philadelphia, where it
grows to-day though the garden itself has become a
cemetery. In the first years of the 19th century it
was planted by Doctor Hosack at Hyde Park on
56

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

the banks of the Hudson River. On the north side
of Boston Common grows a historic Ginkgo which is
possibly older than the tree at Woodlands and prob-
ably came direct from China. It is said to have
been a tree of "full size when Mr. Gardiner Greene
purchased the garden in 1798." The site of the
garden is now occupied by the Court House in Pem-
berton Square. After Mr. Greene's death in 1832,
the grounds were sold and the tree moved to its pres-
ent position in 1838. The city paid a portion of the
cost and each of Mr. Greene's children contributed
one hundred dollars. The tree when moved was 40
ft. tall and 4 ft. in girth of trunk. Those were times
of great financial stringency, and there was some
opposition to the spending of public money on mov-
ing a tree. The talk was considerable and the fa-
mous physician, Dr. Jacob Bigelow, a friend of
Gardiner Greene, and himself mainly responsible for
saving the tree, wrote a lengthy and amusing poem
on the incident, beginning:

Thou queer, outlandish, fan-leaved tree,
Whose grandfather came o'er the sea

A pilgrim of the ocean,
Didst thou expect to gather gear
By selling out thy chopsticks here?

In China the Ginkgo as a planted tree is associated
with Chinese civilization almost throughout the
57

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

length and breadth of the kingdom. I am not sure
that it grows in the hotter parts of southern China,
and where I have seen it most abundantly is in the
western province of Szechuan (the province of the
four streams). There I met with the most perfect
specimen of a Ginkgo-tree I have ever seen. It
grows a few miles above the city of Kiating, but on
the left bank of the Min River, and in 1908 was
about 100 ft. tall, had a symmetrical, narrow-oval
crown with branches almost sweeping the ground,
and a trunk 24 ft. in girth. It is a male. I have
seen others in China with rather larger trunks but
never one quite so tall or so lovely in form. In the
grounds of the Yellow Dragon Temple at Ruling, a
summer resort in the Lushan Mountains behind
Kiukiang on the Yangtsze River, grows a famous old
Ginkgo not especially tall (about 70 ft.) but with a
trunk 25 ft. in girth. In and around Shanghai are
many fine specimens of this tree. A little to the west
of Shanghai in a district unfrequented by foreigners
the late Frank N. Meyer, plant explorer in China
for the United States Department of Agriculture,
found the Ginkgo to be common and used for fuel,
and he suggested that it might be truly wild there.
Meyer's opinion is more worthy of respect than thoseof
many other travellers who have made similar ascer-
tions but I am an unconvinced sceptic. A Russian
58

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

botanist of German extraction, Dr. Alexander von
Bunge, who accompanied the nth Ecclesiastical
Mission sent by the Russian Government to Peking
in 1830 where he stayed for nearly eight months,
tells of seeing a Ginkgo-tree near Peking "of prodigi-
ous height and 40 ft. in circumference." No sub-
sequent traveller has seen a tree of such huge dimen-
sions and the probability is that Bunge exaggerated.

1 n southern Manchuria and in Korea growfine speci-
mens of the Ginkgo, especially in Keijyo, the capital
city of Korea, where trees from 80 to 90 ft. tall and
from 18 to 20 ft. in girth of trunk are fairly common.
In the courtyard of Choanji temple in the Diamond
Mountains, a Buddhist sanctuary and one of the
loveliest spots on earth, there is a fine old specimen
some 80 ft. tall and 14 ft. in girth of trunk and with
abundant sprouts. The most northerly place in which
I saw the Ginkgo growing in Korea was about 40 miles
east of Gensan. In Korea the people claim that one
may sit down on the ground beneath the shade of a
Ginkgo-tree and not be pestered with ants, but my
experience does not support this claim.

It is in Japan and in the city of Tokyo, however,
that I have seen the finest average trees and the great-
est in size of trunk. Every park, temple ground, and
palace yard has its Ginkgo-tree which is usually of
great size. There are handsome specimens in Hibya
59

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and Shiba parks, but the finest I saw grows in Koy-
enji temple grounds and is about 85 ft. tall and 28
ft. in girth of trunk. In the grounds of the Zan-
pukuji Temple in Azabu, Tokyo, there is a grand
old tree with a trunk 30 ft. in girth but the top has
been broken off by a storm. In the Imperial Botanic
Gardens in Koishikawa, Tokyo, grows the Ginkgo-
tree on which Professor S. Hirase carried out the
experiments in 1896 which led to his remarkable dis-
covery of the motile male sperms. At the Hachiman
shrine in Kamakura there is a Ginkgo said to be
more than a thousand years old, about 20 feet
in girth of trunk. In the old capitol of Kyoto the
tree is common, and in the courtyard of the Nishi-
Hongwanji there is an old tree, much broken by
storms and some 15 feet in girth of trunk, which is
supposed to protect the temple against fire by dis-
charging showers of water whenever a conflagration in
the vicinity threatens danger ! I n the old 8th century-
capital, Nara, and quite near the hotel, there is an ex-
traordinary Ginkgo out of which is growing a Keaki
tree {Zelkova serrata) with a trunk 8 feet in girth. It
evidently originated from a seed planted in a fissure
of the Ginkgo-tree by the wind or by a bird. The
trees are about equal height (75 feet) and the com-
posite trunk is 15 feet in girth. It is entitled to rank
among the marvels of Japan for it looks as if two
60

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

trees had been grafted together. Of course no or-
ganic union between two trees representing almost
the poles of the vegetable kingdom is possible, but
they thrive together harmoniously.

On the massive lower branches of old Ginkgo-trees
thick, peg-like structures develop which grow down-
ward and on reaching the ground develop true roots
from their apex and give off branches above. The
growths are often very numerous and are sometimes
as much as from 12 to 16 feet long and one foot in di-
ameter. This phenomenon is rare in China and
Korea, but is common in Japan where the growths
are styled "chi-chi": that is, teats or nipples. Their
truecharacter is not properly understood but evidently
they serve to prolong the life of the tree by developing
new stems and branches.

From the trunks of old trees many sprouts develop
which sometimes form a veritable thicket of ascending
stems. If the top of the tree be broken, as fre-
quently happens in the long life of the tree, new shoots
arise, grow upward, and make a new crown. The
vitality of the tree is marvellous and Mother Nature
seems to have endowed it with a thousand and one
means of maintaining its existence. I never saw a
dead Ginkgo during the twenty years I have trav-
elled in the Far East.

Japanese gardeners raise many seedlings in a pot
61

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

or pan and use them for table decorations, but as a
dwarfed tree the Ginkgo is not much in request in
Japan.

As far as authentic records go the oldest Ginkgo-
trees in this country are the two in Woodlands
Cemetery, Philadelphia, which were planted by
William Hamilton in 1784. The largest, a male,
measures 7 feet 7 inches in girth of trunk, the other is
female and measures 6 feet 6 inches in girth. Both
are fully 75 feet tall and in vigorous health. Profes-
sor Harshberger, to whom I am indebted for the
above measurements, thinks the Ginkgo in the old
Bartram Garden in West Philadelphia is the oldest
and the first planted in America, basing his opinion
on the facts that this garden is older than that
founded by Hamilton and that the tree is larger,
being 9 feet 3 inches in girth. I have told of the old
tree on Boston Common, and in the Public Gardens
of Boston there are a number of fine trees, the best
being 60 feet tall and 7 feet in girth of trunk. In
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass., there is
a handsome specimen, probably planted under the di-
rection of Dr. Jacob Bigelow soon after the cemetery
was started, which the Assistant Superintendent,
Mr. John Peterson, kindly informs me is about 88
feet high and 7 feet 1 1 inches in girth at five feet from
the ground. Unfortunately the symmetry of the
62

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

tree was spoiled by a storm two years ago which
broke off one of the principal branches. In the
Missouri Botanic Garden, St. Louis, grows a fine
Ginkgo-tree which is about 65 feet tall and 7 feet in
girth. Probably the largest and best Ginkgo in this
country is at Hyde Park, on the Hudson, New York,
which as before stated was planted very early in the
19th century by Doctor Hosack. In a letter, the
present owner, F. W. Vanderbilt, Esq., courteously in-
forms me "that it measures 1 1 feet 2 inches around
the trunk two feet from the ground just where the
branches begin to spread, 1 1 feet 1 inch at six
inches from the ground, 70 feet spread from tips of
branches, and the height from 80 to 85 feet. This
tree is in splendid condition and vigorously healthy.
It is always perfectly clean and has never had a dead
branch on it of even the smallest size and the tree has
never required spraying during the 24 years I have
been here."

Perhaps the best-known Maidenhair-trees in
America are those forming the avenue in the De-
partment of Agriculture grounds, Washington, D. C.
There are some ninety trees in the avenue and on the
curves of the drive which lead into the avenue. The
trees were all planted at the same time but vary
greatly in size. The tallest is about 52 feet and
a good many of them are about 48 feet in height,
63

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

the average being about 40 feet tall; in girth they vary
from 2\ feet to *j\ feet. In the parks of Minneapolis,
Minn., the Superintendent, Mr. Theodore Wirth, tells
me that the Ginkgo is hardy but that so far they have
not found a satisfactory place for it. As to its beha-
viour in Canada, Mr. W. T. Macoun, Dominion Hor-
ticulturist, obligingly informs me that he has "seen
very few specimens of this tree in Canada, but we have
been growing it here for twenty-five years and there
are a few specimens on the grounds of about that
age. They are from 25 to 30 feet high, and, although
rather slow in growth, may be considered, I think,
perfectly hardy although occasionally the tips kill
back. So far as I know they are not grown in any
colder part of Canada. The winter of 19 17- 18 was
the most trying on both fruit trees and ornamental
trees that we have experienced in thirty years, but the
Ginkgo was not injured. During that winter it was
below zero on fifty-seven days, the lowest tempera-
ture being thirty-one below zero, Fahr. We have
tested the Ginkgo in our Prairie provinces but it has
not proved hardy there." On the Pacific seaboard I
do not remember any remarkable trees, and a friend
in Oregon to whom I wrote tells me that they do not
seem happy in the neighbourhood of Portland.

The first tree to fruit in this country was probably
one in the grounds of the Kentucky Military Insti-
64

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

tution, in 1878, and seeds from this tree were sent
to the Arnold Arboretum. Trees in Central Park,
New York City, have fruited for a number of years
past. So, too, have those in Washington, D. C, and
others in various parts of the country.

In England the tallest Maidenhair-tree is said to
grow at Melbury, Dorchester, which in 1904 was
more than 80 feet tall, but the best known example
is that in Kew Gardens a male tree, 64 feet 9 inches
tall and 10 feet 7 inches in girth of trunk. At
Frogmore, one of the gardens belonging to England's
King, there is a Ginkgo-tree which in 1904 measured
74 feet in height and 9 feet 3 inches in girth of trunk.
At Blaize Castle, near Bristol, there is a tree 68 feet
tall and 9 feet 3 inches in girth of trunk in 1906;
it is graceful in habit and said to have come from
Japan on the same ship with the one at Kew and
another in the Bishop's garden at Wells, Somerset-
shire. In Wales the finest example known is at
Morgan Park, Glamorganshire, which in 1904 was
about 70 feet tall and 6 feet in girth of trunk.

On the continent of Europe, where the climate is
apparently more to the tree's liking, many magnifi-
cent Ginkgos may be seen. In the Botanic Gardens
at Milan there are handsome specimens; growing in
the old botanical garden at Geneva are a male and a
female tree planted in 181 5; in 1905 the male meas-
65

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

ured 86 feet high and 4 feet 10 inches in girth of
trunk and is straight and upright in habit; the
female, which bears good seed, is much smaller. It is
claimed that the Ginkgo in Europe will live outdoors
as far north as Viborg in Finland (Lat. 6o° 45' N.)
and that it thrives in Riga (Lat. 560 57' N.). In
Norway, in the Botanic Gardens at Christiania, it
has grown outdoors on a wall facing east since 1839.
In southern Sweden, in Skaone, and on Gothland, it
grows well, and in Denmark it thrives in many
gardens.

Apart from the typical tree there is a form (pend-
ida) with pendent branchlets; another (jastigiata) with
upright growing branches; a third (variegata) has
leaves blotched and streaked with pale yellow, and a
fourth (macrophylla) is characterized by its larger,
more deeply cut leaves. The pendulous and upright
forms are worth cultivating, but the other two have
nothing to recommend them except that they are
curious.

This sole survivor of an extensive family in pre-
historic periods of the earth's history is quite unique
among existing trees. It boasts a whole catalogue
of peculiarities and is not closely related to any living
family or group in the whole vegetable kingdom.
Its leaves resemble the pinnae of the common Maid-
enhair Fern; its plum-like fruit is not a fruit in the
66

FIRS1 (MALE) GINKGO INTRODUCED TO ENG1 \\ l>. \ I KE\* GARDEN!

I II I GINKGO IS \

LINK Willi I II 1
1. 1. Ml I I I SS PAS I

I III II KK I HI I IIMKM W S-. C I Ml Mill SSI OF

III I \R III is I III v.. I will K I I III GINKGO

11 I OSes

GINKGO AVENUE AT WASHINGTON, D. C.
ON THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE GROUNDS

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

true botanical sense of the term but is a naked seed
somewhat resembling that of the Californian Nutmeg
(Torreya calijornica) or that of the Cycads; it is
fertilized by a motile sperm like the Cycads, Ferns,
and Club Mosses; its shoots are of two forms like
those of the Larches and like them it loses its leaves
in autumn. But whilst it possesses these points of
similarity it is closely related to none of them nor
to anything else, and constitutes a family of its own
which forms an obscure connecting link between the
Yew family, the Cycads, the Ferns, and their allies.
It is hardy in New England as far north as Hanover,
New Hampshire, is unaffected by summer drought,
and thrives under city conditions as well as in the
pure air of the country; it is not known to be at-
tacked by any pest, insect or fungoid, and lives to a
great age. It transplants readily when of large
size, as the tree on Boston Common testifies. The
Japanese think nothing of moving trees 40 feet tall
and more than a foot in diameter of trunk. An
avenue of Ginkgo-trees of this size was planted in
19 1 4 on the boulevard leading from the terminal
station in Tokyo and not one died. However, in
this connection it must be remembered that Japan
enjoys a more generous summer rainfall than North
America does.

At maturity the Ginkgo is a stately tree 100 feet
67

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

or more tall, with a cylindric, slightly tapering trunk
sometimes 30 feet in girth at breast height above the
ground. Young free-growing trees commonly have
their primary branches radiating in clusters (false
whorls) from the stem, tier above tier, and the out-
line of the tree is distinctly spirelike. Very rarely
does this habit obtain at ripe old age. Most usually
the crown is made up of several massive, ascending
and ascending- spreading branches and innumer-
able irregularly disposed, but more or less horizon-
tally spreading, often semi-pendent branchlets. In
such trees the habit is from loosely pyramidal to more
or less conical. Round-headed trees are not un-
common but a flat-headed one I have never seen.
The branches are rigid and when clothed with leaves
decidedly plumose in appearance. The bark on the
trunk is from pale to dark gray, somewhat corky, and
fissured into ridges of irregular shape. The wood is
white or yellowish white and is not differentiated into
heartwood and sapwood; it is fine grained, something
like that of a Maple, is easily worked but is of no
great value. In Japan it is used as a groundwork for
lacquer-ware and for making chess-boards and
chessmen.

The leaves are quite unlike those of any other tree
or shrub and are unique in their fan-like shape;
they are stalked, have no midrib but many forked
68

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

veins and no cross veinlets; the apex is irregularly
crenate or cut and is usually cleft, more or less deeply,
into two or more lobes. In bud the leaves are
folded together not rolled up crozier-like as in the
Ferns, they are scattered on the long free-shoots and
crowded at the apex of the short, spur-like branches.
In size they vary from 2 to 3 inches in width on the
spurs, but on the free-shoots, and especially those
which freely develop from the base of the trunks of
old trees, they are sometimes from 6 to 8 inches
broad, and are bright, grass-green when young, and
dull, rich green at maturity. They are leathery in
texture, and in the autumn assume an unvarying
tint of clear yellow before they fall. In China the
leaves are sometimes placed in books as a preserva-
tive against insects. In the Orient the lovely
yellow autumn foliage renders the trees most con-
spicuous, and after the fall of the leaf they are easily
recognized by their rather stiff and decidedly stately
appearance.

The trees bear either male or female flowers but
the two sexes are never found on one and the same
individual unless deliberately grafted together. In
some books it is claimed that the "male trees are
pyramidal and upright in habit, the ascending
branches of free and vigorous growth"; that the
"female trees are more compact in habit, more
69

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

richly branched below and the branches sometimes
becoming even pendent." Personally I have not
found it possible to determine the sex of the tree by
its habit and the many Japanese, Koreans, and
Chinese whom I have questioned on this point
assert that it is utterly impossible to do so. Could
some reliable means of distinguishing the male from
the female trees be found it would be of considerable
value, for as an avenue tree the female, on account
of the evil smell of its ripe seed, is not desirable, as
the people of Washington, D. C, will testify. The
flowers are developed from among the leaves at the
apex of the spur-like shoots and appear at the end of
April or beginning of May; the males in arching
catkins, superficially not unlike those of the Oak
but rather stouter and less pendent; the females
in pairs on the apex of slender footstalks, each flower
consisting of a minute, globose little body tipped by a
short point and subtended at the base by a cup-
shaped swelling. I ndeed they are very like the flowers
of some Oaks (Quercus glauca, a Japanese species, for
example). The pollen is scattered by the wind and
settles on the tip of the female flower, after which
the cup grows up and encloses the globose body.
Fecundation takes place early in September, being
preceded by many changes within the growing nut-
like body which culminate in the development of a
70

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

motile male sperm from the pollen and an egg cell
in the female flower. Their union consummates fe-
cundation. The development of the embryo takes
place early in November when the seed is full
grown, yellow in colour, and ready to fall. Often,
indeed, the development of the embryo does not
take place until the seed has actually fallen to the
ground. If you ask why this essential is so long
delayed no answer is forthcoming. Two or three
embryos are sometimes developed in one seed. The
seeds germinate in the following spring and the
manner is very like that of the Oak, the thick, fleshy
cotyledons (seed leaves) with their food stores for the
developing young plant remain under or on the
ground; the primary leaf scales are 3-seriate.

But we are getting ahead of our story for we have
omitted to describe the plum-like fruit which, as
stated before, is not a true fruit but is a naked seed.
It is round, bright orange-yellow, about an inch in
diameter, and consists of a thin, outer fleshy layer,
like a plum, covering a pointed oval nut from one
half to three quarters of an inch long, keeled length-
wise on both sides and having a smooth, fragile
white shell enclosing a soft kernel. On or soon
after falling to the ground the fleshy covering splits
and emits a most offensive, nay, abominable, odour.
If the ripe seeds are handled or touch one's clothing
7*

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

the odour is not eradicated for a day or more. This
penetrating offensive smell is due to a peculiar crys-
talizable, fatty acid, akin to butric acid, which was
first extracted about 1830 and named ginkgoic acid.
When extracted it forms tufts of acicular crystals,
brownish yellow in colour. It is easily soluble in
alcohol or ether and in either case exhibits a strong
acid reaction; when heated with a solution of potash
it forms a soap-like compound. I do not know if
any attempt to use this ginkgoic acid in the arts and
sciences has been made.

The nuts, denuded of their offensive pulp and
washed, are pure white, and are on sale in most of
the market towns in China and Japan and in a less
degree in those of Manchuria and Korea. They are
known in China as "Pai-kuo" or "Yin-kuo" (white or
silver nuts) and, after roasting, are eaten at banquets,
weddings, and convivial gatherings generally, being
supposed to promote digestion and to diminish the
effects of wine. There is told a story of their being
introduced, on one occasion at least, by Chinese to a
mining camp in north Australia, rubbed with some
bad scent to imitate Tonquin beans and sold as
such. Their avowed virtue was to destroy moths
but for such purpose they and also the true Tonquin
Bean (the seed of Dipteryx odorata, a tree native of
Guiana and belonging to the Pea family) are equally
72

THE STORY OF THE GINKGO

worthless. In the Orient these ginkgo nuts are still
an important commodity, but formerly they were
even more so. Pallas, a famous Prussian botanist,
visited the market town of Mai-mai-cheng, opposite
Kiakhta in Mongolia, in 1772 and saw there the nuts
on sale. They had been brought from Peking.

That the Ginkgo has been closely identified with
Buddhist institutions from early times, and by ad-
herents and missionaries of this religion planted
wherever they have obtained a stronghold in the
Orient, is beyond question. It may not be too much
to say that its very existence to-day is due to the
adherents of this faith. Very probably they found
it in some way associated with Taoism and other
forms of nature worship which were current in
China when first they established their faith there,
and with the tolerant Catholicism which character-
ized the early fathers of this religion, adopted it as
their own. But whatever the actual motive which
induced the Buddhists and other religious sects to
protect and preserve by wide planting the Ginkgo-
tree it may safely be inferred that its edible nuts
played no unimportant part. The Ginkgo is, in fact,
the oldest cultivated nut tree.

THE CEDAR OF
LEBANON

A PRESEN1 DAY REMNANT OF MOUNT LEBANON S ANCIENT FORESTS

' AND SOLOMON DETERMINED TO BUILD AN HOUSE
FOR THE NAME OF THE LORD, AND AN HOUSE
FOR nis KINGDOM.

" AND SOLOMON SENT TO HURAM THE KING OF TYRE,
SAYING, . . .

"SEND ME ALSO CEDAR-TREES OUT OF LEBANON."

TS FRUIT OR CON E

[•HEN HURAM I III KING 01 MKl ANSWERED IN

WRITING, . . .

\ND \\l w III mi WOOD 0U1 01 M B INI IN, *S

Ml ill VS I H"i SH M l Nl I d: \m> * I will

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THE CEDAR OF

LEBANON

CHAPTER VI

THE STORY OF THE CEDAR OF
LEBANON

CHAPTER VI

THE STORY OF THE CEDAR OF
LEBANON

"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow
like a cedar in Lebanon."— Psalm XCII :i2.

THE Holy Land has undergone many changes
and vicissitudes from early biblical times
down to its deliverance from the Turks by
General Allenby in October, 191 8. The very aspect
of the country has changed enormously in the few
thousand years of its record as set forth in Holy
Scripture. It is true that the "physiognomy" of
every country is based primarily on its geological
structure, that is on the character and arrangement
of its rock masses, but the clothing of its stony skele-
ton and its numberless modifications of external form
and colour are due to its vegetable life.

More than skies and clouds, more than villages or
hills, more than sentient creatures of high or low
degree, the trees, shrubs, and herbs of a land give char-
acter to its scenery; impressing the mind by their
grandeur, or charming it by their beauty. De-
77

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

nuded of its vegetable growth the very skeleton of a
country changes and decays; even the skies and
clouds are altered. How great the changes that
have taken place in Palestine we can but faintly
imagine, but many of the trees mentioned in the
Bible still grow there if in much reduced numbers.
On Lebanon grow the Cedars in all their pristine
majesty, but vastly fewer in numbers than in the
days when Balaam compared the far-stretching en-
campments of the Israelite tribes in the Jordan val-
ley to "cedar trees beside the waters" (Numbers,
chap. XXIV, v. 6).

Whether the word "cedar" in the Old Testament
connotes one or many kinds of tree may be left to
the biblical critics and Hebraists, but there is ample
and unmistakable proof that the Cedar of Lebanon
was well known to the Prophets and other teachers
of the old Hebrews. By their poets, as every Bible
reader knows, the forests of Lebanon Cedars were
regarded with sacred awe. They were the type of
power and majesty, of grandeur and beauty, of
strength and permanence; as "trees of Jehovah
planted by His right hand crowning the 'great
mountains'"; masterpieces in lofty stature, wide-
spreading shade, perpetual verdure, refreshing per-
fume, and unfailing fruitfulness. Some of the finest
imagery in Old Testament song is drawn from this
78

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON
oft-frequented source. The mighty conquerors of
olden days, the despots of Assyria, the Pharaohs of
Egypt, the proud and idolatrous monarchs of Ju-
dah, the Hebrew Commonwealth itself, the warlike
Amorites of patriarchal times, and the moral maj-
esty of the Messianic Age, are all compared to the
towering Cedar in its regal loftiness and supremacy.
Its huge trunk, massive branches, great height,
wide-spreading, tabular, densely umbrageous crown,
dark green at all seasons, are so well known that
they have been condensed into the phrase "cedar-
like," in common use to-day by writers who wish
to portray the general aspect of certain trees.
Further, the colour, character, and peculiar fragrance
of the wood frequently mentioned by Old Testament
writers lead, both in ancient and modern times, to
the name "cedar" being given wide application.
To-day it is applied to a variety of trees, some
closely and others very remotely related to the true
Cedars. In fact, nowadays its use is far too am-
biguous and connotes little besides character of
wood and perhaps fragrance. It is, however, an
unconscious tribute to the reputation of the
Cedar of Lebanon so deeply established in the
minds of mankind and, perhaps, the most re-
nowned and most venerated natural monument in
the world.

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

In modern times many distinguished travellers
and men of science have visited the Cedar of Lebanon
in its home and their story, old yet ever new, has been
written over and over again. A Frenchman, Pierre
Belon, author of " De Arboribus Coniferis," published
in 1553, and the first treatise on Conifers ever written,
ascended Mt. Lebanon in 1550 and visited the Mon-
astery of the Virgin Mary, situated in a valley below
a grove of Cedar-trees where the festival of the
Transfiguration was held. Then as now this and other
groves belonged to the Patriarch of the Maronites
— a Christian sect inhabiting Mt. Lebanon. Belon
states that after celebrating High Mass upon an altar
erected under one of the largest trees, said to have
been planted by King Solomon, the Patriarch threat-
ened with ecclesiastical censure those who presumed to
hurt or diminish the Cedars then remaining. Since
Belon's time many travellers have visited the Cedars
on Mt. Lebanon the most experienced of all being
the late Sir Joseph Hooker, the eminent English
botanist, who was there in the autumn of i860. Sir
Joseph's visit was for the special purpose of examining
the Cedar groves, and in the Natural History Review,
January, 1862, he published a most interesting ac-
count of them.

The elevation of Mt. Lebanon was found to be
10,200 feet and that of the Kedisha Valley where
80

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON
the trees are growing 6,200 feet. The whole of this
area of Mt. Lebanon is, to quote the article, "a
confused mass of ancient moraines which have been
deposited by glaciers that, under very different con-
ditions of climate, once filled the basin above them
and communicated with perpetual snow which then
covered the whole summit. The rills from the sur-
rounding heights collect to form one stream and the
Cedars grow on that portion of the moraine which
immediately borders the stream, and nowhere else.
They form one group about four hundred yards in
diameter with an outstanding tree or two not far
from the rest, and appear as a black speck in the
great area of the corry and its moraines which con-
tain no other arboreous vegetation. The number of
trees is about four hundred, and they are disposed in
nine groups, corresponding with as many hummocks
of the range of moraines. The trees are of various
sizes, from about 18 inches to upward of 40 feet in
girth; but the most remarkable and significant
fact connected with their size and consequently
with the age of the grove is that there is no tree of
less than 18 inches in girth, that we found no young
trees, bushes, nor even seedlings of a second year's
growth." Sir Joseph Hooker found only fifteen trees
above 1 5 feet in girth and these all grow in two of the
nine clumps. He estimated the age of the youngest
81

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

at about ioo years, and the oldest at 2,500 years, but
with no degree of surety.

To-day some five groves of Cedrns libani are known
on Lebanon, the one containing the oldest trees being
on the northern slopes above Bsharri. The largest tree,
but not one of the very oldest, is 48 feet in girth, in full
growth and vigorous health. In one grove, that of
Baruk and the largest, are many young trees in all
stages of growth. Several travellers have noted that
seedlings spring up readily but are browsed off by
goats. With proper protection against these animals,
and the forbidding of the people cutting them, these
Cedargroves would increase in size and in time become
forests, as in the days of King Solomon.

The Cedar of Lebanon is not confined to the
mountain of that name but grows also on the Taurus
and Anti-Taurus ranges in Asia Minor, from the
province of Caria in the west to near the frontier of
Armenia in the east. On these mountains it forms a
considerable portion of the coniferous forest between
4,000 and 7,000 feet but appears to attain its maxi-
mum development on the Cilician Taurus, where the
climate is a severe one, the snow lying several feet
deep on the ground for fully five months of the year.
At least such is the statement of Walther Siehe.

The Director of the Arnold Arboretum heard of
this discovery on the Cilician Taurus and commis-
82

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

sioned Siehe, who used to collect bulbs for that grand
old gardener, Max Leichtlin, to secure seeds of the
Cedar of Lebanon from this cold region. On Feb-
ruary 4, 1902, ripe cones were received at the Arnold
Arboretum and the seeds sown. They germinated
freely and many plants were raised. These Cedars
have grown more rapidly in the Arnold Arboretum
than any other Conifer has ever done. In fourteen
years the tallest was 22 feet high. They passed the
winters unscathed until the dreadful winters of 1917-
18 and 1919-20 which badly scorched the leaves.
This retarded their growth though none died, and
now they are again well-furnished with foliage and
are growing well. The leaders of many have suf-
fered from the Pine-needle borer but new ones take
their place. The experiment is most promising,
and certain it is that if the gardens of New England ever
enjoy Cedars of Lebanon as hardy trees it will be
through the far-sightedness of the Director of the
Arnold Arboretum. Under cultivation several varie-
ties of the Cedar of Lebanon have appeared, and the
more important are distinguished by such names as
argentea nana, pendula, stricta, tortuosa, and viridis.

The grandest of all forms of vegetation known to

the Hebrews, the Cedar of Lebanon has rightly found

favour in many lands. It loves a warm, deep,

well-drained soil, and it thrives in southern California.

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

In England no other exotic tree, perhaps, has been
more generally planted for ornamental purposes
during the past two and three quarter centuries.
Thousands of noble, wide-spreading old specimens
are scattered from one end of the country to the
other, and they are among the most impressive ob-
jects in many stately parks and pleasure grounds.
Visitors from this and other lands are familiar with
the majestic Cedars on many estates in England.
Many specimens have been written about, measured,
and photographed, and we can do no more than in-
cidentally mention one or two. Just when the
Lebanon Cedar was introduced into England is not
clearly known and probably never will be. The
evidence available points to that at Childrey Rectory,
near Wantage, as the oldest in England. It is
claimed that it was planted by Dr. Edward Pocock,
who was chaplain to the Turkey Company at Aleppo
in 1629 and afterward to the Embassy at Constan-
tinople. Returning home in 1641, Pocock was ap-
pointed to the living of Childrey in 1642. In 1903
his Cedar was a handsome tree still growing vigor-
ously, and measured 25 feet in girth five feet from the
ground and its spread of branches covered an area of
1,600 square yards.

Wilton House near Salisbury is famed for its
Cedars. In 1874 a specimen 36 feet in girth was cut
84

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

down and its annual rings, carefully counted, num-
bered two hundred and thirty-six. According to this
the tree must have been a seedling in 1638, and very
probably it is of the same origin as the one at Chil-
drey Rectory. Loudon thought the Cedars in the
old Physic Garden at Chelsea, planted in 1683, but
now dead, and those at Chiswick House, which are
still flourishing, were the oldest in England. One at
Enfield is known to have been planted by Dr. Robert
Uvedale, Master of Enfield Grammar School, be-
tween 1662 and 1670, another, also still living, at
Bretby Park, Derbyshire, was planted in 1676.

Among the many noble specimens in England it is
difficult to state which is the largest but that at
Pain's Hill, near Cobham, figured by Elwes and
Henry in their great work " The Trees of Great Brit-
ain and Ireland" and by them measured in 1904 and
found to be from 1 15 feet to 120 feet tall and 26 feet
5 inches in girth of trunk with a wide-spreading crown
and in perfect health, must be counted among them.
Another in Goodwood Park, the seat of the Duke of
Richmond, was measured in 1906 and found to be
about 96 feet tall and 26J feet in girth of trunk.
Goodwood is probably more celebrated for its Cedar
trees than any other place in England. There is a
record of Peter Collinson in 1761 supervising the
planting of a thousand Cedars for the then Duke of
85

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Richmond. The tallest tree in England is perhaps
that on the grounds of Petworth Park which was
measured in 1905 and found to be about 125 feet
tall and 149 feet in girth of trunk. Another in the
Royal domain at Windsor is fully 1 1 5 feet tall. The
finest avenue of Cedars is that at Dropmore, planted
in 1844, but there is some question as to whether
they are Lebanon or Atlas Cedars.

In Scotland there are many fine Cedars of Lebanon
and some are scarcely inferior to the best in England.
Perhaps the finest is that at Hopetoun, the seat of the
Marquis of Linlithgow, which in 1904 measured 80
feet in height and 23 feet 8 inches in girth of trunk.
In Wales and Ireland the Cedar of Lebanon has not
been so much planted and these are very few notable
specimens. One at Maesleugh Castle in Wales is
said to be about 100 feet tall, 16J feet in girth, and
one at Carton, Ireland, in 1903 was 93 feet high
and 14 feet 9 inches in girth and is said to have been
the first planted in the country.

On the continent of Europe the Cedar of Lebanon
is much less plentiful than in England owing largely
to a less congenial climate. The tallest is said to
be on the grounds of Madame Chauvet at Beaulieu,
near Geneva. It is about 102 feet by 16 feet with a
spread of 102 feet. Many incorrect statements
have been made as to the date of the Cedar's intro-
86

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

duction to France but it is now pretty well accepted
that it was in 1735, by seed carried from England by
Bernard de Jussieu, and that the historic tree in
the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, is of this origin and
was planted in 1736. From this seed was also de-
rived the tree at Beaulieu, and another at Montigny
which is considered to be the finest in all France and
about 26! feet in girth of trunk 6 feet from the
ground.

In this country, except in California, the Cedar of
Lebanon is rarely seen, and no specimens exist com-
parable with those in England. In the New England
States the typical form is not hardy and the winter of
19 1 7- 1 8 played havoc with the odd trees which have
existed with a struggle for a number of years. For
that matter it did the same with the Atlas Cedar
which is the more hardy of the two. In the most in-
teresting "Memorials of John Bartram and Humph-
ry Marshall" by William Darlington, published in
1849, on page 67 is printed a letter to John Bartram
from Peter Collinson, dated from London on Febru-
ary 12, 1735, in which the following statement oc-
curs: "The Lebanon cone, with a knife carefully
pick out the seeds; sow in a box, put large holes in
the bottom and cover with shells, in sandy light
mould. Let it only have the morning sun." Whether
Bartram succeeded in raising plants and if so what
87

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

became of them is not ascertainable. In reports of
his historic garden no mention is made of the Cedar
of Lebanon.

Some 1,400 miles from the Cedar forests of Asia
Minor and separated by the whole breadth of the
Mediterranean Sea grows the Atlas Cedar (Cedrus
atlantica) . This forms the prevalent arboreous vege-
tation throughout the eastern province of Constan-
tine which borders on Tunis. It also abounds on the
eastern Atlas ranges according to Hooker. Henry, a
more recent visitor, states that "in Algeria this Cedar
forms a considerable number of isolated forests, none
of them of great extent, at altitudes between 4,000
and 6,900 feet." Likewise it grows on the mountains
in Morocco, but its distribution there is still not
properly known though it was in this country that
this Atlas Cedar was first discovered. Philip Barker
Webb visited Tangiers and Tetuan in the spring of
1827, and from a native obtained branches of a
Cedar which had been collected on the impenetrable
mountains of the province of El Rif where there were
said to be vast forests. Webb's specimens are pre-
served in the museum of the city of Florence, Italy.

The Atlas Cedar differs from that of Lebanon in
having a perfectly erect, rigid leader, straight stiff
ends to the branches, all which in the Lebanon Cedar
droop more or less, shorter leaves and a smaller

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

cone. It is also more easy to transplant, and en-
dures exposure and bad soil better than the Lebanon.
In this country it is generally considered to be the
hardiest of the true Cedars. The Atlas Cedar also
grows faster than the Lebanon. The date of its
introduction into England is not precisely known,
but the oldest recorded tree is one at Eastnor Castle
and was raised in 1845 from cones gathered by Lord
Somers at Teniet-el-Gaad. In 1906 this tree was
77 feet tall and 8 feet 1 inch in girth of trunk. At
Linton Park, Kent, there is a tree 80 feet tall (in
1902) and very glaucous. In Ireland are even taller
trees; one at Fota, also of the glaucous variety and
planted in 1850, was 83 feet tall and 7 feet 7 inches in
girth in 1904. At Carton, the seat of the Duke of
Lienster, is a reputed Atlas Cedar which in 1903 was
80 feet high by 9 feet in girth of trunk. In the south
of France and northern Italy the Atlas Cedar grows
faster than in England. In the public garden at
Aix au Savoie there is a grove, planted in 1862, with
trees from 90 to 95 feet tall. There are varieties such
as glauca, pyramidalis, columnaris, and fastigiata
which are sufficiently described by the names they
bear.

On the principal watershed of the southern ranges
in the island of Cyprus grows a third species of Cedar
(C. brevijolia). This was discovered in 1879, by Sir
89

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Samuel Baker. Since then it has been found by
other travellers in Cyprus and, to-day, it is known
to occupy about 500 acres of forest mixed with
Pines and broad-leaf evergreen trees. All the Cyprus
Cedars discovered are comparatively young and
small, the largest measured being about 60 feet tall
and 1 1 feet 6 inches in girth of trunk. This Cedar
has a slightly drooping leading-shoot and the ends
of the branches are pendent as in the Cedar of
Lebanon but the leaves are quite short and the cones
are smaller than those of the Atlas Cedar. Seeds
were sent to Kew from Cyprus in 1881, but the
trees have grown slowly. It is unknown in this
country but in all probability would thrive in parts
of California.

Eastward from Mt. Lebanon some 1,400 miles are
the Deodar Cedar forests of Afghanistan which
extend continuously eastward on the Himalayas al-
most to the confines of Nepal. This Cedar (C.
deodar a) is in India exclusively a western tree;
it begins where the influence of the monsoon is
much diminished, that is where the climate begins
to approximate that of the Levant. Its altitudinal
range is between 3,500 and 10,000 feet and from
6,000 to 8,000 feet, and though it grows gregari-
ously it never forms pure forests. The leading-
shoots and the ends of the branches are more pendu-
90

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

lous and the leaves longer than those of the Cedar
of Lebanon; the cones are the same size, but the
cone-scales and seeds are of the same form as those
of the Atlas Cedar.

Seeds of the Deodar were first sent to Great Britain
by the Hon. Leslie Melville in 183 1, and sown at Mel-
ville in Fifeshire, at Dropmore, and elsewhere. In
1 84 1 it was introduced in quantity. The finest trees
recorded are at Bicton where one in 1902 measured
80 feet tall and 1 1 feet 8 inches in girth and another
90 feet tall and 9 feet 1 inch in girth of trunk. There
are many others in England more than 80 feet tall.
In Ireland are specimens approximately as fine; but
in Scotland, where it is only hardy in the warmer
parts of the country, the tallest recorded are less than
60 feet. There are varieties known by such descrip-
tive names as albo-spica, crassifolia, fastigiata, nivea,
robusta, verticillata, and viridis.

These four Cedars, differing but slightly one from
another yet occupying five distinct geographical
areas, present a most interesting problem in plant
distribution. Northern Syria and Asia Minor form
one botanical province so that the Lebanon groves,
though so widely disconnected from the Taurus
forests, can be regarded in no other light than as
outlying members of the latter. Sir Joseph Hooker
in the paper already referred to suggests that in pre-
9i

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

historic times the Cedar forests occupied much lower
levels and were continuous. He adduces geological
evidence to prove that vast changes took place in
the Mediterranean basin during Tertiary times, and
shows that in the warm period which followed the
glacial epoch the vegetation of the lower levels
was forced to seek colder situations and so migrated
northward and up the mountains. This would
bring about the geographical isolations of the Cedar
and the differences now apparent between the four
species are mere variations fixed and accentuated
through time.

Now the Cedars though not so ancient as the
Ginkgo are an old type of tree-life. Fossil remains
of the ancestors of the present race have been found
in the Lower Greensand of England around Maid-
stone and Folkestone in Kent, and at Shanklin in
the Isle of Wight. This Lower Greensand underlies
Chalk and belongs to the Cretaceous or Chalk Age, a
geological era remarkably prolific in animal life. In
this period birds very probably first appeared, the
Terrible Lizards of the Reptilian Age disappeared,
but a race of extraordinary, serpent-like Reptiles
(Mosasaurus) flourished. These were long, snake-
like animals with pointed teeth, and were furnished
with swimming paddles and a long and powerful tail.
One species of these astonishing creatures of which
92

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

fossil remains have been unearthed in this country
is estimated to have been from 75 to 80 feet in
length ! The mammals of this epoch were apparently
Marsupials like those of Australia to-day. But the
important fact from the viewpoint of the Cedars is
that Cretaceous rocks agreeing in their lithological
and palaeontological facies occur in all the Alpine
ranges from Provence to Dalmatia, in the Atlas
Mountains, in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Persia, the
Caucasus, and the western Himalayas. The Libyan
Desert of northern Africa is also floored by Cretaceous
rocks though of a different lithological character
but apparently of the same age.

In the Tertiary period which succeeded the Cre-
taceous epoch, Cedar forests composed of one
species were doubtless more or less continuous on the
mountain ranges throughout the Mediterranean
basin and Asia Minor to the western Himalayas.
Owing to the tremendous depressions and elevations
for which this epoch is remarkable the continuity
was broken. During the era of glaciation which
ushered in the close of the Tertiary Age the Cedars
and all other vegetation were forced to lower levels.
When perpetual snows covered the great axis of
Lebanon and fed glaciers which rolled 4,000 feet down
its valleys the climate of Syria must have been many
degrees colder than now; the position of the Cedars
93

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

fully 4,000 feet lower, and the atmosphere much more
humid. At the close of the Glacial period the in-
creased temperatures forced the Cedars and other
cool-temperate vegetation to seek colder localities
and so they migrated up the mountain slopes and
northward. Those that failed to do so would be
killed, and this would lead to their present-day occu-
pation of isolated sites. On the mountains of Cy-
prus and on Lebanon, and to a less extent also on the
Atlas Mountains of northern Africa and on the Taurus
ranges of Asia Minor, the Cedar groves and forests
are merely surviving remnants of prehistoric forests
of enormous magnitude.

In closing this sketch of the Cedars, their history
and geographical distribution, a few brief remarks
on the character and usefulness of their wood seem
appropriate. It is fragrant, easily worked, and of
lasting quality. That of the Deodar is the most im-
portant of any timber in northwestern India. It is
used in quantity for railway-ties, for bridge-building,
for general construction work; also for roofing
shingles. That of the Atlas Cedar also is valuable
and especially in the ground. The Cedar of Lebanon
in England grows rapidly and its wood is of poor
quality, but that of the trees on Lebanon is excellent.
The subject has been much debated, but the consen-
sus of opinion now is that the wood used in building
94

THE CEDAR OF LEBANON

Solomon's temple and by Nebuchadnezzar was in all
probability that of the Cedar of Lebanon. It is a
known fact that the character and quality of timber
are strangely influenced by soil and climate. The
Old Testament references afford some idea of the
enormous consumption of these noble forest trees.
If to these, and the like demands by the Tyrians and
others, we add the wanton destruction by invading
armies we need not wonder at the diminished glories
of Lebanon but rather be surprised that any trees
remain.

CHAPTER VI I
THE STORY OF THE COMMON YEW

THE discovery of gunpowder with the result-
ant development of arms of precision may
at first sight appear to have little to do with
the planting of trees in general and with the Yew in
particular. As a matter of fact the connection is
close. For centuries long prior to the introduction
and general use of gunpowder the peoples of the
world used bows and arrows, and in temperate re-
gions where grows the Yew the best bows were made
of the wood of this tree. Certain simple people like
the Ainos of Hokkaido and Saghalien still use the bow
in the chase but in general archery is now regarded as
a pastime. It is beloved by the Japanese, Koreans,
and Chinese; in the West associations and clubs have
been founded to preserve this ancient sport and in
Great Britain it is a favourite with women.

But if archery be now regarded as merely a healthy

pastime its role in the grim affairs of human history

has been among the greatest. With the story of

William Tell every schoolboy of the West is familiar,

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and the appreciation of the skill of this Swiss archer
has lost nothing through lapse of time, for, whether
fact or fiction, William Tell typifies sturdy patriot-
ism's stand against tyranny and aggression. The
long-bow and the cross-bow are famous in history.
Were not the battles of Crecy, Poictiers, and Agin-
court won by the English mainly with the long-bow
in the hands of archers of wondrous skill? Three
English kings met their deaths from the yew-bow, and
it was the most popular weapon through the inter-
necine Wars of the Roses.

Indeed, in both warfare and the chase the bow
was held in exalted estimation long after the inven-
tion of gunpowder had paved the way to a complete
change in the arms of warfare. In the early days of
English history there were in force special enactments
for the planting and protection of the Yew-trees.
As far back as the 13th century every person not
having a greater revenue than one hundred pence
was obligated to have in his possession a bow and
arrows, and all such as had no possessions but could
afford to purchase arms were commanded to have a
bow with sharp arrows if they dwelt without the
royal forests. Since bows were of so great value in
warfare it is not strange that English kings should
have made strenuous efforts to plant and protect
Yew trees, and to encourage the use of bows by various
100

THE COMMON YEW

edicts and Acts of Parliament which also regulated
their price, making provision for their importation
and forbidding their exportation. From the time
of Edward IV to quite a late period in the reign of
Elizabeth, these Acts continued in force, being
renewed by each successive sovereign, and it was
not until the latter reign, when firearms came into
more general use, that less consideration was paid
to the long-bow. A petition from the Commons to
Edward IV states that "such bow-stafTes as be
brought within this Realm, be set now to outrage-
ous prises," and prays that "every tun-tight of
merchandise as shall be conveyed in every Carik,
Calec, or shipp, iiii bowestaffes be brought, upon
pain of forfeiture to your Highness, for lacke of
bringing every such bowestaff vi-s. viii-d." The
last statute issued with regard to the use of bows is
the 13th Elizabeth (cap. XIV) which orders that
bow-staves shall be imported into England from the
Hanse towns and other places. Through Saxon-
Norman-Plantagenet to late Tudor times the yew-
bow played a famous part in the national history of
England, and no English tree has gathered around
itself so much historic, poetic, and legendary lore
as the Yew.

The association of the Yew-tree with early English
history is varied and important. Venerable trees

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

still mark the spots where great events have taken
place, and many are associated with the names of
historic personages. The Ankerwyke Yew at Staines
witnessed the conference between King John and
the English Barons in 121 5, and in sight of this tree
the Magna Charta was signed. This Yew is 30!
feet in girth of trunk at three feet from the ground
and is probably more than a thousand years old.
Under the Loudon Yew in Ayrshire it is said that
Bruce bestowed the ancient castle and estate on the
Loudon family, and on the same spot some centuries
afterward John, Earl of Loudon, signed the Act
of Union between England and Scotland.

Up and down the length of England are ancient
churchyards famed for their magnificent old Yew
trees. The reason for the association of the Yew
with churchyards has been much debated, and in all
probability it is several-fold. It is by no means
confined to England but is a custom common in
Ireland, and also in Normandy, Germany, and else-
where on the continent of Europe. That it is a
very old one is proved by a statement of Giraldus
Cambrensis, who visited Ireland in 1184, and ob-
served the tree in cemeteries and holy places. It
has been stated that "the Yew was a funeral tree,
the companion of the grave, among the Celtic
tribes," but there is no reliable evidence of the abo-

1 Vl-K \l ENG1 [SH VI W
GROWING A I ASHHURS I . KENT, I I

''\J@9H|^HH

- ■ 4fe

CLIPPED ENGLISH YEW IN AN AMERICAN GARDEN

AN UNUSUAL PIECE OF TOPIARY, AT CATONSVILLE, NEAR BALTI
MORE, MD.

THE COMMON YEW

riginal tribes or the Druids holding the Yew in any
esteem. On the other hand, it has been surmised,
and with some show of truth, that it was used by the
early Roman invaders of Britain in their funeral rites
in lieu of their accustomed Cypress and Pine, and it
was thus associated with the passage of the soul to
its new abode. Certain it is that from very early
times it has been used at funerals for the practice is
mentioned by many early English writers. Evelyn
in his " Sylva" says "The best reason that can be
given why the Yew was planted in churchyards is
that branches of it were often carried in procession
on Palm Sunday instead of Palms." As a confirma-
tion of this it is said that the Yew trees in the church-
yards of Kent are to this day called Palms, as also in
Ireland, where it is still the custom for the peasant-
ry to wear in their hats or buttonholes from Palm Sun-
day until Easter-day sprigs of yew, and where the
branches are carried over the dead by mourners and
thrown beneath the coffin into the grave. The Yew
being evergreen was in old times considered typical
of the immortality of man. Having in mind prim-
itive man's reverence for trees there is good reason
to believe that the Yew tree had a part in the Pagan
religion of our remote ancestors and that Christian
monks later engrafted it on Christianity. While
admitting this and other probable causes, a more
103

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

cogent reason for planting Yew trees in churchyards
was the necessity for providing a supply of bow-
staves for bow-men.

In English history we find many enactments both
for planting and protecting Yew trees. Thus there
was ordered in the reign of Richard III, 1483, a
general planting of these trees for the use of arch-
ers. And in the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was en-
joined that Yew trees should be planted to insure
their cultivation and protection and partly to secure
their leaves from doing injury to cattle. With all
the efforts the supply was not equal to the wants of
the villagers, and there was an enactment put in
force providing for a certain number of bow-staves
to be imported with every butt of wine from Venice
and elsewhere. In Italy, Normandy, and Picardy
and other parts of Europe similar laws were in force.
Without pursuing this further, certain it is that, no
matter what caused their planting, venerable Yew
trees are the pride and glory of many old church-
yards in western Europe.

In ornamental gardening the English Yew was
employed as early as the Tudor times to form hedges,
and was pleached and clipped into the forms of
grotesque beasts, birds, cones, pyramids, and other
fantastic shapes. During the 17th century the taste
for this kind of art increased and in the time of Wil-
104

THE COMMON YEW

liam and Mary reached its highest point. Even
to-day in Europe there are many old places and in
this country at least one, the Hunnewell garden,
Wellesley, Mass., famous for this topiary art, but in
general it has rightly fallen into disrepute. Evelyn
claims the credit of introducing the Yew into fashion
for this work. Quite early topiary had its op-
ponents. Lord Bacon in the 17th century con-
demned the practice. " I for my part," he says in
his "Essays," "do not like images cut out in Junipers
and other garden stuff; they be for children." But
it was mainly due to the ridicule thrown upon the
practice by Addison and Pope in the 18th century
that it fell into disuse. Pope, deriding the fashion,
says: "An eminent town gardener has arrived at such
perfection that he cuts family pieces of men, women,
or children in trees. Adam and Eve in Yew; Adam
a little shattered by the fall of the Tree of Knowledge
in the great storm; Eve and the serpent very flourish-
ing. St. George in Box, his arm scarce long enough
but will be in a condition to stick the dragon by next
April; a green dragon of the same with a tail of
Ground-ivy for the present. (N. B. — These two not
to be sold separately.) Divers eminent modern
poets in Bays somewhat blighted to be disposed of a
pennyworth. A quickset hog, shot up into a porcu-
pine by its being forgot a week in rainy weather."
105

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Very many Yew hedges and clipped trees were
swept away in the middle of the 18th century by the
celebrated landscape gardener, "Capability" Brown.
He dealt ruthlessly with all clipped hedges and
topiary work, but there appears to have been a nat-
ural rebound in the public mind with regard to Yew
hedges after the attacks of Addison and Pope and the
wholesale manner in which they were swept away to
make room for Brown's new style of landscape garden-
ing. The Yew is indeed one of the very best hedge
plants in temperate lands. It has been much used for
this purpose in England where many famous Yew
hedges from i o to 20 feet high and 9 to 1 2 feet through
may be seen. A Yew hedge is indeed an ornamental
adjunct to the flower garden and pleasure grounds
for which it not only forms an efficient screen but
often produces a picturesque effect.

Though its geological antiquity does not compare
with that of the Ginkgo it is probably as ancient as
the Cedars. In early Tertiary times, when the ele-
phant and rhinoceros roamed through Britain,
Greenland, and the now Arctic regions of this con-
tinent, the Yew formed a common ingredient of
the forests of those lands. To-day the Yew is found
widespread in the temperate regions of the Northern
Hemisphere. The family likeness everywhere is very
strong, so strong in fact that many botanists con-
106

THE COMMON YEW

sider all to belong to one species. Under cultivation,
however, they behave differently, especially in de-
grees of hardiness, and there are other and more
subtle points of difference which merit recognition.
The Arnold Arboretum recognizes eight species with
many varieties and forms and, from the garden view-
point at any rate, this classification is the most satis-
factory.

In this continent are found four species — the
Canadian Yew (Taxus canadensis) which is common
in swampy woods and thickets from Newfoundland
and Nova Scotia, through Canada to the northern
shores of Lake Superior and to Lake Winnipeg, and
southward to Minnesota in the west and to New Jersey
in the east; the Western Yew (T. brevijolia) is wide-
spread, but not common, from the Rocky Mountains
in Montana to the Pacific, from Queen Charlotte's Is-
land in the north to the Bay of Monterey in California,
but is abundant on the Selkirk Mountains in British
Columbia up to 4,000 feet altitude, and on the western
slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to 8,000 feet altitude;
the Mexican Yew (7. globosa), a little-known species
which grows on the mountains of south Mexico;
and the Florida Yew (7\ floridana), native of a re-
stricted area extending some thirty miles along the
eastern bank of the Apalachicola River in western
Florida. In Asia grow four species — the Japanese
107

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Yew (7\ cuspidata), which is found from Japanese
Saghalien southward through Hokkaido, Hondo, and
Shikoku of Japan proper, and on the mainland from
the Amur Valley south to the extreme limit of
Korea; the Chinese Yew (7\ chinensis) is scattered
through central and western China and also on the
mountains of Formosa; the Himalayan Yew (7\
Wallichiana), which is found between 6,000 and
11,000 feet on the Himalayas from Afghanistan and
Kashmir to Assam, on the Khasia Hills, and through
Upper Burmah and Malaya to Sumatra and the
Philippine Islands; the European Yew (7\ baccata),
which grows on the Cilician Taurus in Asia Minor,
in Armenia, the Caucasus, and northern Persia. In
Europe' this species is more or less common in all
mountainous and hilly districts from Lat. 630 10' N.
in Sweden and Norway, in Esthonia, and through
Great Britain from Aberdeen in Scotland south,
and from Donegal in Ireland south to the Medi-
terranean; also it grows in northern Africa, and on
the Atlas Mountains in Algeria.

The Mexican and Florida Yews have never been
introduced into cultivation, and as far as I can dis-
cover this is also true of the Himalayan Yew. The
Canadian Yew is grown to some extent in New Eng-
land gardens but, in the open, browns badly in winter,
and except as a ground cover in shady, moist places
108

THE COMMON Y E W

has little value. It is said to have been introduced
into England in 1800 but has never obtained a place
in English gardens. The Western Yew is not culti-
vated in eastern North America and I do not know
that it is on the Pacific Slope. It was sent to England
by William Lobb in 1854, but is still a very rare plant
in gardens. The Chinese Yew was introduced by
myself to the Arnold Arboretum in 1908, and has
been distributed, but in New England it is tender and
of no value for gardens. In California it will prob-
ably thrive and be a useful ornamental tree. The
same remark holds good for favoured areas in the
British Isles. At its best it is a fine tree 50 feet
tall and 15 feet in girth of trunk, with large spread-
ing branches.

In Great Britain and Ireland only the Common
Yew and its numerous varieties are grown but in
this country both these and the Japanese Yew are
available, and for gardens north of Washington, D. C,
the latter is the Yew par excellence. At Haddonfield,
New Jersey, grow two famous trees of the Common
Yew which were planted in 171 3 by Elizabeth Had-
don Estaugh, a Quakeress, whose history is partly
given in Longfellow's poem "Elizabeth." The cir-
cumference of each tree-trunk is about 12J- feet.
These have several times suffered from winter storms.
It is true that around New York, Philadelphia, and

IOQ

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Baltimore, on Long Island, and along the Hudson
River, there are large old specimens of the English
Yew, but in severe winters they brown badly. In
New England this happens nearly every winter and
this Yew — except a variety of which mention will be
made later — cannot be recommended for gardens.
In Virginia there are fine old trees which must have
been introduced in the 18th century, if not earlier; in
California, in the neighbourhood of San Francisco,
the English Yew is a success.

The Japanese Yew was introduced into America
in 1862 by Dr. George R. Hall who gave it to Parsons
and Company, nurserymen, Flushing, N. Y. It ap-
pears to have made slow headway for many years,
but it is now becoming well known and its merits as the
hardiest of all Yews properly appreciated. It came
through the winters of 19 17-18 and 1919-20 un-
scathed in the Arnold Arboretum, and it is known
to be hardy as far north as central New Hampshire,
and also in Minneapolis, Minn. On Long Island
there are a number of fine specimens, so also are
there in the Hunnewell Pinetum, Wellesley, Mass.,
and in the Arnold Arboretum. But undoubtedly the
largest by far in America is on the estate of the late
Dr. George R. Hall, Bristol, R. I., which is 22 feet
high and 120 feet around, but, unfortunately, in poor
health.

JAPANESE YEW I N ITS N ATI VI ! A N l>
ATTAINS V HEIGHT Ol VBOl I l6o FT. VND A GIRTH Ol \Hm I lull.

dwarf spreading habit OF Taxus cuspidata var. nana

JAPANESE YEW

AS it is generally seen in gardens
(Taxus cuspid ata)

THE COMMON YEW

In Japan Taxus cuspidata is found scattered
through woods and over the countryside from the
south to the extreme north, but is nowhere common.
I saw more of it in Hokkaido than anywhere else
but even there it is now rare. Its wood is useful
for a variety of purposes and lasts especially well
underground. Of late it has been used in Japan as
pencil-wood. On the central slopes of the Diamond
Mountains in central Korea grow more trees and
finer specimens than I have seen elsewhere. Scat-
tered through woods of Spruce, Fir, Oak, Birch, and
other broad-leaf trees are hundreds of specimens —
trees from 40 to 60 feet tall, and from 6 to 10 feet in
girth, with large, spreading branches forming hand-
some crowns. On the Korean island of Quelpaert,
in pure woods of Hornbeam, I found the Japanese
Yew in bush form to be a common undergrowth.
In Japanese gardens it is a favourite as a low, clipped
bush, and it is also used as a hedge-plant, but not
extensively. It was one of those garden forms {nana)
that was first introduced into this country and this
has been propagated largely by cuttings. It is a
low, wide-spreading shrub with short leaves. There
is also another form (densa) which is a low, compact
shrub. When seedlings from these dwarf forms are
raised they revert to the tree type. The first tree-
forms of this Yew raised in this country were from

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

seeds collected in Japan by Professor Sargent in
1892, and the tallest of these in the Arnold Arbor-
etum is now 8 feet high. Quite recently an erect
form (Hicksii) has appeared in the nurseries of I.
Hicks & Son, Long Island, N. Y. As time goes
on, and the Japanese Yew is largely raised from
seeds, other forms will appear and there is little doubt
that it will ultimately produce as great a variety as
the English Yew has done. This is a matter nur-
serymen should pay attention to.

The principal varieties of the English Yew are
about a dozen in number, and of these the Irish or
Florence-court Yew (var. jastigiata) is perhaps the
most strikingly distinct and best known. A de-
tailed account of this Yew is reserved for the chapter
on upright trees. The Dovaston Yew (var. Dovas-
tonii) is another well-known form, and a fine speci-
men of this grows on the Dana estate, Dosoris, Long
Island. This is a tree or wide-spreading shrub with
branches arising in whorls and becoming very pendu-
lous at their extremities. The original tree was
planted as a seedling about 1777 at Westfelton, near
Shrewsbury, England, and is a female tree. There
is a form of this Yew {aurea-variegata) in which the
leaves are variegated with yellow. There is another
Weeping Yew (var. pendula) which is a low, dense
shrub with no definite leader.
112

THE COMMON YEW

There are several forms of Golden Yew and one
is known to have been growing in Staffordshire in
1686. The best known (var. aurea) is a male, a dense
shrub or low tree with narrow sickle-shaped leaves
which are variegated with yellow. Another good
sort is var. washingtonii, a low dense shrub in which
the leaves on the young shoots are golden yellow.
Of low-growing forms there are several including
vars. hori{ontalis , recurvata, and procumbens, suffi-
ciently distinguished by their names. But another
dwarf form which is grown in the Arnold Arboretum
under the name of Taxus baccata repandens is worthy
of fuller mention. Its origin is unknown and it is
remarkable as being the only form of the English
Yew which is properly hardy although it, too, suf-
fered slightly during the winter of 19 17- 18; it has
wide-spreading, semi-prostrate branches and broad,
black-green leaves.

There are many other forms of the European Yew
differing more or less from one another. These
include the Glaucous Yew (var. glauca), the Yellow-
fruited Yew (var. jriictii-lideo), and several small-
leaved Yews of which var. adpressa is very distinct.
This variety is a large, spreading bush with densely
crowded branchlets having remarkably small, broad
leaves not more than one quarter to one half inch
long. It is a female, and originated as a chance
113

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

seedling in the nurseries of Messrs. Dickson at
Chester, England, about 1826, and is sold under the
erroneous name of T. tardiva. Of this pleasing
Yew there are varieties aurea and variegata. Alto-
gether fifty or more varieties and forms of the Euro-
pean Yew have received names, and they exhibit
the widest possible range of variation in form and
general appearance. I forbear mention of more
in detail, but I do wish to emphasize the fact that
the most distinct forms are of seedling origin, mostly
chance finds in a long period of cultivation. So if the
Japanese Yew be raised from seeds over a long pe-
riod, and in separated localities, there will beyond
doubt arise just as great a variety of forms of it, and
these will find a ready welcome in the gardens
of all parts of this country where the seasons are as
severe as those in New England. For the region
of the Pacific seaboard and other mild parts the Eng-
lish Yew and its forms are well suited, but for the
colder parts of this country the Japanese Yew is the
only really hardy Yew.

114

CHAPTER VIII

THE STORY OF THE HORSE-
CHESTNUT

CHAPTER VI I I

THE STORY OF THE HORSE-
CHESTNUT

IF A census of opinion were taken as to which is
the most handsome exotic flowering tree in
the eastern part of the United States there is little
doubt in my mind but that it would be overwhelm-
ingly in favour of the Horsechestnut. I n England also
the same would be true. For no other tree is a day
especially set apart in England as is Chestnut Sun-
day for this famous exotic. According to season
it is a rather movable feast but is usually between
May 19th and May 26th. From London and its
suburbs people journey in thousands to bask in the
glory of the avenue of Horsechestnut-trees in Bushy
Park on the banks of Father Thames.

The width of the avenue is 170 feet and its length
about one mile. It was planted by the celebrated
architect, Sir Christopher Wren, in 1699. There
are one hundred and thirty-seven trees on each side
and they stand 42 feet apart in the line. A quarter
of a mile from the Hampton Court Palace end of the
117

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

avenue a round pond 400 feet in diameter, with a
noble fountain in the centre, forces the Horsechestnut-
trees from line to circle with great enhancement of
effect. Some of the larger trees have died and are
replaced by young ones, but the show of blossoms is
wonderful year after year. The largest trees are
fully 100 feet tall and from 10 to 20 feet in girth of
trunk, with handsome crowns and branches sweeping
the ground.

The tree is so common a feature of the landscape
of the British Isles that a majority of the people
take it for granted that it is a native tree. With
schoolboys it is a great favourite for does it not
furnish the seeds used to play the famous game of
"Conquerors"? Among my earliest recollections
is that of a grove of trees in an ecclesiastical semi-
nary, and much I used to appreciate a generous gift
of nuts from the student priests. How carefully
one used to bore a hole through them — a horseshoe
nail being a favourite tool — dry them afterward,
and test their strength in battles with other boys.
Some were clever in hardening them by roasting,
but, as far as memory serves, mine always burst
when placed in the oven. Many a mile do boys in
England walk to gather the Horsechestnut seeds and
when seven or eight years old my proudest possession
was a long rope of them. Young schoolboys can
118

THE HORSECHESTNUT

scarcely be expected to be interested in trees for their
beauty alone. Of fruit as something to eat it is
quite a different matter, and I know of no other tree
that boys take interest in unless to satisfy their
appetite. Deer eat the nuts of the Horsechestnut
greedily but cattle leave them alone.

Considering its striking appearance, its handsome
flowers, and its general popularity, comparatively
little has been written about the tree. No poet or
writer of prose has immortalized it in the sense that
the Holly, Yew, Weeping Willow, not to mention the
Rose, have been immortalized. Some have seen in
its prodigality of blossoms and the manner in which
they strew the ground a symbol of ostentation, but
surely this is harsh judgment. Should it not with
more propriety be likened to the exuberance of
joyous youth — healthy, carefree, and overflowing
with happiness — as schoolboys on holiday? Of all
trees the Horsechestnut is most fitting to be re-
garded as an emblem of vigorous youth. An alien
to the parks and gardens of western Europe and to
those of this country it came, and by merit of its
hardiness, its sturdy growth, and lovely flowers it
conquered, established itself among us and holds its
own among the wealth of indigenous trees.

In literature and art Greece has given much to the
world, and the western world gladly acknowledges the

IK)

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

debt it owes. It is less generally known that to her
many other gifts Greece added the Horsechestnut,
but the fact is established after a lapse of three and a
quarter centuries. Western Europe's first knowledge
of the Horsechestnut was of trees cultivated in Con-
stantinople— just as was the case with the Lilac, most
familiar of garden shrubs. The two discoveries
almost synchronized. The Lilac was sent from Con-
stantinople to Vienna in 1 560. Seeds of the Horse-
chestnut were sent in 1570 from Constantinople to
Vienna by Dr. von Ungnard, Imperial Ambassador
to the court of Suliman II, and a tree was raised by
the celebrated Clusius. But a Flemish doctor, one
Quakleben, who was attached to the embassy of
Archduke Ferdinand I at Constantinople, in 1557
first mentioned the tree in a letter to Mattioli as told in
the letters, "Epistolarum medicinalium libri quinque,"
published in Prague in 1561. Later Mattioli re-
ceived a fruit-bearing branch and published the first
description of the tree with a good figure of the leaves
and fruit on page 212 of his "Commentarii in libros
sex Pedacii Dioscoridis De medica materia," which was
published in Venice in 1565. Mattioli called it
Castanea equina because the fruits were known as
At-Kastan (Horsechestnut) to the Turks who found
them useful as a drug for horses suffering from broken
wind or coughs. Here then we have the origin of
120

THE HORSECHESTNUT

the popular name which has remained unchanged to
this day. The generic name Aesculus, from esca,
nourishment, was adopted by Linnaeus, but was first
given by Pliny to a kind of Oak having an edible
fruit. The specific name Hippocastanum was also
adopted by Linnaeus in 1753, and is the vernacular
name latinized. The tree raised in Vienna by Clus-
ius grew rapidly and is mentioned by him, with a good
figure of the leaves and fruit and the history of its
introduction to Vienna, on page 7 of his work entitled
"Rariorum Plantarum Historia," published in 1601.

To France seeds were brought from Constantinople
by Bachelier in 161 5. It was probably introduced
to England about the same time, for in Johnson's
edition of Gerard's "Herbal," published in 1633, it is
stated that the Horsechestnut was growing in John
Tradescant's garden at South Lambeth. In the
original edition, published in 1597, Gerard mentions
it as a tree growing in Italy and sundry places of the
eastern countries.

In the early struggling days of this country its
English settlers found time to introduce many plants
of aesthetic value as well as those of purely economic
worth. But unfortunately dates are so often lacking
that the exact history is seldom available. Were these
more ascertainable the romance of familiar garden
flowers and crops would be apparent. History in

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

general as taught in schools may be as "dry as dust,"
but the salient historical facts appertaining to the
commonplace things of every-day life and acquain-
tance are rich in interest. And, moreover, their
teaching is not without its direct value in present-
day affairs. Our ancestors sought food for the body
and things of beauty to delight the soul even as we do
to-day. We enjoy the results of their labours, and it
is our bounden duty to hand them on, and in in-
creasing worth, to the generations that succeed our
immediate own. Whether this is done through
selfish or altruistic motives it matters not at all
in the practical results which accrue. And it will be
done though in a measure unconsciously. Improved
strains of wheat, pulse, cotton, of Roses and new
flowers, of everything which increases the food re-
sources or ministers to the soul have to-day, as
they always have had and must ever have, not only
immediate but progressive value to the human
race.

As we realize what our forbears did under adverse
conditions the question as to what we are doing
naturally presents itself. After all the present gene-
ration is not a slothful, heedless one; selfish and
thoughtless it may be but the fault is not deliberate on
its part. Ignorance is not yet eradicated neither is it
ineradicable, but instruction is needed to-day just as

THE HORSECHESTNUT

it has always been needed. Every father has
thoughts for providing toward the future welfare of
his children, and if these thoughts tend more to their
material advancement in bodily comforts it is not
that he wishes to starve their minds. From per-
sonal experience every present-day father knows
the needs of the one, fewer know the needs of both.
As the race develops so a proper appreciation of the
needs of body and mind will be attained, and the fact
clearly appreciated that mind is greater than matter
and its needs even more important. In God's great
book of Nature will be found food essential to the full
and proper development of the human race. All this
may seem to belong more to the realm of philosophy
than to the matter of the Horsechestnut, and yet the
story of the tree is, after all, the commonplace story
of the triumph of the beautiful over the sordid cares
of life. And it demonstrates anew the truism that
beauty is transcendental.

Thanks to the letters published by William Dar-
lington in his "Memorials of John Bartram atid
Humphry Marshall" in 1849, the story of the intro-
duction of the Horsechestnut into America is on
record. Thus page 146, London, September 16, 1741 :

"I have sent some Horsechestnuts which are ripe
earlier than usual; hope they will come fit for plant-
ing." P. Collinson, p. 175; April iuth, 1746:
•23

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

"I have some hopes of the Horsechestnut though
most of them were blue moulded yet some seemed to
be pretty sound." J. Bartram.

And finally, p. 252, London, August 4, 1763: "But
what delights me is, to hear that our Horse-
chestnut has flowered. I think it much excells the
Virginia, if the spikes of flowers are as large with
you as with us. To see a long avenue of these at
Hampton Court — of trees 50 feet high — being per-
fect pyramids of flowers from top to bottom, for all
the spikes of flowers are at the extremities — is one
of the grandest and most charming sights in the
world." P. Collinson.

I have had some experience in sending seeds from
distant lands and consider the Horsechestnut among
the most difficult to transport safely. I marvel
that in those days of slow sailing ships it should have
been successfully done. From the lapse of time be-
tween Collinson's reply it may be inferred that more
than one consignment was sent. But sticking to it
does wonders, and to-day we benefit from these grand
old plant-lovers' successful efforts. I n this one accom-
plishment they made the American people their
debtors and such debts are pleasant to acknowledge
and to bear.

So well known is the Horsechestnut that it seems
superfluous to attempt a description of the tree.
124

THE HORSECHESTNUT

It will grow well on sandy or on calcareous soils but
luxuriates best in rich, cool loam. Given plenty of
room in park or on lawn it will exceed a hundred feet
in height and 20 feet in girth of trunk. Its massive
branches with their laterals form a splendid oval or
bell-shaped crown, and sweep the ground. In spring
pyramids, fully ten inches high, of flowers are up-
thrust from the ends of thousands of branches. No
tree is more prodigal in its wealth of blossoms, and
none is more spectacularly beautiful. The petals
are erect and tend to curve backward, the stamens —
seven in number — and the style are slightly curved
and projected forward, and serve as a platform for
bees — their chief visitors. On the face of the upper
petal are yellow spots which later turn red and are
called honey-guides. A closer inspection will reveal
other interesting facts. In each thyrsoid inflores-
cence the upper flowers open first and are potentially
male; the lower flowers are perfect, but the pistil
matures first and is ready to receive the pollen im-
mediately the flowers open; the stamens in these
flowers are at first bent down below the style, later
on they move up to its level. We see here a provi-
sion for cross-pollination from the upper male
flowers and, if this fails, self-pollination is assured by
the rising of the stamens in the same flowers. The
scent of the flowers is remotely like that of the Haw-
125

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

thorn and is not particularly pleasant. The bright
green leaves unfold slightly before the inflorescence
appears and are full grown when the flowers are
wholly expanded. The leaves are disposed in oppo-
site pairs on the shoots, have a long, stout stalk, and
the blade is of from five to seven separate leaflets radi-
ating from a common base like fingers of the hand.
When the leaves fall in the autumn they leave prom-
inent scars on the shoots. The winter-buds are
large, chestnut-brown, and are covered with resinous
scale-leaves and contain next year's shoots in an ad-
vanced state including the flowers. If sliced ver-
tically all this may be clearly seen in winter. In
spring the buds expand very rapidly as the least
observant must have noticed. A whole shoot from
i to i J feet long being fully developed inside of three
weeks. These viscid winter-buds are a character of
importance. In eastern North America several
species of Horsechestnut grow wild. Here they are
known as Buckeyes; and is not Ohio the Buckeye
State? But all these have gray winter-buds, perfectly
free of any suspicion of resin . The Old-World species,
of which there are six (one in Japan, two in China,
two in India, and one in Greece), and the one which
grows wild in California have viscid winter-buds.

The large, nearly globular, fruit with its prickly
studded shell is well known. It splits and falls
126

THE HORSECHESTNUT

when ripe and liberates the seeds which vary from
one to three and are glossy, shining brown with a
broad pale gray base. The Horsechestnut is easily
raised from seeds, grows rapidly, and is readily
transplanted. In dry summers and in towns its
leaves turn brown early and for this reason, and also
on account of its fruit, it is not a good tree for street
planting. It is for specimens and for avenues and
parks, however, exemplary.

The wood of the Horsechestnut is soft, lacks
strength and durability, and is of little or no value.
It burns badly and is not much good as fuel. The
bark contains gallic acid and a bitter principle, which
gives it value as a tonic equalling that of the Willow.
The seeds have many uses besides that employed by
schoolboys, and the ancient one of the Turks. Their
taste is at once mild and bitter and they are rich in
starch. Reduced to powder they serve as soap;
roasted they are used as coflfee; fermented they yield
a spirituous liquor which yields alcohol by distilla-
tion. The young aromatic buds have been substi-
tuted for Hops in the manufacture of beer. During
the Great War the nuts were tried in England for the
preparation of acetone by the fermentation process,
and it was considered that the difficulties attendant
on their use for this purpose were in a fair way of
being surmounted when the armistice was signed.
127

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Until comparatively recently the Caucasus, Persia,
northern India, and Thibet were variously given as
the supposed home of the Horsechestnut. On the
authority of Doctor Hawkins, Sipthorp in his "Flora
of Greece" published in 1806, states that this tree is
wild on Mt. Pelion in Crete but later investigations
have decided that it was only planted there. Trees
introduced into Greece by the Turks are always found
in the neighbourhood of towns, and it is doubtful that
the ancient Greeks had any knowledge of the Horse-
chestnut. For centuries the native country of this
tree was a matter of doubt and the question was not
settled definitely until 1879, when Theodor von Hel-
dreich published a full account of it. 1 1 is now known
to be wild on the mountains of Thessaly, Epirus, and
other parts of northern Greece. In 1897 it was found
growing wild on precipices in the district of Janina in
Albania, below the lower limit of the coniferous belt.

Quite naturally in a tree so long cultivated several
varieties have been detected and perpetuated by
vegetative propagation. Among the most distinct
are the varieties pyramidalis, umbracidijera, tortuosa,
and pendula, sufficiently described by their names.
A form with leaflets incised into narrow lobes has
been distinguished as var. laciniata; another with
short-stalked, yellowish variegated leaves suggests
a diseased condition and ought to be discounte-
rs

THE HORSECHESTNUT
nanced. A variety with double flowers (var. flore-
pleno), however, has merit since the flowers last
longer than those of the type, and as it bears no fruit
it may be planted where the type is objectionable.
In 1822, near Geneva, a Mr. A. M. Baumann dis-
covered on an ordinary Horsechestnut-tree a single
branch which bore double flowers. This branch
was propagated by the Bollweiler Nursery in Alsace,
and this is the source of all the plants of the double-
flowered variety in cultivation.

Of the other Horsechestnuts in the world it is not
my intention to tell. A Chinese species is planted
sparingly in temple grounds in Peking. The Japa-
nese species grows to as large a size and is no less
beautiful than the common species. Several of the
eastern American species have coloured flowers
from yellow to orange and dark red. Also, there are
hybrids between the American and Grecian species
and two of these (carnea and Briotii) are strikingly
beautiful. But my theme concerns the Common
Horsechestnut, the favourite of the schoolboy, one
of the most accommodating of all trees, hardy, quick-
growing, floriferous; perhaps the handsomest of all
the trees of the north temperate regions, familiar
to all, a tree of beauty, a joy to behold — Aesculus
Hippocastanum L.

129

#?*&•»>

..#

^W^

K I

ESOI I II I HORSE-CHES I M I

ONI in I III MOS I DECORATIV1 01 \l I rREES,
I S EQU A LL Y E FF ECTI V 1 IN rRAC E R Y O I BRANCHES,
IN SPECTACULAR FLOWER \\l> IN MM LEAFAG1

ilus Hippocasianum )

*fc

CHAPTER IX
THE MAGNOLIAS

THE group it is intended to discuss here is
remarkable in having the largest flowers and
largest undivided leaves of any group of trees
hardy in this climate. The American species all
flower after the leaves are developed and are among
the handsomest of native trees. There are Asiatic
species which blossom after the manner of the
American kinds but only three of these are common
in gardens. The Asiatic members which produce
their blossoms before the leaves unfold are, how-
ever, familiar and popular garden plants. Magnolias
grow wild in the eastern United States and in eastern
Asia from Japan westward to the Sikkim and Bhutan
Himalayas, having their northern limit in Hokkaido
and their southern in Malacca and Pinang. In all
some 34 species and numerous varieties are recognized ;
but only 12 species, several hybrids, and about half-a-
dozen varieties have proved hardy as far north as
Boston, Mass. The Japanese, with two exceptions
(M. salicijolia and M. IVatsonii), are hardy here; like-
'33

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

wise the American species except the noble evergreen
M. grandiflora and the dwarf M. pyramidata. None
of the Himalayan nor the Malayan species can be
grown out of doors in New England, and of the
Chinese two species only. Yet these two with their
numerous forms and hybrids are, with the Japanese
M. stellata, the familiar Magnolias of our gardens.

In our second chapter the Magnolia is mentioned
among the types of trees which in earlier geological
ages were found widespread in north temperate re-
gions. It is, in fact, an ancient type, and its mem-
bers to-day are a mere remnant of a very extensive
group of north temperate forest trees which formerly
grew in Europe, Siberia, western North America,
Canada, and Greenland. Though much less ancient
than the Ginkgo, the Magnolias had in early times a
similar distribution and fossil remains are common
in Tertiary lands of the Northern Hemisphere.

I hope readers will not tire of these historical facts
which are necessary to the proper appreciation of the
types here selected. I do not wish them to be deemed
"dry-as-dust" facts, but tangible proofs of the ven-
erable character and of added interest to whatever
appreciation we may hold these trees in. I want
readers to look upon these types as examples of forest
growth that have long and nobly played their part
in the world's history, and to think of them as we do
i34

THE MAGNOLIAS

of old art treasures — as things to be proud of and
grateful for their having been preserved for our edi-
fication and enjoyment. And not for ours alone but
for that of the generations which come after us. A
nation's finest trees should rightly be counted among
its most prized national treasures; but of the countries
of the world to-day Japan alone regards ancient trees
as a national treasure asset ! Such they truly are, and
there is no escape from the punishment Nature
metes out to lands whose forest growth is destroyed.
In this country the price is being exacted, and in
countries like China and Korea the multiple interest
is so great that the lands groan beneath the burden.
With no trees to hold the soil on steep slopes when
heavy rains fall, rivers become charged with silt,
break their bounds, and destroy everything within
their reach — crops, villages, and inhabitants.

No other genus of hardy or half-hardy trees and
shrubs can boast so many excellences as the Mag-
nolias. The free-flowering qualities and great beauty
of blossoms and foliage are only equalled by the ease
with which they may be cultivated. As a single
specimen in a conspicuous position on the lawn the
Yulan and its hybrids are unrivalled, and as an
avenue tree the Cucumber-tree (M. acuminata) is
hard to excel.

All Magnolias grow naturally in moist, rich woods
•35

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and they detest drought. They will withstand con-
siderable hardship and abuse, but the best results
are obtained when they are protected from strong
winds and are planted in cool, deep soil, rich in humus.
An ideal place is open, moist woods. In northern
gardens the best time to transplant Magnolias is
late in the spring. They may also be moved success-
fully in late August, but at either season they must
not be allowed to suffer from lack of water, and it is
advisable to mulch them with well-decayed manure.
These are practical items of the highest importance
which no aspirant to success can afford to neglect.
Moreover, such magnificent garden plants are worthy
of a little extra attention and repay it a hundred-
fold.

The most delightful of American Magnolias hardy
in New England is the Sweet Bay (M. virginiana,
better known as M. glaiica). In the North this is
never more than a large bush or small tree, but in
the South it is often quite a large tree from 50 to 70
feet tall and from 6 to 10 feet in girth of trunk. It
has dark green shining leaves which are silvery-
white on the underside; in shape they are oblong to
somewhat oval; they are leathery in texture, and
in moist, sheltered places the plant is sub-evergreen.
The bark on the young shoots is a rich apple green
and on the older branches it is gray. The flowers
136

THE MAGNOLIAS

are small, cup-shaped, creamy white, gradually ac-
quiring a pale apricot hue, and are delightfully fra-
grant, scenting the whole neighbourhood. They
continue to open in succession from about mid-June
until August when the red fruit cones begin to show
in marked contrast against the dark, glossy green
foliage. The roots yield a yellow dye. According
to Emerson, the plant affords a good tonic and warm
stimulant, and it was formerly used with great success
in chronic rheumatism, in intermittent fevers, and
particularly in fever and ague. The Sweet Bay
grows wild in swamps, and is found in Essex County,
Mass., and from Queens County, Long Island, to
Louisiana and eastern Texas. There is not a
more delightful North American shrub to plant in
gardens, not one that will give larger returns in
beauty and fragrance. It is an old garden plant, hav-
ing been discovered and introduced into Europe before
the 17th century, yet it is unknown to most American
planters of this generation. In eastern Florida there
is said to grow a dwarf form (var. pumila) which
does not exceed 3 or 4 feet in height. A hybrid
(A/, major, better known as M. Thomsoniana) be-
tween the Sweet Bay and the Umbrella-tree (M.
tripetala) has the general appearance of M. virgini-
ana, but has larger leaves and larger flowers.

The most stately of the hardy American Magnolias
'37

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

is M. acuminata, the Cucumber-tree, so called from
the slight resemblance borne by the young fruits to a
small cucumber. It is a tree from 70 to 90 feet tall
with a stout trunk and ascending-spreading branches
forming a bold, broad-pyramidal crown. The
leaves are from. 6 to 10 inches long, oblong and
pointed, green on both surfaces, and slightly hairy
below. The flowers are erect, cup-shaped, glaucous-
green tinged with yellow, and are slightly fragrant.
It is hardy as far north at least as Hanover, New
Hampshire, and is found wild from southern Ontario
and western New York to Ohio and southward. A
shapely, free-growing tree it is eminently suitable for
avenue planting'and as a specimen tree on lawns and
in parks. It was one of the trees introduced into
Europe by the famous John Bartram who sent it in
1746 to Collinson in London, with whom it flowered
for the first time on May 20, 1762. There is a form
of the Cucumber-tree (var. aurea) with yellow leaves
slightly streaked and mottled with green.

Somewhat similar to M. acuminata is the Yellow-
flowered Cucumber-tree {M. cordata) whose history is
quite romantic. It was originally discovered by the
French botanist and traveller, Michaux, in the neigh-
bourhood of Augusta, Georgia, sometime between
1787 and 1796 and by him (or his son) immediately
sent to France. All the trees now in gardens have
138

THE MAGNOLIAS

been derived from the original introduction. Many
efforts to re-discover this tree were made but all
failed until six years ago when Mr. Louis A. Berck-
mans accidentally happened upon it in a dry wood
some eighteen miles south of Augusta, Georgia.

Michaux described it as a tree from 40 to 50 feet
tall but the recent discoveries are bushes from 4 to
6 feet high. As we know it in cultivation Mich-
aux's plant is a medium-sized tree with a shapely,
rounded crown, and broadly ovate leaves, more or
less heart-shaped at the base, and hairy on the under-
side. The cup-shaped, faintly odorous flowers are
yellow, about 4 inches across, and have the inner
petals frequently marked with reddish lines. It
flowers freely about the beginning of June and in
wet seasons bears a second crop of flowers in late
July and August.

Most remarkable is the Great-leaf Magnolia
(M. macrophylla) which has the largest undivided
leaves of any tree hardy in the gardens of the north
temperate regions. The leaves are sometimes as
much as 3§ feet long and from 8 to 9 inches wide and
are obovate-oblong, narrowed and heart-shaped at
the base, and hairy and white on the underside. The
flowers open about the end of June and are from 8 to
12 inches across, bowl-shaped, fragrant, white with a
purple blotch at the base of the inner petals. It is
139

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

not a large tree, seldom exceeding 40 feet in height
with a trunk about 3 feet in girth. It attains its
maximum development in sheltered valleys and for-
est glades on the limestone of North Carolina. A
rare tree in a wild state, it is distributed from North
Carolina to central Florida and westward to south-
east Kentucky and eastern Mississippi and southward
to central Alabama. It is another discovery of the
elder Michaux who found it in North Carolina in 1789
and introduced it to European gardens the following
year. Naturally with such huge leaves it requires
protection from the wind and should be planted in a
cool, sheltered place. It is hardy in the Arnold
Arboretum and at Rochester, New York, where
there are fine old trees in the Elwanger and Barry
Nursery. Such a wonderful tree is worthy of the
widest recognition among garden lovers.

Ranking next in size of leaf to the above is the
Umbrella-tree (M. tripctala) which has leaves from
1 \ to 3 feet long, obovate-lance-shaped, tapering at
both ends, and clustered at the end of the shoot.
The flowers are white, slightly scented, and from 5
to 8 inches across. The Umbrella-tree seldom ex-
ceeds 40 feet in height, and grows wild from York
and Lancaster counties, Pennsylvania, along the
Alleghanies to Virginia and Kentucky. It is an old
denizen of gardens, having been introduced into Eng-
140

THE MAGNOLIAS

land about 1750 where it flowered the first time on
May 24, 1760.

The first of the American Magnolias to open its
flowers each year in Massachusetts is M. Fraseri, the
Ear-leaf Umbrella-tree. It is native of the south
Appalachian region but is quite hardy in the Arnold
Arboretum. A small tree, rarely more than 40 feet
tall, it has an open crown of long branches, foot-long
leaves, oblong-obovate and spatulate in shape,
deeply cleft at base, green above and glaucous
below. Its flowers, which are very conspicuous by
reason of their standing well above the end of the
branches, are creamy white, sweet scented, and from
8 to 1 o inches across ; they open about the end of May.
This tree was discovered by W. Bartram as long ago
as 1776 and introduced into Europe about 1786 by
John Fraser.

Closely related to the above but smaller in all its
parts is M. pyramidata, which grows wild in the ex-
treme southwestern corner of Alabama and adjacent
Florida and is not hardy in the Arnold Arboretum.

We have now mentioned all the deciduous Mag-
nolias of this country and it remains to say a few
words about the Bay Laurel or Bull Bay (A/, grandi-
flora), the noblest evergreen, broad-leaf tree of
the Northern Hemisphere. It is native of the warm
Southern states and unfortunately cannot he grown
141

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

out of doors in northern latitudes. It is worth a
journey to Louisiana to see this tree luxuriating on
its native heath where it is sometimes ioo feet tall
and 12 feet in girth of trunk. It has many rela-
tively short, spreading branches which form a bell-
shaped crown. The leaves are of good size, glossy
green above, gray to rust-red on the underside. The
flowers are cup-shaped, fully 8 inches across, white
fading to cream with a rather heavy spicy odour.
Like other American Magnolias it was early intro-
duced into Europe; it was in England in 1737 but is
only properly hardy in the most favoured parts of
that country. The Bay Laurel is one of the few
American trees that have been introduced to the
Orient. In the Public Gardens, Shanghai, there are
several shapely trees, and in Japan it grows well in
Yokohama, Tokyo, and places to the south. In
Europe a great many seedling forms have appeared
differing in trivial characters, chiefly those of the
leaf. The most marked are varieties angitstijolia,
jerruginea, lanceolata, and obovata.

The Asiatic Magnolias, or rather the few hardy
species that open their blossoms before the leaves
unfold, are the most popular members of the family
and the most conspicuous of spring-flowering plants.
Two of these are great favourites with the flower-
loving peoples of China and Japan where one — the
142

THE MAGNOLIAS

Yulan — is known to have been cultivated for more
than thirteen centuries. Its flower is regarded as a
symbol of candour, and in paintings, porcelains, and
embroideries it has been portrayed by all the best
oriental artists.

The typical white-flowered Yulan (M. denudata,
more generally known as M. conspicua) was intro-
duced by Sir Joseph Banks from China into England
in 1789. It grows wild in moist woods in the central
parts of China, though this fact has only recently
been made known. This form, however, is rare in a
wild state, and that most usually found has rosy or
reddish-pink flowers and is very like the M. Soulan-
geana of gardens. This coloured variety has like-
wise been long cultivated in China and Japan; in
the latter country it is known as "Sarasa-renge" and
in Japanese nursery catalogues as M. obovata var.
discolor; correctly it should be M. denudata var.
purpurascens. In 1900 I introduced this variety by
means of seeds collected from wild trees in central
China, and the plants are now flowering in England.
However, I strongly suspect that it has been growing
in western gardens for a much longer period under
some other name and its identity obscured.

Both the white and coloured varieties of the
Yulan are handsome trees fifty feet tall with a trunk
8 feet in girth and ascending-spreading branches.

'43

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Such trees I have seen in the forest of central China
laden with thousands of flowers, and the spectacle
they presented will never be forgotten. In the gar-
dens of eastern North America examples of the
white Yulan from 20 to 25 feet tall are known and
it is a deservedly popular tree. In regard to this
Magnolia and also the one next mentioned a point
worthy of remembrance is that they have been prop-
agated vegetatively, by layering and grafting, for we
know not how many centuries. This does not appear
to have impaired their constitution and accounts for
plants less than a yard high flowering profusely.

Less hardy than the Yulan but a great favourite
in gardens south of Philadelphia is the Purple-
flowered Yulan, commonly known as M . obovata, M.
purpurea, or M. discolor but correctly as M. lilijlora.
It was introduced from China into England in 1790
by the Duke of Portland but has not yet been dis-
covered in a wild state. It appears to be always a
shrub, and its handsome flowers vary somewhat in
colour, the finest being a rich wine-red.

Under cultivation in Europe several hybrids be-
tween M. denudata and M. lilijlora have originated
and have proved themselves hardier and even better
garden plants than their parents. The oldest and
best known of these hybrids is M. Soulangeana which
originated near Paris. It is a vigorous-growing tree
144

THE MAGNOLIAS

with flowers suffused with rose colour. Many fine
examples grow in this country and at Hampton,
near Baltimore, Maryland, there is a specimen with a
trunk 8 feet in girth. Very similar to this are forms
known in gardens as M. speciosa, M. superba, M.
cyathijormis, M. Alexandria, M. spectabilis, and M.
triuniphans. Quite distinct is Magnolia Lennei,
with its large blossoms, the outside of the petals
of which are port-wine coloured at the base, and rich
crimson toward the tips. It is a late-flowering kind
which originated as a seedling in Italy, and is regarded
as a natural hybrid of the two Yulans. Perhaps the
finest of all these hybrids is that known as M. rustica
rubra, with its large, cheery, rose-red flowers each petal
of which is edged with white. It is a chance seedling
supposed to be from M. Lennei and originated in a
nursery in Boskoop, Holland, some twenty-five years
ago.

The Japanese M. kobus is common in the forests
throughout the greater part of Japan. The southern
and typical form is a large bush or low tree, but the
northern form (var. borealis) is a fine tree from 60 to
75 feet tall, broad-pyramidal in outline with a
smooth trunk 6 feet in girth. This variety is the
most northern of all Magnolias and was introduced
into this country by Mr. \V. S. Clark in 1876 and
later was sent to Europe. It has proved to be the
«45

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

most free-growing of its group, and trees raised from
the original seeds are now 35 feet tall with broad,
pyramidate crowns. This Magnolia first produced
flowers in the garden of Professor Sargent, Brookline,
Mass., in April, 1899. The blossoms are pure white,
cup-shaped, and smaller than those of the Yulan.
On young trees the flowers were sparse but with age
it has proved to be as floriferous as any other Mag-
nolia.

The first of all Magnolias to open its flowers each
spring is the lovely M. stellata, to my mind the most
charming of all. It is always a broad, shapely shrub
from 10 to 15 feet high and more in diameter; the
star-shaped, snowy blossoms are smaller than those of
other species but are produced in such profusion as to
cover the bush with white. We owe this Magnolia,
one of the most beautiful and most satisfactory of
hardy spring-flowering shrubs, to Dr. George R. Hall
who brought it from Japan in 1862 and gave it to Mr.
S. B. Parsons, Flushing, Long Island. It was dis-
tributed as M. Halliana and it is a pity that the rule of
priority prevents the use of a name which would so
worthily commemorate its introducer. In addition
to the type there is a pink-flowered form (var. rosea)
which makes a delightful companion to it.

There are in Europe several other Asiatic Mag-
nolias which flower before the leaves but only two of
146

MAGNOLIA FLOW] RS

miii n \ > \I . randi flora I, vbovi
vulan U. denudata < n i 1 < >\\

THE MAGNOLIAS

them (M. CampbeUii and M. salicijolia) have so far
borne blossoms. The first named is native of the
Outer Himalayas between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, and
in flower is one of the most gorgeous of all northern
trees. It has scented, cup-shaped blossoms from
deep rose to crimson in colour and 10 inches across.
It has not proved hardy in Europe save in one or
two favoured places in England where it has pro-
duced rosy-pink flowers. In this country I have not
heard of any one succeeding with it, though in the
South and on the Pacific seaboard there are places
where it should thrive. Certainly such a strikingly
beautiful tree ought to be given a fair trial. Rival-
ling the Himalayan treasure, however, is M. Sar-
gentiana, which I discovered and introduced in 1908.
It is growing in France and England but has not
proved hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. The other
species (A/, salicifolia) is Japanese and is distributed
on the mountains from Kyushu to northern Hondo,
and was introduced into this country by Professor
Sargent in 1892. It is a slender tree with small, cup-
shaped white flowers and narrow, thin leaves. The
shoots when bruised emit a strong smell of camphor,
in fact when I first found it wild I took it for some
member of the Camphor family. Somehow this
plant has not taken kindly to cultivation though it
has flowered in the arboretum of Mr. T. E. Proctor,
147

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Topsfield, Mass., and in the Cottage Gardens
Nursery, Long Island. It is essentially a woodland
plant, delighting in moist slopes and quite likely, if
we could get it properly established, all would be
well.

Finally there are the Asiatic Magnolias which open
their flowers after the leaves unfold, in the manner of
the American species. Of these, three only are in
cultivation in this country, but none is well known.
The most striking is M. obovata, more generally
known as M. hypoleuca, which in general appear-
ance resembles the American M. tripetala. It is
widely distributed in forests of Japan from the
south to the north and is known as the "Honoki."
At its best it is a tree 80 feet tall and 7 feet in girth
with smooth gray bark and a shapely crown of stout
branches. The leaves are from a foot to a foot and a
half long by half this width in the broadest part,
which is above the middle, and are deep green above
and silvery beneath. Its flowers are bowl-shaped,
6 to 8 inches across, milk-white fading to apricot
with a ring of red-purple anthers, and are heavily
fragrant. It has very large cone-like fruits which
are bright scarlet when ripe and very conspicuous.
This Magnolia is an important timber tree in the
forests of Hokkaido, and with M. kobus var. borealis
reaches the most northern geographical limit of the

THE MAGNOLIAS

family. Like a number of other valuable plants it was
first introduced into this country and afterward into
Europe where it flowered for the first time in the
garden of Mr. B. E. C. Chambers at Grayswood Hill,
Haslemere, Surrey, in June, 1905. Closely related
to the Honoki is a Chinese species (M. officinalis)
which is growing in England from seeds which I
sent there in 1900, but has not proved hardy in the
Arnold Arboretum. In China, the bark and dried
flowers of this Magnolia are a highly valued tonic
medicine.

A Magnolia whose beauty fascinated me in the
forests of Korea is M. parviflora, which also grows in
southern Japan. Its snow-white flowers are egg-
shaped in bud and bowl-shaped with infolded petals
when expanded, and have scarlet stamens and long
stalks. The specific name is misleading for the flowers
are from 4 to 5 inches across. It is a large bush
often 20 feet high, of straggling habit, with ovate
leaves from 3 to 6 inches long by from 2 to 4 inches
wide, and is remarkably floriferous. It delights in
rocky, granite country and is especially happy by the
side of forest streams. On the Diamond Mountains
in northeast Korea, where the winter temperature
is more severe than in Massachusetts, this lovely
Magnolia is a feature, and I have hopes of this Ko-
rean form being a better garden plant than the Japa-
149

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

nese one now in cultivation. There is also in Japan
a form (plena) with semi-double flowers. Growing
and blossoming in European gardens but not hardy
here is Magnolia IVilsonii which is closely akin to
the above. This I discovered and introduced in 1904,
and again in 1906, together with several other Mag-
nolias.

Of mysterious origin is the Japanese M. Watsonii
which was introduced into Europe by the Yokohama
Nursery Company at the Paris Exhibition in 1889.
The plant was purchased and taken to Kew Gardens
where it flowered the following year. It has not been
discovered in a wild state and I am inclined to regard
it as a hybrid between M. obovata and M. parviflora,
but against this view must be stated the fact that it is
much less hardy than either of the above. Very
likely it will some day be found wild in the island of
Shikoku or some other part of southern Japan. Its
leaves are rather larger and thicker in texture than
those of M. parviflora; its open, cup-shaped, white
flowers with blood-red stamens have a strong spicy
odour and are short stalked, and about 6 inches across.

These are all the Magnolias found in gardens of
the cool-temperate parts of this country, but in the
South M. coco, better known as M. pumila, is here and
there cultivated. This is a shrubby southern China
species with elliptic, wavy, rather leathery, glaucous
150

THE MAGNOLIAS

leaves and sweetly fragrant, nodding, egg-shaped
flowers. It was introduced into England as long ago
as 1786 by Lady Amelia Hume who had a garden at
Wormley Bury in Hertfordshire, where she culti-
vated with success many rare and beautiful plants.

Of the evergreen Asiatic Magnolias only one species
calls for mention here. That is M.Delavayi which has
pointed, leathery leaves, dull green above and pale
below, and in size larger than those of any other ever-
green that can be grown in cool-temperate lands. It
should be an excellent tree for the Pacific seaboard
and for the South. The flowers are fragrant, white,
cup-shaped, from 6 to 8 inches across, and are followed
by large, red, cone-like fruits. A native of Yunnan,
southwest China, it is a broad, much-branched tree
fully 50 feet tall. I had the pleasure of introducing
this Magnolia to English gardens by means of seeds
sent in the late autumn of 1899. Plants raised from
them flowered for the first time in Kew Gardens in
1908.

151

CHAPTER X
THE EUROPEAN BEECH

Gardens may boast a tempting show
Of nectarines, grapes, and peaches,

But daintiest truffles lurk below
The boughs of Burnham Beeches.

AMONG the familiar trees of the northern
forests none is more stately or beautiful
than the Common Beech {Fagus sylvatica).
A cleanly looking tree and the epitome of vigour this
Beech has been aptly termed the Hercules and Adonis
of European forests. There is something peculiarly
attractive about the tree at all seasons. In winter
the pale gray, smooth bark and the delicate tracery of
the myriad branches suggest a light white mist hov-
ering in and about the trees; in spring, the clear
green mantle of foliage is exquisitely delicate but
soon assumes a darker hue and forms a dense and
cooling shade in the summer heat, and in autumn the
warm yellow- to russet-brown tints, and the long
persistence of the dead leaves on the branches — all
have peculiar charms. Further, the ground beneath
i55

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Beech-trees is generally dry and free from weeds and
is inviting to sit upon and rest.

The crown of the Beech tree is broad and far-
spreading; the middle and upper branches are sharply
ascending, the lower spread horizontally often down-
ward to midway in their length but are upturned
at their extremities. There are famous trees, like
the Newbattle Beech near Dalkeith, some eight miles
from Edinburgh, in which the lower branches lying
on the ground have taken root and developed into
independent trees. The branches of the Beech are
very numerous and crowded and, having a smooth
bark, are particularly liable to cross and grow into
each other and, as it were, inosculate. Hence, ac-
cording to some old authorities, it was this tree that
first gave the idea of grafting. At its best the Com-
mon Beech is a magnificent tree ioo feet or more
tall with a trunk fully 20 feet in girth. When grow-
ing thickly together the trunk is straight and free
of branches for from 30 to 50 feet or even more, but
usually the unbranched trunk is not more than 20
feet high. On old trees, and especially on those
pollarded as in Epping Forest or the famous Burnham
Beeches, huge gnarled burrs develop on the trunk
and arrest attention. It is gregarious, and its
branches so numerous and dense that few plants will
grow beneath its shade. The firm, close, smooth,
156

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

pale gray bark, "its glossy rind," from early times
seems to have proved an irresistible attraction to
love-sick swains, sentimental adolescents, and other
irresponsibles. Everywhere one sees lovely Beech
trunks disfigured by letters and symbols cut into
the bark. No other tree suffers to the same extent
from this peculiar form of egotistical vandalism.

Geologically, the Beech is not ancient, having
apparently first appeared in Tertiary times. It is
in fact an aggressive modern type of tree. Lyell in
his " Antiquity of Man" speaks of it as follows: " In
the time of the Romans the Danish Isles were covered
as now with magnificent Beech forests. Nowhere
in the world does this tree flourish more luxuriously
than in Denmark, and eighteen centuries seem to
have done little or nothing toward modifying the
character of the forest vegetation. Yet in the ante-
cedent bronze period there were no Beech-trees, or
at most but a few stragglers, the country being then
covered with Oak. The Scots Pine buried in the old-
est peat in Denmark gave place at length to the Oak;
and the Oak after flourishing for ages, yielded in its
turn to the Beech; the periods when these three
forest trees predominated in succession tallying
pretty nearly with the ages of stone, bronze, and iron
in Denmark."

The Common Beech {Fagus sylvatica) is indigenous
'57

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

to England and in western Europe as far east as about
the old Russian frontier from Norway and Sweden
south to the Mediterranean and reappears in the Cri-
mea. It is absent from Portugal and is not considered
to be wild in Ireland or Scotland though it probably is
in the southernmost parts of the latter country. Usu-
ally it forms pure forests of considerable extent, some
of the finest of which grow on the northern slopes of
the Balkans from their base to 4,000 feet altitude.
Fossil remains of the Beech have been found in
neolithic deposits in the Fen districts and elsewhere
in England and in the pre-glacial deposits in the
Cromer forest-bed. Julius Caesar stated that Fagus
did not occur in England; but apparently the tree
he meant was the Chestnut (Castanea). Yet the
mistake is a curious one, for the Roman, Pliny, de-
scribed as Fagus a tree which cannot be anything
else than the Common Beech. However, the Fagus
of the Old Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, was
undoubtedly the Chestnut, and Virgil's statement
that Castanea by grafting would produce fagos seems
to indicate that the name Fagus was in common use
among the Romans for the Chestnut.

In all there are ten species of Beech now recognized,

eight of which are growing in the Arnold Arboretum,

and it is doubtful if any other garden is so fortunate.

We are here primarily concerned with the Common

.58

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

Beech but it is not out of place to say a word or two
about the other species. They all have the same
general appearance and cannot be mistaken for any
other tree. All have the same sort of thin, firm,
smooth, light gray bark; and the leafage, and the
character of the branches and their disposition is
much the same. They differ one from another in the
shape and character of their fruits and in the habit of
the bole. In the Common Beech the bole or trunk is
single, and this obtains in one Japanese (F. japonica)
and one Chinese species (F. lucida). In another
Japanese species (F. Sieboldii) and in the Chinese
F. Engleriana the trunk divides at or near the base
into few or many stems. In the Dagelet Island F.
multinervis and the Chinese F. longipetiolata the
trunk is usually single, but often divides near the
base into several stems. The habit of the rare For-
mosan Beech (F. Hayatae) is unknown, also that of
the Caucasian F. orientalis, though from an account
I have read of the latter it would appear to have
many stems like the Japanese F. Sieboldii and the
Chinese F. Engleriana. The American Beech (F.
grandijolia) exhibits even greater diversity in habit.
Normally it has a solitary trunk, but in pastures
and places where the roots get near the surface, and
are consequently exposed and damaged, a multitude
of suckers (sprouts) are developed which grow into
•59

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

trees and form a dense copse. Near the foot of the
Hemlock Hill by the collection of Arborvitae and
Yews in the Arnold Arboretum, there is a splendid
example of this type of growth of American Beech.

This distribution of the various species of Beech is
remarkable, and is a good illustration of the isolation
of members of a genus which I referred to in the sec-
ond chapter. The range of the Common Beech has
been given. The American Beech is distributed from
Nova Scotia to the northern shores of Lake Huron
and northern Wisconsin; south to western Florida,
west to southeastern Missouri and Trinity River,
Texas. It grows mixed with other trees, and occa-
sionally with Yellow Birch makes nearly pure woods.
Outside of America it has not proved amenable to
cultivation and in Europe only a few small examples
exist. In Japan Fagus Sieboldii grows from the
southern end of Hokkaido, through Hondo, the main
island, and Shikoku, to Mt. Kirishima in the south of
Kyushu; in places it forms pure woods, though usually
it is merely the dominant tree in the mixed forests
of certain zones on the mountains. The other Japa-
nese Beech (F. japonica) is more rare and I have seen
it only in the Nikko region where it grows mixed
with Siebold's Beech and other trees at from 3,500
to 5,000 feet altitude. On the tiny Dagelet Island,
a lonely spot in the Japan Sea some fifty miles from
160

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

the east coast of central Korea, grows an endemic
Beech (F. multinervis) , recently discovered. It is
quite plentiful in forests of mixed broad-leaf trees on
volcanic soil. I collected a number of small plants
but the time was early June and I failed to get them
to America in a living condition. No Beech grows
in Korea, Manchuria, eastern Siberia, nor in China
until the central provinces are reached. But there
in Hupeh, Szechuan, Kweichou, and Yunnan three
species have been found, in fact in Yunnan, in about
Lat. 230 N., the Beech finds its southern limit. In
western Hupeh and adjoining parts of Szechuan the
three species grow together, though F. longipetiolata
is the more common and occurs at the lowest alti-
tudes. These three Beeches sorely puzzled me
(though really they are as distinct as they possibly
could be) and it was not until the eleventh and last
year of my travels in China that I was able clearly to
distinguish them. They were successfully trans-
ported to the Arnold Arboretum where I am happy
to say they are all growing to-day. The Formosan
Beech (F. Hayatae) is known only from a mountain
in the heart of the savage country where I was not
allowed to visit. No Beech has been found on the
vast Himalayan range, and this is rather curious since
so many Chinese types have their western limits of
distribution in Sikkim and Nepal. The tenth and
161

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

last species (F. orientalis) is found on the Caucasus, in
Asia Minor, and in northern Persia; the Caucasus
being its centre of distribution. Of these ten Beeches
the Dagelet Island and Formosan species are the
only ones not growing in the Arnold Arboretum.

All the Beeches are lovely trees in their native
haunts. Their wood is similar and makes excellent
fuel but is not much esteemed otherwise. It is more
used in France perhaps than in other countries, and
in parts of Buckinghamshire, England, where the
manufacture of Beech-wood furniture constitutes a
local industry of some importance.

The Common Beech is the only kind whose merit
as a planted tree is properly known, and it is one of
the very few European trees that thrives in eastern
North America. It will grow on almost any soil
except pure peat and heavy clay, but prefers dry soil
and attains its greatest perfection on calcareous land
or on deep loam. On light, sandy soils, the bark often
splits longitudinally, and the trunks singularly re-
semble those of Hornbeam (Carpinus). For park
and lawn the Beech is a most worthy tree, pictur-
esque, and always gives satisfaction. Very many
forms are recognized — the Purple, Copper, Fern-leaf,
and Weeping being the best known — but as a matter
of fact the Beech is more prolific in varying forms
than any other broad-leaf tree. Several of these
162

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

variants call for detailed notice hut first a few words
on the usefulness of the typical form are necessary.
The Common Beech is an excellent avenue tree pro-
vided it be planted thickly but is perhaps best as a
screen tree, and when planted to form pure groves
the effect is perfect. Owing to its dense branching
habit it is splendid for forming tall, narrow hedges.
Under such conditions it carries its leaves, whose
russet-brown give a sense of warmth, through the
winter. Properly clipped, Beech hedges last for cen-
turies, are impenetrable to man or beast, and form the
finest of windbreaks. In Europe, and especially in
Belgium and England, they are common. The
most famous Beech hedge, probably, is that of
Meikleour, in Perthshire, Scotland. It is claimed
that this hedge was planted in 1745, and that the
men who were planting it left their work to fight at
the battle of Culloden, hiding their tools under the
hedge, and never returned to claim them. It is 580
yards long and is composed of tall, straight stems set
about 18 inches apart and now almost touching
at their base. The average height is about 95 feet
and branched from the ground up. This hedge is
cut periodically, the work being done by men stand-
ing on a long ladder from which they are able to
reach with shears to about 60 feet. There is also a
Beech hedge at Achnacarry, on the estate of Cam-
.63

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

eron of Lochiel, the history of which is even more re-
markable. Here in 171 5 the trees were laid in slant-
ingly ready to plant when the men were called away
to take part in the rebellion of that year. The trees
were never planted and have grown up in a slanting
position close together just as they were left.

There are in England many fine Beech woods cele-
brated in song and story, the most famous perhaps
being that known as the Burnham Beeches, situated
some 25 miles west of London and a few miles from
the Royal borough of Windsor. This remnant of the
vast forest that once stretched right across England
from the Thames to the Severn covers now about
226 acres. In 1879 it was purchased by the Corpora-
tion of London and is a worthy memorial to the
wise discretion and public spirit of the city fathers of
the time. The age of these venerable Beeches is
unknown. They are pollarded trees with huge,
burled boles and far-spreading umbrageous crowns.
'Neath their shade the poet Gray, author of the im-
mortal "Elegy," was wont to sit and read his Virgil.
Tradition has it that the pollarding was done by
Cromwell's soldiers, but much more likely it was
the overt act of some greedy lord of the manor at a
more remote period for purposes of temporary gain.
But, by whomsoever the act was committed, the
efTect has been remarkable in presenting a spectacle
164

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

which, taken as a whole, has no parallel elsewhere in
the British Empire. In picturesque beauty the
Burnham Beeches are unique, and no tree lover
should miss a pilgrimage when opportunity offers.
It is nearly a quarter of a century since I paid my
humble tribute to this shrine but the memory of that
glorious Saturday afternoon is vivid and undimmed,
notwithstanding that I have seen the forests' glories
of half the world.

In Britain grow many famous Beech-trees, but none
are finer than those in Ashridge Park, Buckingham-
shire, where stands the majestic Queen Beech fully
135 feet tall with a trunk straight and branchless
for about 80 feet. Except for certain Elms this is
the tallest deciduous-leaved tree in Great Britain.
Incidental mention has been made of the self-
layered Beech at Newbattle Abbey. This tree is
about 105 feet high and 21 \ feet in girth of trunk at
five feet from the ground, and has a total circum-
ference of about 400 feet. In Windsor Park, the
Royal domain, are many magnificent Beech-trees.
The finest is near Cranbourne Tower and is about
125 feet tall with a fine, clean bole 15 feet in girth;
near the Ascot Gate is a venerable old pollard 30 feet
in girth, and is said to be 800 years old. Of "inos-
culated" Beeches perhaps the finest is that at Castle
Menzies, Perthshire, Scotland, which is 95 feet high.
.65

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

A little above the ground it is forked and then grown
together again leaving an opening through which a
youth can pass.

The Purple Beech (F. pylvatica var. purpurea) is in
my opinion the only tree with coloured leaves worth
planting. One, possibly two, but not more, properly
placed near a house or buildings with plenty of open
space around add effective dignity to the surroundings.
Unfortunately, however, the use of this tree is all too
frequently abused. The Purple Beech is a natural va-
riety of the common European and so far as is known
all of them in cultivation have been derived from a
single tree discovered in the 1 8th century (and
still living) in the Hanleiter forest near Sondershausen
in Thuringia, central Germany. Propagation has
been effected chiefly by grafting and to a less extent
by seeds, but only a percentage of the seedlings come
purple. This tree grows to as great a size as the par-
ent form and there are specimens in England nearly
ioo feet tall. It is popularly supposed that the
Thuringian tree is the only wild Purple Beech known.
This is not so, neither is that tree the oldest of which
records exist, but it is the mother tree of those culti-
vated in this country and elsewhere. Trees of the
Purple Beech grow wild in the Tyrol and at Buch,
a village in the Canton Zurich, Switzerland, three
specimens, growing among the common green-leaved
1 66

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

type, Oak, and other trees, have been written about
since 1680. At one time there were five of these trees
and the tradition is that five brothers murdered one
another on this spot, and five blood-besprinkled Beech-
trees sprang up as righteous testimony from God as a
lasting witness to so horrible a deed. The armorial
shield of the village bears a picture of a Purple Beech
and the probability is that its name of Buch, which is
the German for Beech, was derived from these trees.

The Copper Beech (var. cuprea) is only a seedling
form of the Purple kind with leaves and shoots of a
lighter colour. It originated about a century ago,
presumably in England where there are specimens
fully 90 feet tall and 15 feet in girth of trunk. In
the sunshine and when the leaves are ruffled by a
gentle breeze this tree is strikingly handsome. There
is also a weeping form (var. purpurea pendula) which is
of slow growth, and another (var. atropurpurea) with
leaves darker than those of the typical Purple Beech;
also a var. tricolor with leaves dark purplish green,
spotted with bright pink and shaded with white.

The Fern-leaf Beech (var. heterophylla) has rela-
tively small, variously cut green leaves, and often
hairy twigs. Its origin is unknown. At Newport,
Rhode Island, there are fine specimens of this dis-
tinctly beautiful tree. In England it is known to have
been in cultivation for a century. There are forms of
.67

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

this Beech designated by such varietal names as aspleni-
folia, comptoniaejolia, incisa, laciniata, salicifolia, etc.,
which indicate the degrees of lacination obtaining.
Also there is a form (var. atropurpurea Rohanii) with in-
cised leaves of the samehueasthoseoftheCopperBeech.

The Oak-leaf Beech (var. quercoides) has long-
stalked leaves, pointed at the base, with long,
drawn-out apex and deeply incised margins with the
individual segments pointed. Other forms with
green leaves are the Crested-leaf Beech (var. cristaia
or crispa) a curious, small tree with small, shortly
stalked leaves crowded into dense tufts which are
scattered at intervals on the branches; var. macro-
phylla with very large leaves; var. rotundijolia with
small round leaves; var. grandidentata with conspicu-
ously toothed leaves, and several others.

The Weeping Beech (var. pendula) has the main
branches very irregularly disposed and often the
outline is rugged. Trees of this Beech may be tall
and slender, or low and broad, or quite irregular
according to the direction of the larger branches
which may grow outward or upward or in almost
any direction; the smaller branches only are uni-
formly pendulous. The Weeping Beech is a nat-
ural variety and has been found wild in the forest
of Brotonne in Seine-Inferieure, France. Other
forms of pendulous habit are var. borneyensis, which
168

THE EUROPEAN BEECH

was found wild in the forest of Borney, near Metz,
and is said to have all the lateral and subsidary
branches weeping; var. pagnyensis, found in the for-
est of Pagny, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France; var.
remillyensis from the forest of Remilly, near Metz;
and var. miltonensis, with only moderately pendu-
lous branches, found wild in Milton Park, North-
amptonshire, England.

The Parasol Beech (var. tortuosa) is of French ori-
gin having been found in the forest of Verzy, near
Rheims, and elsewhere. This form has a short,
twisted trunk and a hemispherical crown with all
the branches directed downward and often touching
the ground. It is seldom more than 10 feet high
and more curious than beautiful. A similar form was
discovered in Ireland some thirty-five years ago.

The Fastigiate Beech (var. dawyckii) is a remark-
able variety with all the branches erect. The orig-
inal tree grows at Dawyck, Peebleshire, Scotland, on
the estate of F. R. S. Balfour, Esq. Finally there
are forms with variously variegated leaves of no
particular merit, and the Golden Beech (var. -Jatia),
discovered in Serbia and introduced to gardens about
a quarter of a century ago. I have by no means men-
tioned all the known forms, but enough has been
said to show the adaptable and precocious character
of the Common Beech.

169

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

The fruit of the Beech is a stalked capsule clothed
with simple, pliant prickles, and when ripe it opens
at the apex into four divisions and sheds the two
nuts each contains. The nut is sharply 3-angled, is
rich in oil and of pleasant flavour. In France, and
more especially in former times, the oil is expressed
and used for culinary and illuminating purposes.
The nuts are greedily eaten by wild pigeons and other
birds, and by squirrels, deer, wild pig, and other ani-
mals.

The Common Morel (Morchella escidenta), a mush-
room-like fungus much used in culinary art for flav-
ouring, grows in Beech woods. It is always found in
the spring, and in France and Germany the gathering
of morels is quite an industry among the peasantry.
But more esteemed by the gourmet is the Truffle
{Tuber cibarium) which grows on the roots of the
Beech. This fungus is subterranean in habit and
never appears above the ground. It is black, of
irregular shape, about the size of a hen's egg, covered
with warty excrescences, and possesses a very strong
but agreeable odour. It matures in the month of
October, and the flesh is brown veined with white.
It is generally found by pigs and dogs trained to
search for it. Though by no means confined thereto
France supplies commercially the bulk of the truffles
of the world.

170

CHAPTER XI

OUR NUT TREES

CHAPTER X I
OUR NUT TREES

EVERY tree bears fruit and the fruits are much
diversified in form and appearance. In the
Birch it is a cylindrical catkin which disin-
tegrates and allows the seeds to be scattered by the
wind; in the Willow and Poplar it is also a slender
catkin which opens and the seeds with their tuft of
fluffy hairs are carried long distances by the air cur-
rents. In the Elm the fruit is a light, winged vesicle
adapted for wind transportation, and in the Maple
it is a two-winged keylike affair also disseminated by
the wind. In the Crabapple family and others it is
pulpy and attractive to birds and animals who eat
the fruit but do not digest the seeds which are
ejected in their excrement, usually at some distance
from the parent trees. In the Chestnut it is a spiny
burr which clings to the furry coats of animals and
is thus distributed. In the Walnut and Hickory it
is a globose structure having a thin outer coat con-
taining an unpalatable bitter principle and a hard-
shelled nut within. Trees producing dry or winged
173

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

fruits or fruits containing winged seeds, and those
with succulent fruits containing small seeds are best
adapted for distribution, and in the Northern Hemi-
sphere they are the most abundant types. The
Oak, strange as it may sound, is much distributed by
water-fowl that swallow the acorns and eject them
whole. All nut-like fruits are much sought after by
squirrels and other rodents who store them and thus
help to distribute them, for though they take heavy
toll they seldom devour all. Nevertheless, trees
which bear a nut-fruit are handicapped in the strug-
gle for existence, and sometimes one thinks that
Mother Nature made a mistake when she evolved
this particular kind of fruit. However, man, as
well as rodents, should be thankful for some of these
fruits supply him with wholesome food.

In the case of succulent fruits man has from the
dim and distant early days striven to improve their
size and flavour, and his efforts have been abun-
dantly rewarded. In a subsequent chapter I treat of
these so we may dismiss them for the moment. With
nut-fruits the story is different though undoubtedly
primitive man ate the acorn, walnut, hazel-nut,
hickory, pecan, and pine-nut long before he did
succulent fruits.

The acorn has fallen into disfavour though that of
Quercus ballota is still eaten by the peasants in Spain
i74

OUR NUT TREES

as it was in the days of Don Quixote. The North
American Indians also eat the acorns of certain Oaks,
but so far as American people are concerned the
acorn will never come back as an article of food. The
nuts of the European and some other Beech-trees are
of fair size, sweet and good flavoured but are eaten
only sparingly by the peasantry. The seeds of the
Swiss Pine (Pinus cembra) are eaten in Europe, and
in Siberia they are a very important article of food.
The same is true of the Korean Nut-pine (P. kor-
aiensis). The kernels of the seeds of this Pine mixed
with honey make a delicious sweetmeat. In western
North America and in Mexico the seeds of several
species of Pine are eaten, including those of the
Sugar-pine (P. Lambertiana).

I have earlier stated that the Ginkgo is probably
the oldest cultivated nut-tree and its history sup-
ports the statement. The European Hazel-nut has
been improved and such forms as the Cob and Filbert
established; probably the European Walnut (Juglans
regia) has also been subject to like treatment, but
for all practical purposes selection and cross-breeding
among nut-fruits has only quite recently begun to
receive attention. To-day, and especially in this
country, the culture and breeding of nut-trees
are beginning to receive some attention and the future
will see a tremendous advance in this work. In every
175

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

case it is the fleshy kernel which is sought after,
and so for the present it is not necessary to confine
ourselves to strict botanical morphology. It will
include any edible kernel, whether it be part of the
seed as in the Ginkgo or of a fruit as in the Hazel-
nut, and whether the outer covering be hard and woody
as in the Walnut or thin and fibrous as in the Chestnut.
The most valuable and most used nut in the world
is the Cocoa-nut, the product of a maritime Palm
(Cocos nucifera), probably of South American origin
and now cosmopolitan within the tropics of both
hemispheres. Many other nut-trees grow within
the tropics but few only find their way into our
markets. The Brazil-nut (Bertholetia excelsa) is
familiar to all, and in recent years the Pili-nut
(Canarium commune) from the Philippines has been
not uncommon in city stores in this country. But
this resume deals with those that grow in north
temperate lands the number of which is quite lim-
ited. The most important of these are the Walnuts
of which if we include Butternuts there are about a
dozen species (some of them doubtful), one natural
variety, and several hybrids. In Mexico and South
America there are several others but they are little
known. The most important is the European Wal-
nut (Juglans regia), the classical "Jovis glans" and
the "Nux" of Greek poets. It grows wild in Greece,
176

OUR NUT TREES

Bosnia, the Balkan peninsula and eastward through
Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia to Afghanistan and
on the Himalayas of Kashmir, and northward to near
Bokhara and Ladak. From western Asia it was
long, long ago carried to China where it is abun-
dantly cultivated throughout the cooler parts of that
land and here and there naturalized. From China
it has been taken to south Manchuria and Korea,
where it is abundant, and to Japan where it is only
sparingly cultivated. Also, it is much cultivated
throughout the temperate region of the Himalayas.
It is grown in quantity in all but the coldest countries
of Europe, likewise in this country, and especially
in California. In the temperate regions of the
Southern Hemisphere it is also grown. No other
northern nut-tree has been so widely planted, and no
other nut is so much appreciated as an article of food
in temperate lands. It is one of the very few exotic
economic trees cultivated in the Orient where its nut
is vastly esteemed. An important desideratum is a
type of this Walnut which would be perfectly hardy
in northern New England. A few trees are known
around Boston, Mass., and a few miles to the north-
ward, but properly speaking the tree is not hardy
here. From the colder parts of western China I
sent seeds in the hope of securing a perfectly hardy
type, but I am not sanguine. The resultant trees
'77

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

have grown fairly well but have suffered slightly
nearly every winter.

The European Walnut is one of the noblest of
northern trees, at its best it grows a hundred feet tall
with a broad, rounded crown of massive branches and
a bold, often gnarled, trunk fully 20 feet in girth.
Through long and wide cultivation many varieties
have originated and the nuts vary much in size,
shape, sculpturing, and thickness of shell. The
most superior kinds have a thin shell and are fully
2\ inches in diameter. By careful selection it is
possible that even greater improvement will result.
A very interesting variety and one that deserves to
be better known is praeparturiens, which originated
in the nursery of Louis Chatenay at Doue-la-Fon-
taine, France, about 1830. Monsieur Chatenay
found among a batch of seedlings of J. regia three
years old an individual plant which bore fruit. This
variety was propagated and put on the market by
M. Janin of Paris. The nuts are generally thin-
shelled and though small of good flavour. It is
necessary to propagate this variety vegetatively
since it does not breed true from seeds. In the
garden of Professor Sargent, Brookline, Mass., there
is a supposed plant of this variety but it is a tree 40
feet tall; this tree fruits freely and is quite hardy.
It is not necessary to speak of other varieties, but of
178

ATTAINS I II I DIMENSION
\ I R I I I 20 I I . HIGH IN CI

'rylus cbinei

EASTERN AND WESTERN
HAZ1 LS

i| i i II I COMMON H \/ 1 l IS \
LOW BUSH

■ .his Avella

JAPANESE WALNL

GROWING IN THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM

( Juglans Sieboldiana )

OUR NUT TREES

the hybrids I shall have something to say later. I
believe that in this country the best results will be
obtained by hybridizing /. regia with the Japanese
J. Sieholdiana and its variety cordiformis, which are
hardier, and the importance of this fact cannot be
over-estimated. What is needed is a hardier race
of thin-shelled Walnuts. From the viewpoint of
nut-fruits the next important Walnut is the Japanese
J. Sieholdiana, which is quite a recent introduction
to the west. It was first introduced into Leyden,
Holland, about 1864 by Von Siebold, and from there
to France in 1866. There is good reason to believe
that it was introduced into this country by Dr. G. R.
Hall in 1862, but the largest tree I know of is in the
Arnold Arboretum where it was raised from seeds
received from France in 1879. In Japan the Walnut
is known as "Kurume" and is distributed from the
south to the bitterly cold regions of central Hok-
kaido. The Kurume grows in moist forests and is a
much smaller tree than its European relative. The
fruit is borne in long racemes, and the nuts are ovoid
or globose, rounded at the base and pointed at the
apex, very slightly wrinkled and pitted, not ribbed,
and rather thick-shelled.

Much cultivated in central Japan is the variety
cordiformis, characterized by its heart-shaped, much-
flattened, sharply two-edged nut which is smooth
179

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and rather thin-shelled. In Japan there are two
well-marked forms of the type and intermediate
ones which connect it with the parent species J.
Sieboldiana. Raised from seed the var. cordiformis
cannot be depended upon to come true, for many
revert to the wild type. The Black Walnut (J. nigra)
is a magnificent tree producing valuable timber
but its nut is small, has a very hard shell, and
is of little economic value. The Texan Walnut (J.
rupestris) is a tree of quite moderate size and bears
small nuts of no particular use. The two Califor-
nian Walnuts (J. calijornica and J. Hindsii) are
large trees but their fruits are poor. The Formosan
species (J. jormosana) is a large tree but the fruit is
small and, moreover, the plant will be hardy only in
the warmer parts of this country. It is growing in
the greenhouses of the Arnold Arboretum from seeds
I gathered in 191 8.

The other species of Juglans to be considered are
best classed as Butternuts, and the best known and
most valuable is the American J. cinerea. This is a
tree occasionally 100 feet tall and 10 feet in girth of
trunk with a broad, round-topped crown, and is dis-
tributed in eastern North America, from the valley
of the St. Lawrence River southward. It was in-
troduced into England with the Black Walnut as
long ago as the middle of the 17th century. The
180

OUR NUT TREES

ovoid, pointed, 8-ribbed nut has a thick shell but
the flesh within is sweet. The Chinese J. cathay-
ensis is a bush or slender tree with a small, very rough
nut of no particular value. It has not proved very
hardy in the Arnold Arboretum. I introduced it
first to England in 1903 and to this country in 1908.
The Manchurian J. mandshnrica rivals the American
Butternut in size and the nut shows a decided ap-
proach to that of the true Walnuts. The shell is very
thick and the flesh limited in quantity. It is a com-
mon tree in the forests of Korea and is very hardy.
The little-known J . stenocarpa of Russian Manchuria
is only a form of J. mandsburica.

Having dealt with all the species of Juglans within
our province it remains to say a word or two about
the hybrids though none of them is valuable for the
nuts. A supposed hybrid between the American /.
nigra and /. cinerea was described as long ago as 1857
from a tree in the Botanic Garden at Marburg in
Germany. The other hybrids, and there are sev-
eral, are between the European Walnut (J. regid) and
the American species. One of these is a cross be-
tween J. regia and J. nigra and known as J. intermedia
var. Vilmoreana. This originated at Verrieres les
Buisson, near Paris, about 1805. The original tree is
now nearly 100 feet tall and 10 feet in girth; in bark,
branchlets, and buds it is intermediate, but in habit
181

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and nut it resembles the Black Walnut. Another
hybrid of the same parentage is J. intermedia var.
pyriformis which has pear-shaped fruits.

Of J. intermedia there is on Rowes Farm, James
River, opposite Brandon, Va., a magnificent speci-
men which must rank with the largest Walnut-trees
known anywhere; the trunk at two feet from the
ground measures more than 31 feet and at 6J feet,
25 feet in girth. The spread of branches is enor-
mous but the height I have not been able to
ascertain.

In the neighbourhood of Boston, Mass., a number
of trees of J. regia x J. cinerea are known. The name
of this hybrid is /. quadrangulata. In California
are grown several hybrids between /. regia and /.
Hindsii, one of them, which Burbank claims to have
originated, is named "Paradox." Another which
Burbank calls the "Royal" is said to be also a cross
between /. nigra and /. Hindsii, and to fruit freely.
I know nothing about the value of the nuts. All
these hybrid Walnuts are fast-growing, handsome
trees and like the species the wood of all is valuable.
However, for nuts the breeder will do well to stick to
the European and to the Japanese species and its
variety. By intermingling these valuable and more
hardy races of Walnuts will result.

The most famous and oldest cultivated nut-tree
182

AMERICAN CHESTNU1
Is II VCT1 \l M DISAPPEARING

COMMON FRUITS WHICH TAKE US BACK INTO
ANCIENT DAYS

THE PEACH
THE PEAR

THE PLUM
THE QUINCE

OUR NUT TREES

native of this country is of course the Pecan (Carya
pecan), which grows wild in western Mississippi, in
parts of Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The
latest authorities consider that it was planted by the
Indians in the Mississippi Valley and elsewhere, and
it is therefore not easy to determine the natural dis-
tribution of this tree. The Caryas are among the
noblest trees of North America and furnish tough
and valuable timber. A few years ago a species (C.
cathayensis) was discovered in eastern China but up to
that time the genus was considered peculiarly North
American. The Pecan probably exceeds all other
species in size, and in rich alluvial soils trees 175 feet
tall by 16 feet in girth of trunk often occur. In the
Arnold Arboretum there is one healthy young Pecan-
tree which is one of our proudest possessions for its
hardiness is a surprise to us. In this connection it
is necessary to emphasize the fact that the Pecan is a
Southern tree which cannot be expected to be hardy
in the cold Northern states. There is a wide region
in this country where Pecans can be successfully
grown but it is not New England nor any of the cold
Northern or Middle-West states. If intending nut
growers will properly appreciate this fact it will save
them money and disappointment. Pecan-nuts are
too well-known to need description here. They are
variable in size, and the best forms are about 2!
183

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

inches long and i inch broad and have a thin red-
brown shell and a sweet-flavoured reddish-brown
kernel. They are borne in clusters of from three to
twelve, each is contained within a thin, brittle, dark
brown, 4-angled husk which is coated with yellow hairs
and when ripe splits nearly to the base. The next in
importance is the Shagbark Hickory (C. ovoid) which
is distinguished by its thin-shelled nut, its leaves
of five, rarely seven, leaflets, its scaly bark, and other
less obvious characters. It is a Northern tree being
distributed from the neighbourhood of Montreal and
southern Minnesota southward to the Carolinas, east
central Mississippi, southern Arkansas, Louisiana, and
eastern Texas, where it is rare. It is common in the
New England and other Northern states and in Liv-
ingston County, western New York, a natural hybrid
between it and the Kingnut (C. laciniosa) named C.
Dunbarii occurs. There are several varieties of the
Shagbark distinguished by the shape of their leaves
or fruit. In the typical form the fruit is short-oblong
to sub-globose and depressed at the apex. There are
a number of named selected forms of this Hickory
valued for the size and quality of their nuts. Of
much potential value is C. Laneyi a natural hybrid
between the Bitternut C. cordiformis and C. ovata.
It has a nut with the thin shell of the Bitternut
and the large, sweet kernel of the Shagbark Hickory
184

OUR NUT TREES

and as the shell is so thin the kernel is larger than
that usually produced by the Shagbark. The nut
of this hybrid keeps remarkably well, and C. Laneyi
is probably one of the most valuable of all Hickory-
nuts which have been found. The type tree grows
in the Riverview Cemetery, Rochester, N. Y.,
and it is fitting that this interesting hybrid should
have been named for the capable Superintendent of
the Park system of that city.

A third species of Carya is C. laciniosa the Kingnut
or Big Shellbark. This is essentially a tree of the
central states, being particularly abundant in the
river swamps of central Missouri and of the Ohio
basin. It exceeds ioo feet in height by 10 feet in
girth of trunk. The fruit is solitary or in pairs,
about 2 inches long with a hard, woody shell; the
nut is compressed, four-to-six-ridged with a bony
shell and a light brown, sweet kernel.

The Shagbark and the Kingnut are, as nut trees,
the most important of the fifteen species of Carya
now recognized in this country. In several others
the kernels are sweet though the nuts are small.
Seven natural hybrids have received names and there
are probably others yet to be distinguished. In the
hands of the hybridist other superior forms will
assuredly appear.

The Hickories and the Pecan are easily raised from
185

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

seeds but the seedlings develop long, thick tap-roots
and in consequence are difficult to transplant. The
best plan is to sow the nuts and leave the seedlings
to develop in situ. The better varieties are in-
creased by grafting and budding and old trees can
be headed-back and top-worked in a satisfactory man-
ner in the warmer states. In the North the propa-
gation is more difficult but yearly it is becoming bet-
ter understood and in time will probably become as
easy as that of the Apple and Peach. In the Arnold
Arboretum the Bitternut (C. cordijormis) has been
found to be the best stock. The work is done
under glass in January and side-grafting close to the
collar of the stock is favoured. The pecan industry
is of course well established in the warmer states but
it can never become profitable in New England nor in
the colder parts of this country. But there seems to be
no reason why Hickory orchards cannot be successfully
established in regions where the Pecan is not
hardy.

To write of the Chestnuts when those in this coun-
try are fast disappearing through disease is not a pleas-
ant task. No cure has been found for this fatal disease,
and it looks as if in a few years one of the valuable tim-
ber trees in eastern North America will have vanished.
It is sad, but we may as well realize that it cannot be
helped. Thousands, yes, billions, of types have risen
186

OUR NUT TREES

and disappeared since first organic development be-
gan, and the fittest only survive. The Chestnut
blight is a new and deadly thing in this country,
but it is an old pest in the Orient. In Korea
it has existed beyond the memory of the oldest in-
habitant yet there are to-day millions of Chestnut-
trees in Korea, where the nut is a staple article of
food. The same is true of Manchuria, but in Japan
theblightappears to beacomparatively recent visitant
and is deadly. I n Korea and Manchuria the older and
larger trees are more resistant than saplings. Doubt-
less the Chestnut blight (Diaportba parasitica)
a fungus— rages in a cycle and when the zenith of the
curve is reached decreases in virulence. Let us
heartily hope that this zenith may be reached while
yet a goodly number of trees remain to us. Mean-
while, the hybridist should be busy endeavouring to
breed Chestnuts immune to the blight. Some good
work in this direction has been done by Dr. Van
Fleet, at Washington, D. C, working with the Chin-
quapin (Castanea pumila) and an Asiatic species,
but it is desirable that additional workers take up
the burden for the task is heavy.

The fruit of all the Chestnuts, and there are eight

species, is edible. In eastern Asia grow four species,

in this country three, and in southern Europe, Asia

Minor, the Caucasus, and northern Persia one species.

187

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

There is a strong family likeness among all the Chest-
nuts, so much so that many botanists have united them
all into one species, but the eight species may be dis-
tinguished by the absence or presence and distribu-
tion of minute, scale-like glands and of hairs on the
leaves, and by other less obvious technical characters.
The European (C. sativa) is the best known and the
most famous of all Chestnuts but unfortunately it is
not hardy in the colder parts of this country. It is
much cultivated in Italy, Spain, and France, where
the nut is a staple article of food. In England the
Chestnut has been widely planted but except in a few
favoured localities the fruit does not properly mature.
This Chestnut is one of the largest and noblest of
European trees; it is indeed the largest of the genus
and trees ioo feet tall and 20 feet in girth of trunk
with a wide-spreading crown of massive branches are
not uncommon. The nuts are usually three in each
spiny, round husk, occasionally more, sometimes one
only. There are many garden varieties and some
with a very large-sized nut are grown in Madeira.

Rivalling in size of nut the European species is the
Japanese C. crenata, wide-spread in Japan and in
Korea. 1 1 is hardier than the European Chestnut but
is prone to disease. 1 1 is not a very large tree but some
of the named sorts like "Tamba" or "Mammoth"
have huge nuts but the flavour is rather inferior.
188

OUR NUT TREES

The type and the best known varieties have been
introduced into this country. The trees grow rapidly
and fruit at a comparatively early age, and it is
regrettable that they are not more disease resistant.
More valuable is a Chinese Chestnut (C mollis-
sima) introduced into this country from Peking by
Professor Sargent in 1903. The nut is rather smaller
than those of the preceding species but is sweet and
of excellent flavour. It is a tree of moderate size,
wide-spread in China from east to west and north-
ward into Manchuria. It is cultivated in northwest
Korea and is esteemed above the native species.
Long, shaggy hairs on the shoot distinguish this
species from all others. Though subject to Chestnut
blight in the Orient this species seems to be immune
or nearly so in this country, and this combined with
its hardiness makes it a most useful tree for culti-
vating and breeding purposes here. The largest of
the Asiatic Chestnuts is C. Henryana, which is occa-
sionally 100 feet tall and 18 feet in girth of trunk and
is characterized by having normally a solitary, ovoid
nut in each spiny husk. The leaves are smooth,
without glands, and the lateral nerves project beyond
the margin in long, hair-like points; the petioles and
shoots are quite smooth and dark coloured. The
nut, though small, is very sweet and of most excellent
flavour. It is common in central and western China,
189

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

growing in mixed forests on the higher mountains.
I introduced it in 1907 to the Arnold Arboretum
where it has proved quite hardy.

We need say nothing here about the American C.
dentata but a passing word is due the Chinquapin or
shrubby Chestnut (C pumila) . This bush or small tree
is distributed from southern Pennsylvania to north-
ern Florida and westward to southern Arkansas and
eastern Texas. It bears usually in each husk a single
nut which though very small is sweet and good to
eat. This species in the hands of the hybridists may
be the progenitor of a race of Bush-chestnuts of
great value for orchards. As before mentioned
Doctor Van Fleet has already made some very prom-
ising crosses. There is no reason why future genera-
tions should not have a strain of Bush-chestnuts
bearing fruits as large as the European and Japanese
kinds, and as hardy and as sweet in flavour as the
Chinese. In the southeastern United States, in the
neighbourhood of the coast, from North Carolina to
western Florida and west to Louisiana grows the dwarf
C. alnifolia in which the husk is only sparingly clad with
spines. This is a shrub or low tree from 10 to 30 feet
tall. There is in China a Bush-chestnut (C. Seguinii)
which ought to be re-introduced into our gardens. It
has long been known and Robert Fortune introduced
it into England in the fifties of the last century,
190

THE AI'RICOI IN CHINA, WHI-.RE IT IS A NATIV1

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OUR NUT TREES

but it seems to have soon become lost and its value
unappreciated. I introduced it into the Arnold Arbor-
etum in 1907, but the plants were afterward destroyed
by a grass-fire caused by a careless visitor. This
Chestnut is abundant on the hills throughout the
Yangtsze Valley and there should be no difficulty
in securing seeds though they travel badly. It
forms a bush from 10 to 18 feet high and is sometimes
a small tree; the husk contains from three to six
small nuts which have a peculiarly sweet and pleas-
ant flavour. I never saw it attacked by the Chest-
nut blight. Summing up the question of the Chest-
nuts it would appear that in hybridizing the large-
fruited tree-forms with the three bush-forms there
is a field of much promise.

The genus Corylus which yields the hazel-nuts is
spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Some
twelve species and several varieties are known,
three species in this country, four in eastern Asia,
two on the Himalayas, three in Europe and Asia
Minor. Three of them (C. colurna, C. Jacquemontii,
and C. chinensis) are large trees, the others are
best described as large busjies though occasionally
they form small trees. The Chinese C. chinensis
is a very large tree and I have a vivid recollection of
one giant, growing in central China, fully 120 feet
tall and 18 feet in girth of trunk with a broad oval
191

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

crown. The nuts of all the species are edible but in
the tree-species the shell is very thick. For orchard
culture the European C. Avellana only has so far
received attention. This is much grown in Italy,
Spain, France, and the county of Kent in England,
but the bulk of the nuts in commerce are shipped from
the Spanish port of Barcelona, hence the name Bar-
celona nut. This species is wild in the hedge-rows
and coppices of Europe, and nuts of the wild plants are
excellent eating and in England are much sought after
by country-people. According to French authori-
ties the nuts of Provence and Italy are preferable to
those of Spain and the Levant. A number of varie-
ties are grown and in France the better kinds are
called "Avelenes." The best are known as Full-
beards or Filberts and Cob-nuts. The first-named
have a long nut enclosed within the long, tubular
husk which is contracted above the apex of the nut.
There are several forms differing in the shape of the
nuts and the relative length of their husks. The
red and white filberts are similar in external appear-
ance but in the former the pellicle which covers the
kernel is red and in the latter pale gray-brown.
Both are much grown in Kent, England, and are
esteemed because they admit of being kept fresh in
the husks. According to the books the filbert was
first known from Pontus on the Asia Minor shores of
192

OUR NUT TREES

the Black Sea, and was known to the ancient Greeks as
"Nux pontica." The cob-nuts are short and round-
ish and have a thick shell, the most familiar being
the Barcelona nuts of commerce. A form with large
nuts is known in England as the "Kentish Cob."

Some consider the cob-nuts to belong to a separate
species known as C. pontica but this seems to be
doubtful. The other European species (C. maxima)
is a large shrub confined to southern Europe and has a
husk contracted above the apex of the nut into a
short tube. A recent view is that the Filberts are
hybrids between this and C. Avellana. There is also
a hybrid between the common C. Avellana and C.
colurna (C intermedia) which has been known in
Europe since about 1836 but is still rare. It is
fairly intermediate in character though the nut is
more like that of C. colurna.

Of the three American species C. rostrata is most
widely spread and grows throughout Canada from
the east coast to British Columbia, and in this coun-
try as far south as Virginia and west to Minnesota.
It is a bush of moderate height producing suckers
freely; the husk completely encloses the nut and is
contracted beyond into a long tube. Another species
(C. californica) grows in Colorado and westward
through northern California, Oregon, and Wash-
ington, and differs in having the husk terminate in a
"93

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

very short tube. The remaining species (C. ameri-
cana) has a roundish nut contained in an open husk
with jagged almost fringed margins. This is a broad
shrub, from 5 to 12 feet tall, distributed from New
England southward to West Virginia and westward to
Mississippi, Arkansas, and South Dakota. These
native species of Hazel-nut have been neglected and
ought to be taken in hand for orchard culture. The
three Tree-hazels all have roundish nuts with thick,
hard shells and small kernels and need to be much
improved before they have value as nut-trees. The
Himalayan C. ferox and the Chinese C. tibetica have
spiny husks resembling those of the Chestnut and
are unpromising subjects for the nut growers.

The two Bush-hazels of eastern Asia (C. heter-
opbylla and C. Sieboldii), each of which has several
recognized varieties, are worthy of passing notice.
Both are hardy in the Arnold Arboretum and will
some day play a part in nut culture in this country.
The first has leaves variable in shape, as its name
indicates, and an equally variable husk which is
laciniated and often crested but open at the summit
exposing the roundish, thick-shelled nut. It is a low
bush, seldom more than 6 feet high and usually less,
which suckers freely and is a particular feature of open
mountain slopes in Korea. It is also widespread
in Japan, the Amur region, Manchuria, and north-
194

OUR NUT TREES

ern China. In central and western China it is repre-
sented by the varieties sutcbuenensis and yunnanensis
which are large bushes often 20 feet tall and differing
in technical characters. The other species (C. Sie-
holdii) resembles the American C. rostrata in that the
husk completely encloses the nut and, moreover,
is contracted above the apex of the nut into a narrow
tube which is often twice as long as the nut itself.
Several varieties, based largely on the length and
shape of the husk, have been distinguished. On
Quelpaert, a volcanic island off the south coast of
Korea, grows a small-fruited form in which the husk
is contracted into a very short beak. This has been
named C. hallaisanensis. Siebold's Hazel is a large
bush, similar in habit and foliage to the European
C. Avellana and is widely distributed in Japan and
on the mainland of eastern Asia westward to the
Chino-Thibetan borderland.

Lastly, mention may be made of the Almond
(Prunus Amygdahts), a tree closely related to the
Peach and Apricot, native of Persia and Asia Minor.
In Syria and in southern Europe, especially in Spain,
and also in California, it is much cultivated for the
kernels of its fruits which constitute the almonds of
commerce. There are many varieties mainly dis-
tinguished by the thickness of the shell enclosing the
kernel.

'95

CHAPTER XII
OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

CHAPTER XI I
OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

THE origin of our common fruit trees is lost
in the dust of antiquity. Some — the Dam-
son, for example — can be traced in old Greek
literature back to the sixth century before Christ.
But they are much older for charred remains of the
Apple and stones of the Bullace (Yellow Plum) have
been found in the pre-historic lake-dwellings of
Switzerland. They are, of course, the oldest trees
cultivated by man, and did we know just where the
human race had its cradle we might be a little more
sure of the birthplace of our Plums, Apples, Pears,
and Cherries. Books generally make them of Eur-
asian origin giving their distribution as from south-
eastern Europe, the Asiatic shores of the Black Sea, the
Caucasus, Persia to Kashmir, and north to Bokhara.
Doubtless this vast and vague area includes the
home of some of our fruit trees but there is nothing
definitely known. Possibly some of them, like the
common Plum, were first cultivated on the shores of
the Caspian Sea and on the plains of Turan where the
Huns, Turks, Mongols, and Tartars, flowing back
>99

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and forth in tides of war-like migration, maintained
in times of peace a crude agriculture long before the
Greeks and Romans tilled the soil. All that can
be definitely stated to-day is that our common fruit
trees are native of those parts of the Old World west
of the highlands of central Asia. In North America
grow wild more species of true Plums than are found
in Europe and Asia, but the cultivation of none was
attempted until early in the 19th century, and even
to-day their true worth is not sufficiently appreci-
ated. The native Apples and Cherries of this
country have to date no value as fruit trees, and
America's only contribution to the fruit trees of the
world are her Plums. So small a part do these play
even in American orchards that it is correct to write
that this country owes all her fruit trees to Europe
and Asia. Indeed, the introduction of these trees
began with the earliest settlers. In Massachusetts
some were planted by the Pilgrims, for Francis Hig-
ginson, writing in 1629, says: "Our Governor hath
already planted mulberries, plums, raspberries, cor-
rance, chestnuts, filberts, walnuts, smalnuts, and
hurtleberries." John Josselyn, writing of a voyage
to New England in 1663, says: "the Quinces, Cher-
ries, and Damsons set the dames a work, marmalade
and preserved Damsons are to be met with in every
house." In the voyages undertaken for exploration

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

and commerce soon after the discovery of America
by Columbus the Peach was introduced by the Span-
iards, for immediately after permanent settlement
had been made in the South the settlers found this
fruit in widespread cultivation by the Indians, and
its origin could only be traced to the Spaniards who
early visited Florida and the Gulf region. As early
as 1682 William Penn wrote, ''there are very good
peaches in Pennsylvania, not an Indian plantation
is without them."

In the Northern Hemisphere, during the course of
ages, two forms of civilization have developed. They
are commonly expressed as that of the west and of the
east ; i.e., that of Europe and that of eastern Asia whose
dominant factor has been China. So, too, have two
distinct stocks of fruit trees. There is the Eurasian
group of apples, pears, plums, and cherries and there
is the Chinese group of these same fruits. They are
separate and distinct one from another, and have
been evolved independently from the wild species
found in areas separated by the high table-land of
central Asia. This important fact has only quite
recently been properly established. It has been my
privilege and good fortune to discover in China and
Korea the wild types of the apples, pears, cherries,
and plums of the Orient. The Peach is of Chinese
origin and probably the Apricot also, though there
201

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

is still doubt about the real home of the latter. The
peach and apricot have been grown in this country
since the early times of settlers; the oriental plum,
under the name of the Japanese Plum, for about half
a century, but the pears, apples, and cherries of the
Orient have scarcely received any attention here.

Since the wild habitat of certain of our fruit trees is
not clearly known it will occasion no surprise to learn
that botanists differ in opinion as to the species to
which some of our domesticated fruits belong. Natur-
ally they have become so vastly changed under long
cultivation that they bear but a remote resemblance
to their ancestral forms. Another fact that adds enor-
mously to the difficulty is that the parts of Europe,
western Asia, and the Orient where they are supposed
to have had their home have changed completely
under long, if intermittent, practice of agricultural
husbandry. The ravages of a thousand wars, the
migration to and fro of peoples down the ages have
likewise profoundly influenced the problem. In the
case of the Common Apple and the Domestica Plums
it is doubtful if we shall ever be absolutely sure of the
original habitat and identity of the wild types.
Crabapples, or reversions toward the wild type or
types, are found everywhere in the world where
Apples have been long cultivated, and casual ob-
servers have concluded that they are truly wild
202

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

whereas "naturalized" is the correct term to employ.
In this connection it must be confessed that often it is
well-nigh impossible to distinguish between natur-
alized and spontaneous plants. Let us take the case
of the Common Apple. Loudon in his "Arboretum
et Fruticetum Britannicum," 1 1, 894, says, "the Apple
grows spontaneously in every part of Europe except
the torrid zone. It is found throughout western
Asia. ... In the north of Europe it is found as
far west as Finland in Lat. 620; in Sweden in Lat. 580
or 590; in central Russia to 55°or6o°. In Britain, the
Apple is found in a wild state in hedges, and on
the margins of woods, as far north as Morayshire. It
is found wild in Ireland, but it is rare there."

The latest authority as represented by Bailey's
"Standard Cyclopedia American Horticulture," V. 2870
(19 1 6), gives southeastern Europe to western Asia
as the home of the principal, or supposed principal,
parent of the Apple and western and central Europe
for its other and lesser parent. The Apple, accord-
ing to the best authorities, was introduced into
France and Britain by the Romans, as was also the
Pear; and like that fruit probably reintroduced by
religious houses on their establishment, after the
introduction of Christianity. Others claim that the
Apple was to the Druids a sacred or semi-sacred tree,
that it was cultivated in Britain from the earliest
203

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

ages, and that Glastonbury was called Apple Orchard,
from the great quantity of apples grown there pre-
vious to the arrival of the Romans.

The Apple-tree is mentioned by Theophrastus and
Herodotus, and is also distinguished by legends in the
mythologies of the Greeks, the Scandinavians, and
the Druids. Hercules was worshipped by the The-
bans under the name of Melius, and apples were
offered at his altars. The ancient Welsh bards were
rewarded for excelling in song by "the token of the
Apple spray." In the apple-growing parts of Eng-
gland many quaint ceremonies were in olden times
practised. In Devonshire on Christmas Eve the
farmers and their men used to take in state to the
orchard a large bowl of cider with toast in it, and
salute the Apple-trees with much ceremony in order to
induce them to bear well the next season. The
farmer and his men each took an oblation of the
cider, threw some of it about the roots of the tree,
placing bits of toast on the branches; then forming
themselves round the most fruitful Apple-tree sang:

Here's to thee, old Apple-tree,
Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow;
And whence thou mayst bear apples enow.

Hats full! caps full!

Bushel-bushel-sacks full !

And my pockets full, too!

Huzza!

204

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

In other parts of the country this ceremony took
place on Twelfth-Night-Eve, and roasted apples
took the place of toast. The song varied somewhat
in different parts of the country but everywhere
fecundity was invoked. Putting roasted apples
in ale was another old English custom. Shakes-
peare alludes to it in "Midsummer Night's Dream"
where Puck says:

Sometimes 1 lurk in a gossip's bowl,

In very likeness of a roasted crab;
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,

And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.

But a large volume would be required to record the
folk-lore and facts that have accumulated round our
premier fruit and then much would perforce be
omitted.

The species now considered the principal parent
of our favourite orchard fruit is known as Malus
pumila, and is characterized by having its branchlets,
leaves, inflorescence, and sepals covered with woolly
hairs. It is considered to be wild from southeastern
Europe to the Caucasus. Another species from which
a few kinds of apple have been derived is M. syl-
vestris, which is nearly smooth and hairless in all its
parts, and is regarded as indigenous in western and
central Europe. The apples of the Orient have been
205

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

derived from M. prnnijolia var. rinki which grows
wild on the margins of woods and on the banks of
mountain torrents in Hupeh, central China, where I
discovered it in 1907. In habit, general appearance,
and flowers it resembles M. pumila, but the fruit-stalk
is much longer and more slender, and the fruit, which
is small, is not impressed at the apex but has the
calyx raised, thickened, and fleshy at the base. When
the Chinese first began to cultivate the apple is
not known, but it was long, long ago. From China
it has been introduced to Korea and Japan where,
however, it is fast being displaced by apples of the
European type introduced from America. The
Chinese apple is small, ripens early, is greenish
to greenish-yellow and is rosy on one side; occasion-
ally it is nearly all red; the flavour is pleasant and
bitter-sweet. It ripens its fruit in the hot, moist
Yangtsze Valley round Ichang in July, and on the
mountains, where the climate is severe, in early
September. As a fruit it has no particular value to
recommend it to Western gardens but since it thrives
under extremes of climate it may be useful to the
hybridist.

The history of the Common Pear closely parallels

that of our Apple but there is much less folk-lore

gathered round it. In Britain, until about a century

ago, it was more valued for making Perry than for

206

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

dessert. In fact, many of the best varieties were
originated in France and Belgium, especially in
gardens attached to religious establishments of which
Louvain was among the chief, and were introduced
into general cultivation after the battle of Waterloo.
The Pear is less hardy than the Apple, and in Eng-
land the better sorts are grown against walls and on
sheltered trellises. The Common Pear is mentioned
by the earliest writers as common in Syria and
Greece, and from the latter country it appears to
have been brought to Italy. The Romans intro-
duced it into France and Britain, and it was brought
to this country by the early settlers. Theophras-
tus speaks of the productiveness of the old Pear-
tree, and Virgil mentions some pears which he re-
ceived from Cato. Pliny in his fifteenth book describes
the varieties in cultivation in his time as being exceed-
ingly numerous. In Gerard's time the Katherine
Pear, a small, red, early sort, was considered the best,
and it remained a market variety in England down to
about 1840.

The parent of our pears is undoubtedly of Eur-
asian origin, being found over a considerable portion
of Europe and eastward to the Caucasus and northern
Persia, but it is difficult to tell between naturalized
escapes from cultivation and true wildlings. A
variety (cordata) sometimes regarded as a distinct
207

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

species is indigenous to western France and Eng-
land, and has a round, or slightly turbinate, fruit
about half an inch in diameter. The Pear in a wild
and naturalized state is pyramidal in habit and is
armed with spines.

The pears of the Orient are flattened and depressed
top and bottom like our apples and not of the famil-
iar pear-shape; a few are egg-shaped. They are very
firm and gritty in texture, rich in a sweet watery juice,
and one group is generally known as Sand Pears. At
present it is certain that two species (Pyrus serotina
and P. ussuriensis) have been concerned in their
evolution, but whether other species have played a
part or whether there are hybrids between the above-
named species has yet to be determined. Much
attention is now being given in parts of this country
to these Pears for stock on which to work our
own Pears and for breeding purposes. We are
entirely without knowledge as to how long the
Chinese have cultivated their Pears but three thou-
sand years is not an exaggerated estimate. The
Sand Pear was introduced into Japan more than a
thousand years ago and is very extensively culti-
vated there to this day for the Japanese, like the
Koreans and Chinese, prefer them to our pears.

The Sand Pears, of which there are brown- and
green-skinned kinds, are characterized by the ab-
208

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

sence of the calyx. They have apparently all been
derived from P. serotina, a common wild tree in the
woods on the mountains of the province of Hupeh in
central China, where I discovered it in 1900 and in-
troduced it into the Arnold Arboretum in 1909.
Though widely cultivated over the greater part of
China, Korea, and Japan it has not been found wild
except in central China. The other species (P.
ussuriensis) is more northern, being abundant in
central and northern Korea, and in Manchuria also;
it has recently been found wild in Japan in the region
around Mt. Fuji, and on the mountains of Shinano
province in mid-Japan. In this species the skin is
green, russet-green, or rosy; the calyx is usually per-
sistent but sometimes it is deciduous. Many varie-
ties of this Pear are grown in Korea and Manchuria,
and in the more northern parts of China. Around
Peking a variety having a delicious little apple-
shaped pear of a pale yellow colour is much grown
and is known as the White Pear. In parts of Japan
it is called the Stone Pear and is not esteemed.
There are a few hybrids between the Sand Pear
and the European Pear the best known being the
KiefTer and Le Comte.

There are many other species of Pear-trees in Eur-
asia and the Orient which some day may be found of
value in the pear industry in Western lands. One
209

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

(P. Calleryana), with minute fruits, which I intro-
duced to the Arnold Arboretum from central China
in 1909, is already achieving prominence as the
most resistant to the dreaded Pear blight of all the
species and in consequence a valuable stock on which
to work our garden Pears.

The Quince (Cydonia vulgaris) is nowadays more
esteemed in New England than in Britain. A low
tree with tortuous, rambling branches, and considered
native of southern France and central Europe, it was
known to the Greeks and Romans and by both nations
held in high esteem. By the ancients it was con-
sidered the emblem of love, happiness, and fruitfulness
and was dedicated to Venus. The nuptial chambers
of the Greeks and Romans were decorated with the
fruit, and the bride and bridegroom also ate it as
soon as the marriage ceremony was performed. In
eastern Asia grow three species of Quince but their
fruits are of little value; they are, however, very
decorative garden plants. Another old fruit tree
seldom seen nowadays is the Medlar (Mespilus
germanica) whose fruit is not eaten until it is in a
state of incipient decay, when it is very agreeable to
some palates.

Now let us consider the stone-fruits which, like the
preceding, all belong to the great Rose family. At
the head of these stands the Peach (Prunus persica)
210

ill I KKI IS AM) M'l'l I S

BOTH --Will AND SOUR CHERRIES Ol I > I K \\ I S I I K \ t . \ K DE NS
COME FROM I III I \s | . oi R M'l'l I - COM I FROM I ill ( \i ( VSI S

A CHINESE PEAR AT HOME

PARENT OF THE SAND PEARS OF THE ORIENT

(Pyrns serotina)

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

which, as previously stated, was introduced to this
country by the Spaniards soon after Columbus's time.
The Romans, during the reign of the Emperor
Claudius, received the Peach from Persia and for
centuries it was considered native of that country
and received a specific name to that effect. Present-
day authorities, however, are pretty well agreed that
its real home is China, though undisputable wild trees
have never been discovered. Nevertheless, it is
found naturalized over the greater part of China
where it has been cultivated for its fruit as far back
as records go. In Chinese folk-lore, in arts such as
porcelain-ware, wood-carving, embroidery, and paint-
ing it figures largely. Personally, I think there can
be no doubt about its Chinese origin, and am con-
vinced that it reached Persia and the Caspian region
through seeds carried by the old trade-route across
central Asia. In China are grown to-day freestone
and clingstone varieties with white, reddish, or yellow
flesh; also a curious variety having the fruit com-
pressed top and bottom and known as the "pien-tao"
or flat peach. The Smooth-skinned Peach or Necta-
rine likewise is of Chinese origin and seems to prefer
a rather warm climate. It is much grown in northern
Formosa. From China the Peach was long ago
taken to Korea and to Japan where to-day a great
many local varieties are cultivated. Into France and

211

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Britain it was introduced by the Romans, but in
England it was not much cultivated before the 16th
century. The Spanish introduced it into South Amer-
ica. It has been planted in the more temperate parts
of Africa (the famous missionary-traveller, Livings-
ton, planted it by the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi
River), and in Australasia; indeed, no fruit tree is
now more widely grown. There is no need to tell
of the importance of the Peach industry in this
country, where probably high-class fruit is produced
in greater quantity than in any other land, but a
real desideratum is a Peach "bud hardy" in northern
New England. I think there is a possibility of
this being found through the medium of the Peach
which is semi-wild on the mountains west of Peking.
Two other species of Peach grow wild in China,
namely, P. Davidiana and P. mira. The first-named
is native of the cold northern provinces of China and
although the fruit is of no value the plant is favoured
in parts of this country as a stock for varieties of the
Common Peach. The other is native of the alpine
regions of the Chino-Thibetan borderland, where I
discovered it. It has a palatable white-fleshed fruit
and an exceedingly small, perfectly smooth stone. I
had high hopes of it being useful to the hybridist
when introducing it to the Arnold Arboretum in
1908, but apparently its alpine character is against

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

its successful acclimatization. By analogy it ought
to be very hardy but as a matter of fact with us it
has suffered badly each winter.

The Apricot (Prunus Armeniacd) is another fruit-
tree whose specific name is a geographical misnomer.
Originally considered native of the Caucasus and
Armenia it is now pretty generally accepted as being
of Chinese origin. Its history is similar to that of the
Peach. The Romans cultivated it and it is described
by Pliny and Dioscorides. To France and England
it was almost certainly carried by the Romans
though the first mention of its being in England is in
Turner's "Herbal" published in 1562. In China I
know it only as a cultivated tree but many travellers
have seen it wild in the northern provinces. It is
much grown in Korea and, though I have not yet
had time critically to compare the material, I am in-
clined to think that an Apricot I gathered on cliffs
in northern Korea, and unquestionably wild there, rep-
resents this species. It may, however, belong to
P. sibirica, by some considered merely a variety of
P. Armeniaca. In Japan the Apricot is much cul-
tivated, and the fruit is pickled and eaten as a relish.
Its Japanese name is "ansu" and there are many
beautiful garden forms with white, pink, to rose-red
single and double flowers. In Afghanistan and
other regions of the northwestern Himalayas the fruit
213

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

is preserved by sun-drying, and dried apricots are
an article of commerce in High Asia and Thibet. I
have eaten fruits of such origin in the frontier town
of Tachien-lu, situated on the Chino-Thibetan
borderland. Apricots make a delicious preserve
and to my thinking are very much better as jam than
as fresh fruit.

In central Korea the Manchurian Apricot (P.
mandshitricd) is a common wild tree and grows to a
very large size. Its fruit is similar to that of the
Common Apricot but the leaves differ and its bark
is thick, corky, black outside and red beneath. Then
there is the so-called Black Apricot (P. dasycarpa)
of uncertain origin but probably west Asian. It was
introduced into England in 1800 has white flowers
produced very early, and purplish black fruit. There
is a strong family likeness among all the Apricots
and what is needed is to get all the kinds together
in one place and study them comparatively. In any
case this would serve to provide the hybridist with
material for further effort to improve the existing
races of Apricot.

The Cherry-trees cultivated in gardens and or-
chards of the West for their fruit are the product of
two species — Prunus avium and P. Cerasus — re-
spectively the Sweet and Sour Cherries — both of
Eurasian origin. They have been cultivated from
214

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

very early times and their history is very similar to
that of the Apple and Pear. The Sweet Cherry,
Mazzard or Gean, from which the Heart and Bigar-
reau Cherries have been derived, is a native of west-
ern Europe, including England and Norway and
eastward to Asia Minor and the Caucasus, but is
rare in a wild state in Spain and Italy; in Russia it
is apparently confined to the southwestern provinces
and to the Crimea. It favours well-drained light
soils on the margins of woods, and especially
among Beech-trees. It is a handsome, more or less
loosely pyramidal tree from 80 to 90 feet tall by 10
feet and more in girth of trunk. In Beech woods on
the Chiltern Hills in England it grows to perfection.
It is less hardy than the Sour Cherry, suckers little
from the roots, and from the fact that birds favour
its fruit it owes its specific name. The Sour or Pie
Cherry from which the Kentish Cherries and Morellos
have been derived is native of southeastern Europe,
Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, and in this country is
a much hardier tree than the Sweet Cherry. It is a
low tree, rarely 40 feet tall, with a broad, wide-spread-
ing crown and suckers freely. It is naturalized in
the colder states of this country and over a great
part of Europe. A variety (marasca), native of
Dalmatia, is worthy of mention as the source of
Maraschino, a distilled liqueur much used in Europe
215

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and elsewhere, and in America in the preparation of
maraschino cherries.

Theophrastus in his "History of Plants," written
some 300 years before the Christian era, gives a good
description of the Sweet Cherry but in ancient
Greece it was little esteemed as a fruit tree. Pliny
states that Lucullus, the Roman soldier and epicure,
brought them to Rome 65 years before the birth of
Christ; but that Pliny was in error is proved by the
illustrious Roman scholar, Marcus Terentius Varro,
who in his book on farming written in 37 b. c,
treats of them as commonplace orchard trees of the
period and tells when and how to graft them. The
Romans carried cultivated varieties of Cherries to
England and this fruit tree became well established
in Kent during their occupation of Britain. In the
time of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth the cherry
was a highly favoured fruit and an excellent account
of it is given by the Elizabethan herbalist, Gerard.

The cherry was one of the first fruit trees planted
in this country and was brought to New England
by the earliest settlers. Francis Higginson, writing
in 1629, states that the Red Kentish was the only
cherry cultivated in Massachusetts. In 1641 Cherry-
trees were on sale in a nursery in Massachusetts.
John Josselyn, who made voyages to New England
in 1638, 1639, 1663, in his "New England Rarities
216

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

Discovered" says: "It was not long before I left
the Country that I made Cherry Wine, and so may
others for there are a good store of them both
red and black. Their fruit trees are subject to two
diseases, the Meazels, which is when they are burned
and scorched with the sun, and lowsiness when the
woodpeckers jab holes in their bark; the way to cure
them when they are lowsie is to bore a hole in the
main root with an augur, and pour in a quantity of
Brandie or Rhum and then stop it up with a pin
made of the same tree."

In China Cherries are the product of Prunus
pseudocerasus, a small tree, wild in the woods of the
province of Hupeh, central China. It is not very
hardy but is cultivated over a considerable area in
China, and also in the warmer parts of Korea and
southern Manchuria. Formerly it was much grown
in Japan, but its place has been taken by European
Cherries. The Chinese Cherry is a red, sweet
fruit of little flavour, suggesting a White Heart
Cherry in miniature. It was introduced into Eng-
land about 1822 but was soon lost or nearly so. It
has not proved hardy in the Arnold Arboretum but
has fruited in Chico, California.

Much more valuable is the Bush-cherry (P.
tomentosa), a common wild shrub in central and
western China and much cultivated in northern China,
217

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Manchuria and Korea for its fruit. It is a very hardy
plant and will thrive in the coldest parts of the
United States. It has short-stalked, globose, scarlet
fruit, very juicy and pleasantly acid. The plant
seldom exceeds 6 feet in height and as much in dia-
meter, and has leaves clothed with gray, woolly hairs
on the underside. The Sand Cherry (P. pumila)
of eastern North America and its western relative
(P. Besseyi) have received a little attention from
fruit breeders during recent years and may ultimately
prove of some value, but their fruits are decidedly
astringent.

The consensus of opinion is that our common
Plums have been evolved by long cultivation from
two Eurasian species, P. insititia and P. domestica.
To the first-named belong the damsons, bullace,
mirabelle, and St. Julien plums ; the second is the more
important of the two and here belong the green-
gages (Reine Claude plums), the prunes, the per-
drigon plums, the yellow egg plums, the Imperatrice,
and the Lombard plums. The Insititia plum was
mentioned by the old Greek poets Archilochus and
Hippona in the 6th century b. c. and has been
cultivated from the earliest times. Nowadays it
grows wild in all the temperate parts of Europe, and
in western Asia to the Caspian region. The Dam-
sons derive their name from the old city of Da-
218

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

mascus, and old works on pomology state that Alex-
ander the Great brought these plums from the Orient
after his expedition of conquest and that some cen-
turies later Pompey, returning from his invasion of
the near East, brought plums to the Roman Empire.
It may be assumed with reasonable probability that
the Syrians and Persians were the first to cultivate
these Plums.

The Domestica Plums were apparently first known
and cultivated in the Transcaspian region and did
not reach Europe until after the dawn of the Christian
era. Pliny is the first to give a clear account of these
and he speaks of them as a new introduction from
Asia Minor. The prune group of the Domestica
Plums are very rich in sugar which enables them to be
preserved by drying without removing the stone.
They probably originated in Turkestan in early times,
were brought to Europe by the Huns, becoming
established in Hungary where in the 16th century
they were an important trading commodity. When
and where the Reine Claude Plums originated no-
body knows. The name commemorates Queen
Claude, wife of Francis I, the fruit having been
introduced into France about the end of the 15th
century. The English synonym, Green-gage, is
named for the Gage family who procured them from
the Chartreuse Monastery in Paris early in the 17th
219

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

century. The Perdigon Plums are an old group and
take their name from an ancient geographical division
of Italy. Of the Egg Plums the Imperial or Red
Magnum Bonum was known in England in 1629
and the Yellow Egg is described by Rea in 1676.
Parkinson in 1629 describes half-a-dozen sorts of
Imperatrice Plums distinguished by blue-black
bloomy fruits. Both Insititia and Domestica Plums
were among the earliest fruits planted by the settlers
in this country but they have never attained the
importance here that they hold in Europe.

Before leaving the subject of Eurasian Plums
mention ought to be made of P. cerasifera, the Myro-
balan Plum, native of Transcaucasia, northern Persia,
and Turkestan. It is a hardy, handsome tree but
its fruit is much inferior to that of the two already
mentioned so it is but little grown.

The Plum cultivated in the temperate parts of
eastern Asia is Prunus salicina, better known as P.
triflora and in the vernacular as the Japanese Plum.
It is indigenous in central China where I have found
it to be fairly common, but is unknown in a wild
state from any other region. Curiously enough it is
the only true Plum known from all that vast region.
In China it has been cultivated from time immemorial
and there are varieties in quantity, some with green-
ish, others yellow, red, or bloomy-black fruits. From
220

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

China it has been taken tosouthern Manchuria, Korea,
and Japan where to-day it is extensively cultivated.
From Japan it was introduced into this country
about 1870 by a Mr. Hough, of Vacaville, Cal.,
through a United States Consul to Japan, Mr.
Bridges. The first ripe fruit of these east Asiatic
Plums was produced in the grounds of Mr. John
Kelsey, Berkeley, Cal., in 1876. So impressed with
their value was Mr. Kelsey that he urged others
to take them up and this resulted in their prop-
agation being undertaken on a large scale by
Messers W. P. Hammon & Co., Oakland, California,
about 1883. To-day about one hundred varieties of
Japanese Plum are grown in this country. It reached
Europe, where it is less valued, later, and from
America.

A hybrid between a cultivated form of the east
Asiatic Plum and the common Apricot, known as
Prunus Simonii, has been cultivated for nobody
knows how long in the provinces of Shantung and
Chihli. It was introduced to France in 1867 and has
since been much grown in this country. This Plum-
cot is short-lived and of no particular value.

Authorities are not yet agreed as to the exact
number of species of Plums found wild in this country
and Canada but undoubtedly they exceed in number
the total found in the rest of the world. Virtually

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

all have fruit useful for culinary purposes if not for
dessert and were so employed by the early settlers.
The Indians knew their value and utilized them. In
recent years different Agricultural Experimental
Stations have undertaken proper investigations with
promising results. By selection and hybridizing there
is much promise of future usefulness, and especially
for the Prairie states and those of the Mississippi
Valley where European Plums do not succeed. The
best known perhaps is Prunus americana which is
distributed from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky
Mountains. It was known in Europe before 1768
when it is mentioned by Duhamel under the name
"Prunier de Virginie" but has never become im-
portant there. Among the oldest known is Prunus
nigra, the Canada Plum, first described in 1 789, and
undoubtedly the dried plum which Jacques Cartier
saw in the canoes of Indians, in his first voyages of
discovery up the St. Lawrence in 1 534. These primi-
tive prunes were a staple article of diet among the
Indians in those early times, and it is possible that
they planted trees of this species about their habita-
tions. The comparatively recently recognized P.
hortulana and P. Munsoniana are perhaps the most
promising and valuable of American Plums, especially
for the more southern states of the Middle-West.
The Pacific Plum (P. subcordata) is one of the staple
222

OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES

foods of the Indians east of the Coast Range from
southern Oregon to central California, being eaten raw
or cooked and is sometimes dried in quantity. The
Chicasaw Plum (P. angustifolia) and the Beach Plum
(P. maritima) were both named by Marshall in 1785
and were known to the earliest settlers along the
Atlantic seaboard. There are several other named
species and numerous varieties, and intimate study
will assuredly result in new discoveries. A century
hence these American Plums will probably be in the
first rank among the stone-fruits of this country.

In northern China a Jujube (Zi^ypbus sativa) is
very extensively cultivated and the varieties are very
numerous. Some of the best of these have been intro-
duced into this country by the late Frank N. Meyer
for the Department of Agriculture and may event-
ually rank among the fruits of America. The most
popular fruit in China, Korea, and Japan is the Per-
simmon (Diospyros kaki), and several of the best kinds
have been introduced by Mr. Meyer, but there has
not yet been time to establish the industry here.
Were unlimited space at my disposal I would tell
of the Fig and other fruits but there must be an
end to this chapter. The attempt has been to set
forth some of the more interesting aspects and facts
centred around our common fruit trees. The practi-
cal side of pomology is not part of the scheme but in
223

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

emphasizing the ancient character of the cult, its re-
mote and crude beginnings, it is obvious that the end
is not yet. Even as we now enjoy fruits in greater
variety and of a quality superior to those of the
Roman period, so also will the fruits of the future
assuredly be better and of greater variety than those
of to-day.

224

CHAPTER XIII

THE LOMBARDY POPLAR AND
WILLOW OF BABYLON

'ndKF1 <J$^A

H->' >iay^j >fi

w 3^1

*XsK»i

• •• ■

•,\ .

J _

z T

WEHPING WILLOWS

(above) true "willow of babvlon" where it grows
wild, in the min valley of the ch i no-thi b et a n border-
LAND (Salix bdbylonica)

(BELOW) SALAMON'S WILLOW, NOT QUITE SO PENDULOUS,

but much more hardy {Salix Salamonii)

CHAPTER XIII

THE LOMBARDY POPLAR AND
WI LLOW OF BABYLON

IN THE realm of tree-life no stronger contrast
exists than that presented by these two trees.
It is true that upright and pendulous branch-
ing forms occur in other trees but none is fixed
in the popular mind so firmly as this Poplar and Wil-
low. Their very names conjure up mental pictures
of the trees, and they are known far outside the fold of
garden-lovers. Both are intimately associated with
mankind in many parts of the world, indeed, it is
doubtful if any deciduous-leaved trees have been
more widely planted on purely aesthetic grounds.
In the case of the Poplar some consider that its
planting has been over-done — certainly it has been
planted where it should not have been and its legiti-
mate uses much abused. But this is the fault of
man and not of the tree. Rightfully used it is a
valuable subject in landscape work and quickly
develops a unique effect. By water these trees are
complimentary and create a splendid and harmon-
227

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

ious effect. The Willow has not suffered in this
respect. With its pendent branches, lithe and
graceful, moved by the faintest breath of wind, it
has stirred the sentiment of different races of man-
kind. Usually it is associated with grief. In Korea
it is planted to form avenues leading to the tombs of
royalty. And did not Napoleon on St. Helena sit
beneath a Weeping Willow? Grieving over his fallen
fortunes he may have found sympathy beneath this
tree, for in the cynical expression that misery likes
company there is much truth.

An old Chinese book says "the Emperor Yang Ti
of the Sung dynasty built a great canal a thousand
li [Chinese miles] in length, and encouraged the
people to plant Willows along its banks. For each
tree planted a roll of silk was given and the trees
were named after the Emperor and called 'Yang-liu.'"
In Japan the highest type of feminine beauty is
symbolized by the Willow for gracefulness, the
cherry-blossom for youthful charm, and the plum-
blossom for virtue and sweetness. A celebrated
Japanese beauty is known as Yanagi-no-oriu, or
"Willow-woman," and is said to have a Yamagi-
koshi — willow-waist, because she is slender and grace-
ful like the hanging branches of that tree. Dancers,
too, are said "to sway like the branches of the Willow
when wafted by the summer's breeze." On the
228

POPLAR AND WILLOW

"willow-pattern" crockery and porcelain is per-
petuated the legend of the Chinese maiden Koong
Shee who loved her father's secretary, Chang, and ran
away with him. A similar legend is current in old
Korean literature. In our own folk-lore and songs
the Willow is associated with love, unrequited or
forbidden. The note of sadness is present and the
bond of sympathy is ever to the fore. Someone has
asserted that the beautiful always awakens sadness,
and perhaps this explains why the Willow and grief
are inseparably linked in the poetry and prose of
many lands.

The Poplar, on the other hand, inspires no such
thoughts. Each and every one of its branches grow
erect and cluster closely together as if afraid to
leave the bosom of the parent trunk. Rapidly it
grows and thrusts its narrow, spire-like crown heaven-
ward. Like ambition its one desire seems to be
to excel its fellows and flaunt in the breeze far above
their heads. Trees from ioo to 150 feet tall are
known — gaunt in winter but spires of green in sum-
mer, like sentinels they stand and dare both the laws
of gravity and the fury of storms. For their great
daring they often suffer, but so do others of greater
timidity. To watch a Lombardy Poplar in a wind-
storm is inspiring. No tree puts up a better struggle.
It bows far over and defiantly regains its equilibrium
229

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

at the first lull. Think of the strain on its millions
of cells; of their elasticity and supple strength.
Compare them with the buildings erected by man,
and their superiority in tensile strength is immense.
On calm days the Lombardy Poplar may be con-
sidered stiff, even frigidly so, but in a storm its
grace and litheness are unmistakably shown.

And why the name Lombardy Poplar? All the
trees of this Poplar are male, and the accepted view
is that they have all descended by vegetative propa-
gation from a single tree which originated on the
banks of the River Po in northern Italy, probably
early in the 18th century. It is not mentioned by
mediaeval Italian writers nor by travellers in Italy
during the 17th century. An 1 8th century writer,
Jean Frangois Seguier in his " Plantae Veronensis"
II, 267 (1745), says it was known anciently in
Lombardy and mentions a superb avenue which he
saw in 1703 at Colorno, the residence of the Duke of
Parma. It was apparently carried by the Genoese to
the Levant, and by 1 798 it was known to be abundant
on the plains of Damascus. It has, indeed, been
widely planted in northern Africa, Egypt, in south-
western Asia, and is common in Asia Minor, Persia,
Afghanistan, and Kashmir. In Turkestan a fastigiate
form of the White Poplar (P. alba) has by some
travellers been mistaken for it. It has reached China,
230

IRANCHED IN D LEAFED rO I II I VERY GROUND I
LOMBARDS POPLAR IS Mil MOS1 HANDSOM1 1"REI 01
ITS T\ l'l 01 GROW! II A MODI RN fRI I

I II I LOMBARDS

POP! \\<

( Popultts nigra \ ar. italic a)

FLORENCE COURT OR IRISH YEW
A NATURAL VARIATION OF THE ENGLISH YEW

(Taxus baccata var. fastigiata)

POPLAR AND WILLOW

but when is unknown, and is often seen to-day as a
planted tree. In and around Tsingtao it has been
much planted and from there taken to southern Man-
churia and Korea, where it has been planted to a ridicu-
lous extent. Also it has reached Japan, but there
the tree has not found favour. To France the Lom-
bardy Poplar was introduced in 1749. It is usually
stated to have been brought to England in 1758 by the
Earl of Rochford, ambassador at that time in Turin,
and planted at St. Osyth's in Essex, but there is good
reason for believing that it was introduced some
years earlier by the Duke of Argyll and planted at
Whitton. It was introduced into America by Wil-
liam Hamilton from England in 1784, and planted
on his estate at Woodlands, Philadelphia.

The Lombardy Poplar was first recognized and
described as a variety of the Black Poplar by Du
Roi in 1772. Since then it has received several other
names but experts now agree with Du Roi. Such
is the history, in brief, of one of the most common and
best known of planted trees. It is of essentially
modern origin and yet, thanks to its distinct ap-
pearance, which has singled it out for favouritism, and
the ease with which it is propagated, it has been
spread over a wider area of the world's surface than
any other European tree of purely ornamental char-
acter.

-Ml

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

The story of the Babylon Willow (Salix baby-
lonica) is older. Its distribution has been in the
reverse order and its early history is shrouded in
mystery. It is a Chinese tree and it is doubtful if
it was ever known by the waters of Babylon for
which it is named and endeared to the minds of most
people. Truth often shatters fond delusions and
robs us of many pretty myths and stories to which we
fain would cling. So much has the name "Willow of
Babylon" captivated the popular mind that Weeping
Willows generally are considered to be this tree.
In spite of the shock to popular belief truth necessi-
tates the record that the trees in the Psalmist's
wail (Psalms CXXXVI I, verse 1,2. " By the rivers of
Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we
remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the wil-
lows in the midst thereof.") are not Willows at all but
a Poplar (Populus euphratica) ! The Willow of Baby-
lon is native of China where it is common on alluvial
areas, especially those of the Lower Yangtsze. It
has been much planted and it is often difficult to tell
the wild from the cultivated trees. Near Shanghai
it is abundant but it does not grow so far north as
Peking where the winters are too cold for it. In the
neighbourhood of Ichang in central China it is com-
mon, but the largest trees I have seen are in the
western province of Szech'uan, near the Chino-
232

POPLAR AND WILLOW

Thibetan borderland. In its typical form it is a
broad-topped, spreading tree often from 60 to 80
feet tall, from 6 to 10 feet in girth of trunk, and from
50 to 60 feet through the crown. The pendent form
is really an extreme condition but it is common.
And in relation to this it is worthy of note, for the
fact has not been properly appreciated that many
Tree-willows have weeping forms. The typical
form has a broad crown, and one extreme inclines
to be more or less conical and the other pendent.
This range of variation — this diversification into three
forms — obtains in the Chinese Salix babylonica under
consideration; S. Matsudana, common around Peking
and westward; S. koreensis, abundant in Korea, and in
5. Warburgii of Liukiu and Formosa. It also occurs
in other Korean and in certain Japanese Tree-
willows, whose names are less familiar, but is not
quite so marked.

In China the Babylon Willow is a favourite garden
tree and is also planted by graves and in temple
grounds. In northern China and Korea its native
confreres are used in the same manner. To Japan
the male form of S. babylonica was long ago taken and
in many cities — Tokyo, for example — it is a favourite
street tree, being kept severely pruned; in Japanese
gardens, temples, and palace grounds, it is also com-
mon. This male tree has been introduced from
233

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Japan to California where it is also a favourite and
around San Francisco it is commonly planted.

How, when, and by what means it reached the near
East is not known, but in all probability by the old
caravan routes across central Asia. Or it may have
been carried by old voyagers from Canton by sea to
India though this is less likely. The first mention we
have of the tree is of a specimen collected in China
by James Cunningham and recorded by James
Petiver in his quaint work " Musei Petiveriani
centuria" No. 997, published in 1703, who gives its
Chinese name and says it is a Tree-willow with
pendulous foliage branches. In the neighbourhood
of Mt. Olympus in Asia Minor, Wheler, in his
"Journey in Greece and Asia Minor," p. 2 1 7, published
in 1682, tells of a tree which may have been a Weep-
ing Willow. But the first definite mention of this
tree in the Levant is by Tournefort, in his "Corol-
larium," page 41, published in 1719, who describes it
as the Oriental Willow with shoots beautifully hang-
ing downward. Either he or Wheler took it to
western Europe. It was introduced into England
before 1730 for in a catalogue, published by Philip
Miller in that year, it is stated to be on sale in
gardens near London. Peter Collinson, whom we
mentioned when writing about the Horsechestnut,
was of the opinion that it was introduced by Mr.
234

POPLAR AND WILLOW

Vernon, a merchant at Aleppo, Turkey, who planted
it at his seat in Twickenham Park. Collinson saw
it there in 1748 and claims that this tree was the
original of all the Weeping Willows in England. The
celebrated poet, Alexander Pope, who died in 1744,
had a tree in his garden at Twickenham and the
story is that he happened to be with Lady Suffolk
when she received a present from Spain, or, as others
claim, from Turkey, and observing that some of the
withy bound round it seemed to be alive took one
and planted it in his garden where it grew and after-
ward became a celebrated tree. It is said that the
Empress of Russia took cuttings from Pope's Willow
in 1789 for the gardens at Petrograd. Pope's tree
was destroyed either by storm or axe (there are two
stories) in 1801, and the wood was worked up by an
eminent jeweller into all sorts of trinkets and orna-
ments which had an extensive sale.

On St. Helena Babylon Willows were planted by
General Beatson, governor of the island, about 1810.
One of these trees became a favourite with Napoleon
during his exile there, and, at his own request, a seat
was placed beneath it and there he often used to sit.

All the Babylon Willows known in Europe are

female and in all probability originated from a single

tree introduced either by Wheler or Tournefort.

It is a rather tender tree, not long-lived and large

235

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

specimens are rare in England and in northern
Europe. When it was brought to this country is un-
known but probably toward the end of the 18th
century. It has also been carried to South America,
and travellers say that in Chile, especially by sides
of irrigation canals, magnificent specimens occur.
Near Boston, Mass., it is scarcely hardy, but in the
Arnold Arboretum some trees raised from cuttings
I sent from near Ichang in central China are promis-
ing.

A hybrid, supposed to be between S. babylonica
and S. alba, named 5. Salamonii and of which only
the female is known, is a much more hardy tree.
It is not quite so pendulous but its increased hardi-
ness is a great asset. This valuable tree originated
on the estate of Baron de Salamon near Man-
osque (Basses Alpes) before 1869, when it was put
on the market by Simon-Louis of Metz. Another
handsome Weeping Willow, a supposed hybrid be-
tween S. babylonica and S. fragilis, named Salix
blanda, is a much more hardy tree than the Babylon
Willow. It is a very fast-growing tree with long,
pendent branchlets which almost reach to the ground.
There are two forms of Salix blanda, one with yellow
shoots called "Niobe" and one with reddish shoots
known as the "Wisconsin Weeping Willow." Then
there are Salix purpurea pendula and Salix alba vital-
236

POPLAR AND WILLOW

Una pendala, both Weeping Willows. In the cold,
northern parts of this country these forms pass for
the Willow of Babylon but, as a matter of fact, the
real tree is unknown there since the cold is too great
for it to live. Even in England, and also in Germany
and northern France, the true Babylon Willow is
not very hardy and is rare, and other Weeping Wil-
lows are frequently grown under its name. They are
all very beautiful and right well take the place in a
practical manner of 5. babylonica but they suffer
through lack of historical interest when their identity
is disclosed.

The Lombardy Poplar and the Weeping Willow
have peculiar merits in landscape planting, but the
former especially has been abused. Their strong
contrast makes them companions and near water
they are seen to good advantage. The Poplar adds
grace and lightness when sparsely associated with
round-topped trees. The Willow is best kept well
away from buildings but the Poplar may be associ-
ated with them to advantage. The Poplar is also
well adapted for planting in narrow streets, and
by bridges of masonry it is seen to excellent advan-
tage. Rightly placed and rightly used the Lom-
bardy Poplar is one of the most useful trees in gar-
den art. In this country it has been widely
planted and is too well-known to need further com-
237

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

ment. To South America also it has been carried,
and in Chile (where possibly are the finest specimens
in cultivation) and the Argentine it is a commonly
planted tree near dwellings and on the side of irriga-
tion canals where it luxuriates. In France this tree
has been planted a-plenty but it is not now looked
upon with so much favour as in the past. To thrive
properly it requires fairly good soil and to be well
supplied with water at the roots. Nowadays it has a
decided tendency to form dead wood and become
scrawny, and some have suggested that this is a sign
of old age. Since all are and have been propagated
by cuttings from the original tree this suggestion
may be the true explanation of the present decline in
health and vigour of the Lombardy Poplar.

238

*.A

IGH I GROWING FORMS OF I WO \Ml kk \\ \\ \|M , s

/"T rubrum i ■/,,•/ taccbarum

var. columnare) var. monumentale)

CHAPTER XIV
TREES OF UPRIGHT HABIT

THE Lombardy Poplar and the Weeping Willow
dealt with in the preceding chapter represent
two extreme types and the most diverse varia-
tions from the normal habit of tree-forms. Though
the oldest authentically known deciduous-leaved
trees of their class they are by no means unique ex-
amples and, since trees of their remarkable shapes
have a considerable field of usefulness in park and
garden decoration, it may be useful to enlarge upon
the subject. If it be asked why Nature should in-
dulge in the development of such abnormal types no
answer is forthcoming. The manner in which the
peculiar branching habit takes place can be explained,
but what induces it and the reason why are mys-
teries. Light and gravity exercise diametrically op-
posite effects on the primary root and primary shoot
of a tree. The root grows away from light and
toward the centre of the earth; the shoot contrari-
wise grows toward light and away from the earth.
The behaviour of secondary and tertiary roots
241

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

and branches toward light is identical with the
primary ones but toward gravity it is about inter-
mediate for usually they grow more or less horizon-
tally away from the central axis. In the case of the
roots to ensure a broad field from which to draw
water and food salts ; in the case of the shoots to give a
wide field for the leaves to intercept light and air
the more completely to perform their allotted work
in the tree's economy. In the Lombardy Poplar all
the secondary and tertiary branches grow erect after
the manner of the primary shoot; in the Weeping
Willow the tertiary branches simulate the behaviour
of primary roots in that they grow downward toward
the earth's centre. Of the remarkable and opposite
behaviour of the branches of these two trees the
most casual observer is cognizant, but the why of
this phenomenon is a poser to those most deeply
versed in tree-lore. The secret has not yet been
wrested from the living substance scientists designate
as protoplasm. But if it is beyond the wit of man to
explain the cause. Garden-lovers, from early times,
have not been backward in appreciating the value of
such strikingly distinct forms of tree-growth for
garden embellishment.

Among such Conifers of the Northern Hemisphere
as Juniper, Thuja, Chamaecyparis, and Cypress
many species are columnar in outline. In some,
242

TREES OF UPRIGHT HABIT

especially the Thujas, the branches are actually
ascending, but in most the habit is produced by the
branches being very numerous, short, and of equal
length and radiating at a right angle. In every case
these trees assume a different form as they grow into
adults, the character being essentially a youthful
condition even though in many it obtains for very
many years. Some of the more distinct forms are
perpetuated by vegetative propagation, and wher-
ever these and the parent forms are hardy they have
great garden value. In fact, the oldest cultivated tree
of upright habit, the Italian Cypress (Cupressus
sempervirens), belongs to this class. In some trees
both erect and pendulous forms are known in the
same species. This is the case in the English Yew,
the European Beech and Birch, and in the Nor-
way Spruce, yet curiously enough there is no truly
fastigiate Willow and no weeping Poplar.

Let us consider the upright-branched forms of tree-
life typified in the Lombardy Poplar and known as
"fastigiate trees." Of such there are quite a number
that are hardy in the colder parts of this country.
They belong to widely separated families and their
number is constantly being added to. Probably all
known are seminal variations of spontaneous origin,
and owe their preservation to man who has propa-
gated them vegetatively by cuttings or graftings.
243

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

In countries where raising trees from seeds has long
been practised most of these fastigiate trees have
been detected. Among American species five only
(Silver, Sugar, and Red Maples, Tulip-tree and White
Pine) have given rise to fastigiate trees. Of these
that of the Tulip-tree and of the Silver Maple origi-
nated in Europe and probably that of the Red Maple
also. The other two owe their preservation to the
Arnold Arboretum, and they rank among the best
of their class. The fastigiate Sugar Maple {Acer
saccharum var. monumentale) is one of the narrowest
of all trees and is strikingly distinct in appearance.
The branches are comparatively few and quite
erect, and the tree is well adapted for planting by the
side of narrow roads. The parent tree was dis-
covered in 1885 growing in a cemetery in Newton,
Mass. The specimen in the Arboretum collection
is 50 feet tall and is a graft from the original tree.
The upright form of the Red Maple (A. rubrum var.
columnar e) was found growing in 1889 in the old
Parsons Nursery, Flushing, New York, but noth-
ing is known of its history. It is rather broader
in outline than the fastigiate Sugar Maple and is
most decidedly a valuable tree. The form of the
Silver Maple (A. saccharinum var. pyramidale) origi-
nated in Spath's Nursery in Germany and we have
only small specimens. As its name suggests it is
244

TREES OF UPRIGHT HABIT

pyramidal in outline and not so striking in appear-
ance as the two already described. Of the many
species of Maple native of the Old World only the
Norway Maple has sported into an upright form.
It is known as Acer platanoides var. columnar e but is
really pyramidal in habit.

A very distinct tree is Liriodendron Tulipifera var.
pyramidale, the fastigiate Tulip-tree. This originated
in the nursery of Simon Louis, near Metz, Alsace,
and has been grown in the Arnold Arboretum since
1888. It has the familiar, large leaves of the type
but the branches are quite upright. Like the parent
it is not attacked by pests of any sort and it deserves
to be widely known.

One of the narrowest of trees is Ulmus glabra var.
fastigiata, the Exeter Elm, a form of the Scotch Elm
which originated in a nursery in Exeter, Devonshire,
nearly a century ago. Truth to tell it is a rather
ugly tree of little merit save that it is curious. On
the other hand, the Cornish Elm (U. nitens var.
stricta) is beautiful. This is the common Elm in
Cornwall and parts of Devonshire, and at its
best is a tree 80 feet tall and 15 feet in girth of
trunk. The lower branches curve outward and
upward while the upper ones are short and ascend-
ing, and the symmetry of the tree is graceful and
pleasing. Very similar in habit is the Guernsey Elm
245

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

{U. nitens var. Wheatleyi) which appears in some
nurserymen's catalogues under the name of Ulmns
campestris monumentalis.

Fairly well known is Quercus pedunculata var. fas-
tigiata, the Cypress Oak, a variety of the English
Oak, and very variable in foliage. In western Eu-
rope it grows to a large tree but in this country, though
it is quite hardy, it is short-lived. It grows rapidly
here but rarely lives more than thirty or forty years.
The same is true of the fastigiate Birch (Betula pen-
dula var. fastigiata), which has a narrow crown of
erect branches. It is strange that among such a
large tribe as the Birches the common White Birch
of Europe alone has sported distinct forms.

Among that summer-flowering group of trees, the
Lindens, there is but one with upright branches.
This is Tilia platyphyllos var. pyramidalis, a Euro-
pean tree whose branches taper from a broad base
to a pointed apex, and is pyramidal rather than erect
in habit. The European Hornbeam (Carpinus Betu-
lus) has given rise to two forms of upright habit.
One (var. globosa), in spite of its name, is a dwarf,
very compact, fastigiate plant, the other (var. pyra-
midalis) is well described by its varietal name.

One of the most interesting of all fastigiate trees
is the Dawyck Beech (Fagus sylvatica var. dawyckii).
This remarkable form of the European Beech origi-
246

TREES OF UPRIGHT HABIT

nated on the estate of my friend Mr. F. R. S. Bal-
four at Dawyck, Peebleshire, Scotland, and is now
50 feet tall. It is an old tree with dense, quite up-
right branches and is a striking contrast to the type.
The propagation of this fastigiate Beech has recently
been taken up by European nurserymen, and young
plants in the Arnold Arboretum are doing well.

The European Crataegus monogyna, a Haw-
thorn, has produced two varieties with upright
branches. One (var. strida) is a tree with a broad
crown and bears dull red fruit; the other (var. monu-
mentalis) is a narrow and strictly pyramidal plant,
and is a recent acquisition to our collection. In some
European nurseries there is grown a fastigiate form
of the common Horsechestnut {A e senilis Hippoeas-
tanum var. pyramidalis) but I have not seen this
tree.

Besides the Lombardy there are two other Poplars
that have erect branches. One of these is Popidus
alba var. pyramidalis, better known as P. Bolleana.
This form of the White Poplar is a native of central
Asia and was introduced into Europe and this
country about forty years ago. In habit it is as
fastigiate as the Lombardy Poplar, and it exhibits
much variation in shape of leaves which are white on
the underside. The second Poplar is known as P.
thevestina and though in habit and foliage it is simi-
247

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

lar to the Lombardy, its bark is nearly white. This
tree grows in Serbia, in the Crimea, and in Algiers; in
the Arnold Arboretum it has made rapid growth and
has proved quite hardy.

Among Conifers of the type of growth under con-
sideration Pinus Strobus var. fastigiata is destined
to be of great importance. The original tree was
discovered about 1895 in a garden at Lenox, Mass.,
and the trees now growing in the Arnold Arboretum
are grafts from it. This handsome tree has compact,
ascending branches forming a conical crown, and it
ought to be widely propagated by nurserymen. The
Scots Pine (P. sylvestris) has many seminal and
geographical forms and among them one (var. pyra-
midalis) of fastigiate habit. Of the Norway Spruce
(Picea Abies or P. excelsa) a great number of abnor-
mal forms are known and among them at least two
(var. columnaris and var. pyramidalis) with erect
branches. The parents of these are said to have been
found wild in the European forests.

One of the loveliest of hardy pyramidal Conifers is
Douglas's Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis var. pyra-
midalis), sold by many American nurserymen under
the name of Thuja occidentalis pyramidalis Douglasii.
It is a tall, narrow tree of a rich green hue, and was
raised some time before 1855 by Robert Douglas
in his nursery at Waukegan, 111. Since I have
248

TREES OF UPRIGHT II ADIT

mentioned an Arborvitae, I cannot resist saying a
word or two about the Incense Cedar (Libocedrus
decurrens). This tree grows wild on the western
slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains
from Oregon southward to near the Mexican bound-
ary, and also on the California coast ranges. In the
Arnold Arboretum it is hardy only in a sheltered nook
near the top of Hemlock Hill. It has ascending
branches forming a columnar crown, and is of a
rich, dark shining green hue. This is one of the
most distinct of all hardy or nearly hardy Conifers,
and in Great Britain and Ireland, where it was in-
troduced by John Jeffrey in 1852, many stately,
columnar specimens fully 50 feet tall adorn lawns
and pleasure grounds.

One of the most famous and best known of erect-
growing trees, but alas ! not hardy in the New England
states, is the Irish or Florence Court Yew (Taxus
baccata var. fastigiata). This most distinct Yew was
discovered on the mountains of Fermanagh, Ireland,
near Florence Court, the seat of the Earl of Enniskil-
len about 1780, by a tenant-farmer named Willis.
He found two plants, one he planted in his own gar-
den where it died, the other he gave to Florence
Court where it grows to this day. From this tree,
which is female, cuttings have been distributed and
from it all the true Irish Yews in existence have been
240

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

derived. Many fine specimens of this Yew are
known, some more than 30 feet tall. The habit is
columnar and compact with all the branches and
branchlets directed vertically upward. The leaves
are dark green and shining and spread radially in
all directions from the branchlets. It is very effec-
tive as a garden tree but requires pruning and tying
at intervals to keep it in good shape. There are
forms with golden (aurea) and silver (argentea)
tips to the branchlets. Pollinated by the Common
Yew seeds have developed and have given rise to less
fastigiate forms, such as ereda and cheshuntensis,
which have found their place in gardens. Another
form (elegantissima), raised from seeds the result of
pollination by the Golden Yew (Taxus baccata var.
aurea), has the young leaves yellow and the old
ones with white margins.

Very valuable for gardens in the colder parts of
this country should prove the upright form of the
Japanese Yew {Taxus cuspidata var. Hicksii) which
quite recently appeared among some thousands of
seedlings of the type in the Nursery of I. Hicks
& Son, Westbury, Long Island, New York. Mr.
Henry Hicks obligingly informs me that the seeds
were "probably collected from the plant which stood
northwest of the residence of the late Charles A.
Dana, Glen Cove, Long Island, and which was later
250

TREES OF UPRIGHT HABIT

moved to the estate of William D. Guthrie, Locust
Valley, Long Island."

A Japanese plant analogous to the Irish Yew is
Cephalotaxus drnpacea f. jastigiata, which was intro-
duced to the Botanic Garden at Ghent in 1830 by
Von Siebold. It is commonly cultivated in the
warmer parts of this country but is not hardy in
eastern Massachusetts. The branches are strictly
erect and the leaves, which spread on all sides of
the shoot, are leathery and blackish green.

There are other trees of fastigiate and pyramidal
habit but finality is not attempted, and this chapter
may fittingly conclude with reference to a remark-
ably distinct and valuable variety of our old friend
Ginkgo biloba.

This form (fastigiata), with its compact ascending
branches, has a bright future before it as a street and
avenue tree. The oldest and finest trees known grow
in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, concerning which
the Commissioners courteously supplied the follow-
ing information: "There are five specimens of the
pyramidal form of Maidenhair-tree, Ginkgo biloba,
at Horticultural Hall. One measures 3 feet 2!
inches in circumference and is 36 feet high; the other
four measure from 4 feet 5 inches to 4 feet i)\ inches
in circumference and are from 45 to 55 feet high.
The one with the smallest circumference has two
251

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

leaders. We have no definite information as to
when these trees were planted, but our oldest em-
ployee at Horticultural Hall states that a group of
young Ginkgo-trees was exhibited on the south side
of the Hall in 1876. Two of this group were trans-
planted in 1882 to the north side of the Hall, and
from the similarity of measurements we presume the
others were moved at the same time. It might be of
interest to you to know that near Woodford Guard
House in Fairmount Park we have a specimen which
shows both the spreading base and the pyramidal
top."

252

CHAPTER XV
PYGMY TREES

CHAPTER X V
PYGMY TREES

PREVIOUS chapters have dealt with the
patriarchs, the giants, and the eccentric types
of tree-growth; also with trees of strictly
utilitarian interest, and it now remains to treat of the
pygmy forms which also have their niche in Nature's
scheme. A number of these plants, the dwarf Coni-
fers in particular, have considerable garden value.
Most people are familiar with the dwarfed trees of
Japan which in recent years have been much in
demand in this country and in Europe. I shall have
something to say about these later, but first let us
consider the diminutive forms of tree-growth pro-
duced by Nature to suit the exactions of exposed
situations and severity of climate. In the rich val-
leys and on the lower, sheltered slopes of mountains
grow the giants of the tree world. On the higher
parts of mountain ranges the wind exercises a strong
influence on vegetation, diminishing the height of
trees and on the topmost regions reduces them to a
255

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

low, scrubby growth. On seacoasts the wind has
full play and the same effects are seen; also on broad
plains and plateaux. In short, the effect of strong
winds everywhere is to retard tree-growth, and so it
comes about that on the coasts, open plains, plateaux,
and on the summits of mountains dwarf, stunted
forms of tree-growth are common. These adapta-
tions to environment, or ecological forms, as they are
technically called, are often very distinct from the
parent types, but if raised from seeds and cultivated
under normal conditions they usually revert to their
ancestral forms. For example, the upper slopes of
Mt. Fuji in Japan are clothed almost exclusively with
dwarf Larch which is merely an ecological form of the
type that in the forests which cover the base and lower
slopes of the mountains grows fully 80 feet tall. Near
its altitudinal limits the gnarled stems of this dwarf
Larch fairly hug the lava and cinders. Some twenty-
eight years ago seeds from this prostrate form were
sown in the Arnold Arboretum but the plants raised
from them have rapidly grown into tall trees, and are
now quite indistinguishable from others raised at the
same time from the typical Larch-tree of the lower
forest-zone. Of course there are genuine dwarf
Larches which cannot be persuaded to grow into any-
thing else, no matter how they are propagated; but in
general the stunted forms of tree-types have to be
256

PYGMY TREES

increased by cuttings or by grafting or they lose their
diminutive character.

Besides the wild pygmies of tree-growth which
are the product of the eternal war waged between
the Vegetable Kingdom and the elemental physical
forces of Nature represented by temperature, wind,
and precipitation, there are others of similar appear-
ance which from time to time have appeared among
trees long associated with our gardens and pleasure
grounds. In fact, many of the dwarf trees best
known are of this origin. The Japanese are pas-
sionately fond of pygmy trees and their skill in
developing them by starvation, clipping, and grafting
exceeds that of any other nation. Among the
familiar types of deciduous-leaved trees of our north-
ern forests — the Oaks, Beeches, Birches, Alders,
Chestnuts, Elms, and others — there are scrubby
forms. Some of the dwarf evergreen Oaks of western
North America, eastern Asia, and the Mediterranean
are worthy plants where climate admits of their out-
door culture; so, too, are certain Maples, but in gen-
eral the dwarfs of the broad-leaf trees of the north
have very little garden value. Among the Conifers
and Yews the story is different and in passing it may
be mentioned that these frequent alpine regions more
generally than do their broad-leaf kin. And so it
comes to pass that the Arborvitajs, Junipers, Pines,
257

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Spruces, Firs, Hemlocks, and Yews supply nearly
all the decorative dwarf forms of tree-growth our
gardens possess.

One of the best known and most widely used of
these dwarf evergreens is the Mugho Pine (Pinus
montana, better known as P. mughus or P. pumilio).
This is a native of the mountains of central and
southern Europe. On the Pyrenees it occurs both as
a shrub and as a tree of moderate size; on the Tyrolese
Alps it is everywhere a low, densely branched bush.
In cultivation it is a broad shrub with many erect
stems, occasionally reaching the height of 15 feet,
and covered with dark green leaves.

On the higher mountains of eastern Asia and north-
ern Japan, and reaching sea-level in Saghalien, grows
Pinus pumila, in many ways the counterpart of the
Mugho but belonging to another section of the genus.
This oriental dwarf Pine is creeping in habit and
forms an impenetrable tangle from less than a yard to
fully 10 feet in height. Unfortunately it has not
taken kindly to cultivation — yet why it should be
intractable is unexplainable.

Of the noble White Pine of eastern North America
(P. Strobus) there are several dwarf forms of pleasing
appearance. The best is var. nana, a compact, bushy
shrub with short, slender branches and numerous
branchlets clothed with short leaves that are densely
258

° s >

z * 2

S c

^ 2

W u ^

( Ahies lasioscarpa var. compacta) I Picea Abies var. Gregoryana)

[I' in us Strobus var.

i /'/)/// i densi flora \ ar
umbrat uh

DWARI ORI E N T A I S P R I

{Picea orientali s var.
compa< ta I

'; '*;:5^J**»

WARI Hill SPRUCI

/'/, (,; /vi ;/. ffl I \ ar.
« OtHpOi /«; I

PYGMY TREES

clustered at the extremities of the branchlets. Others
are compacta and pumila, sufficiently described by
their names, and rare in cultivation.

The Scots Pine (P. sylvestris), widely distributed in
northern Europe and northern Asia, has given rise to
many varieties, among them two or three pygmies.
The best are var. nana and var. IVatereri which are
pyramidal in outline and, with their gray-green, stiff
foliage, quite attractive little shrubs. A stunted form
of the Japanese White Pine (P. parviflora) is common
in the gardens of this country and Europe often under
the name of P. pentapbylla. This form is produced
by grafting on the Black Pine (P. Thunbergii), which
is an uncongenial stock that causes very slow growth
and stunted development.

Of the Japanese Red Pine (P. densiflora) there are
many forms, and theTanyosho^var. umbracnlifera)aLi\d
Bandaisho (var. globosa) are among the most useful
of all dwarf Pines. The Tanyosho or Table Pine
grows from 5 to 12 feet tall and has a dense, rounded,
umbrella-like crown and gray-green leaves. The
Bandaisho is more diminutive, being seldom 6 feet
high, and has grass-green foliage.

The Norway Spruce {Picea Abies) has been ex-
traordinarily prolific in abnormal forms of many
kinds and among them half-a-dozen dwarfs. The
var. Clanbrassiliana is seldom seen taller than from
259

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

5 to 6 feet; it is globose or rounded in habit and has
much-shortened and close-set branches, branchlets,
and leaves. It originated on the Moira estate near
Belfast about the end of the 18th century and was
introduced into England by Lord Clanbrassil, hence
its name. A diminutive variety is Gregoryana
which seldom grows higher than 2 feet; its branches
and branchlets are very numerous, short, and spread-
ing and are thickly clothed with short, stiff leaves
spreading obliquely from all sides. The var. pygmaea
is equally small and its branches and branchlets are
excessively shortened; the leaves are very small,
prickly, and close set. Of dense conical habit is the
var. pumila and its leaves, spreading from all sides of
the branchlets, are dark green and glaucescent.
Lastly, mention may be made of var. dumosa in
which the branches are quite prostrate and furnished
with many slender branchlets clothed with rather
distant, short leaves. For general purposes the
varieties Clanbrassiliana and Gregoryana are the
best and they rank among the most useful of dwarf
Conifers.

Of the native Black Spruce (P. mariana) there is a
variety (Doumettii) which is compact and pyramidal
in habit and seldom more than 10 feet high and of
bluish colour. There is also an interesting dwarf
form of the Blue Spruce (P. pungens). This origi-
260

PYGMY TREES

nated several years ago in the nurseries of the Arnold
Arboretum and promises to be of value as a decorative
plant. Also, of the White Spruce (P. glauca) there
is a diminutive form (nana) which has been known
for nearly a hundred years. The most delightful
of dwarf Spruces and a most charmingly attractive
plant is that being distributed under the erroneous
name of Picea Albertiana. It is of narrow,
pyramidal growth with short, close-set, twiggy
branches and is densely clothed with almost pellucid
grass-green leaves of singular delicacy. It much
resembles the Summer Cypress {Kocbia scoparia),
and for its successful cultivation requires a moist
soil and a shady situation with protection from strong
winds. It is essentially an alpine plant and is
really a dwarf form of the western variety of the White
Spruce (Picea glauca var. albertiana) and has recently
been named f. conica by Render. Its history is
simple. In 1904 Mr. J. G. Jack of the Arnold Arbore-
tum collected near Laggan, Alberta, some seedling
plants of what he thought was the var. albertiana.
These he sent home where they developed into the
lovely plant above described.

The Firs have produced but few dwarf forms. The

oldest known is the var. hudsonica of the common

Balsam Fir but this has very little horticultural value.

Of the common European Fir (Abies Picea) there is a

261

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

reputed dwarf form but after a few years this is apt
to lose its character and to grow into a tall tree. The
best pygmy Fir is A. lasiocarpa f. compada which
originated in the Arnold Arboretum from seeds sent in
1873 by Dr. C. C. Parry from Colorado. It is a
genuine dwarf of compact habit. Both interesting
and useful are the diminutive forms of the Douglas
Fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia f. compada and f. globosa).
The common Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) has
given rise to several abnormal forms the most dis-
tinct of which are vars. pendula and compada. The
first-named is a compact form with closely over-
lapping pendulous branches forming a broad, low,
round-topped mass. It was discovered many years
ago on the mountains back of Fishkill Landing on the
Hudson River by the late General Howland of
Mattapan, New York, and named by him Sargent's
Hemlock for his friend and neighbour, Henry Win-
throp Sargent. General Howland found four or five
of these Hemlocks, and one of his original discoveries
is still living at Holm Lea, Brookline, Mass., the estate
of Professor C. S. Sargent. The variety has been
extensively propagated by grafting but such plants
grow more rapidly, are of more open, less compact
habit, and less beautiful than the original seedlings.
The var. compada is of upright, broadly pyramidal
habit, very dense, and of rather stiff appearance.
262

PYGMY TREES

Both these Hemlocks are exceptionally useful garden
plants.

The White Cedars (Chamaecyparis) and Arbor-
vitaes (Thuja) supply our gardens with a majority
of the dwarf Conifers they enjoy. These and the
Junipers seem extraordinarily unstable in character
and when raised from seeds all sorts of abnormal
forms develop. Some have round, compact heads
only a foot or two high, others grow into large glo-
bular masses and some into narrow pyramids. They
are of much value for the rockery, lawn, and for mak-
ing hedges. Many dozens of such forms have re-
ceived names, and specialists are often at fault in
determining their identity. Their number is legion,
and did I attempt to enumerate a tithe of them the
rest of this article would be a catalogue. The Arbor-
vitae of the eastern United States (Thuja occident-
alis) has been amazingly prolific in these seminal
variants a number of which are valuable dwarfs.
Among them the forms umbraculifera, recurva nana,
Tom Thumb, IVoodwardii, Reedii, and Little Gem, are
of the best. The Chinese Arborvitae (T. orientalis),
which has been in cultivation in Europe since 1752,
has given rise to many abnormal forms parallel in
character to those of the native species but less hardy.
Of the common White Cedar {Chamaecyparis ihu-
joides) there are two pygmy varieties (ericoides and
263

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

Jeptoclada) which are very hardy. The Japanese
species (C obtusa and C. pisijera) have vied with the
Arborvitae in the production of a multiplicity of
curious forms, and such as obtusa nana and pisijera
filifera are now indispensable to our gardens. Their
American relative C. Lawsoniana of the Pacific Slope
has been equally prolific though its progeny are more
tender. In England and parts of this country fa-
voured with a moderate climate the dwarf forms of
the Lawson Cypress are delightful garden plants.

The inherent peculiarity of the above Arborvitaes
and White Cedars to produce when raised from seeds
great variety in form, height, and appearance is like-
wise shared by some Junipers. The Red Cedar
(Juniperus virginiana), its Chinese relative (/. chinen-
sis), the Common Juniper (/. communis), the Savin
(J. Sabina), and the scaly Juniper (/. squamata) are
well-known illustrations. In fact, the probability is
that all Tree Junipers develop dwarf forms, but the
genus is difficult to classify and its nomenclature is in
a sorry state. Such dwarf Junipers as /. virginiana
var. tripartita, J. chinensis var. Pfit^eriana, J. com-
munis vars. montana and adpressa, and J. Sabina
vars. tamariscifolia and humilis are too well known
to need comment. The typical J. squamata is a fa-
vourite ground-cover, and its tree-form is represented
by the var. Fargesii. The low-spreading /. virginiana
264

PYGMY TREES

var. reptans is a comparatively recent discovery in
Maine where it grows on the seacoast at Bald Head
Cliff near York Harbour; the var. globosa, well de-
scribed by its name, is a lovely plant worth a place in
every garden. The prostrate J. chinensis var.
Sargentii, common on the mountains of Korea, and in
eastern Siberia, and less so in northern Japan, is per-
haps the best of all prostrate Junipers that are ecolog-
ical forms of arborescent species. Dwarf Yews have
been mentioned in a previous chapter so there is no
need to discuss them here.

There are a few flowering trees that must not be
forgotten. Foremost among these is the Fuji Cherry
(Prunus incisa) native, as its name suggests, of the
region around the famed Mt. Fuji. At its best this is
a small tree, occasionally 30 feet tall but as usually
seen it is less than 10 feet, with twiggy, ascending-
spreading branches from near the ground up. The
petals are pure white and the sepals are reddish and
long persistent. It commences to blossom when
young and not more than a yard high and is exceed-
ingly floriferous. I saw it first in the spring of 191 4
when travelling in Japan and then and there became
its willing captive. It is a quite recent addition to
gardens having been introduced into Germany by seeds
sent from Japan under the erroneous name of Prunus
pseudocerasus. It is appreciated by the Japanese
265

THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES

gardeners as the only Cherry they can dwarf and
cause to flower in pots. Another dwarf Japanese
Cherry is P. subhirtella var. autumnalis which has
semi-double pink flowers, and blossoms in spring or
autumn or both seasons. It is a twiggy, often vase-
shaped tree from 6 to 12 feet tall, and about as free-
blooming as its most charming parent, the lovely
Spring Cherry, P. subhirtella.

The low-growing Mains Sieboldii is less beautiful in
flower and fruit than other Japanese Crabapples but
a close relative M. Sargentii is especially valuable.
This species is native of the salt marshes around Muro-
ran, Hokkaido, northern Japan, where it wasdiscovered
in 1892 by Professor Sargent, and introduced into the
Arnold Arboretum. It has rigid, spreading branches,
the lower ones flat on the ground, and is particularly
well suited for covering slopes and banks. The flow-
ers, abundantly produced in umbel-like clusters,
are saucer-shaped, round, and of the purest white;
they are followed by a wealth of wine-coloured fruit
which is covered by a slight bloom and remains on
the plants until the following spring.

An earlier chapter is devoted to the Common Horse-
chestnut and it is fitting that in bringing this work
to a close to say a few words about the Dwarf Buck-
eyes of which three species are thriving in the Arnold
Arboretum. They have long been overlooked or
266

PYGMY TREES

confounded with other species yet rank among the
handsomest flowering plants of the Southern states.
One (Aesculus georgiana) has short, compact clusters
of red and yellow flowers ; those of another {A. discolor)
are yellow flushed with rose and have a red calyx.
A variety {mollis) of the latter, and known in books as
A. austrina, has scarlet flowers. This plant is widely
distributed from Georgia to Texas and southeastern
Missouri, and is the only red-flowered Buckeye found
west of the Mississippi River. The third {A. Har-
bisonii) is probably of hybrid origin and is the latest
of its class to blossom. The stem and branches of the
flower-cluster and the calyx of the flowers are rose
coloured; the petals are canary-yellow, slightly
streaked with red toward the margins. It is for-
tunate that these pygmy Buckeyes with their hand-
some flowers are so ha1 rdy for they are among the most
desirable plants that have been added to our gardens,
and for them garden lovers have to thank the Arnold
Arboretum.

THE END

267

D. H. HILL LIBRARY

INDEX

NDEX

Abies balsamea var. hudsonica, 261

Abies lasiocarpa f. eompacta, 262

Acer platanoides var. columnar t, 245

Acer rubrum var. columnar e, 244

/Iffr saccharinum var. pyramidale, 244

/lc<rr saccharum var. monumenlale, 244

i4ccr striatum, bark easily injured, 28

Acorn, use of as food, 1 74

Addison, Joseph, ridicule of topiary work,
105

Aesculus discolor, 267

Aesculus discolor var. mollis, 267

Aesculus georgiana, 267

Aesculus Harbisonii, 267

^4esfu/M5 Hippocastanum var. pyramidalis,
247

Almond, the nut of commerce, 195

Apple, fall colouration of foliage, 40; history
of the, 203

Apricot, of Chinese origin, 213

Apricot, Black, 214

Apricot, Manchurian, 214

Araucarias, among earliest forms of tree
vegetation, 10, 11

Arborvitae, dwarf form3 of, 263

Arborvitae, Douglas's, pyramidal variety
of, 248

Archery, importance of Yew tree in history,
99, 104

Arnold Arboretum, success with Cedar of
Lebanon, 83; collection of Beech. 158;
Juglans formosana in, 180; hardy Pecan
in, 183; Asiatic Bush-hazels hardy in,
194; Pyrus scrotina introduced into by
Mr. Wilson, 209; P. Calleryana ditto, 210;
Prunus mira ditto, 212; fastigiatc vari-
eties of Sugar Maple and White Pine at,
244; 248. fastigiatc Tulip-tree at, 245;
Dawyck Beech at, 247; Dwarf Larch
not true from seed. 256; dwarf form of
Blue Spruce originates in, 260; ditto of
White Spruce, 261; ditto Abies lasio-
carpa i. eompacta, 262; Dwarf Buckeyes
at, 266

Ash, fall colouration of foliage; 40

Bacon, Lord, opponent of topiary woflt, 105
Baker, Sir Samuel, discovers Cedrus brevi-

folia, 89
Balfour, F. R. S , Dawyck Beech originated

on estate of, 247
Banks, Sir Joseph, introduces Magnolia

denudata into England, 143
Bark of trees, function and formation, 28
Bartram, John, letter from Peter Collinson
on planting seeds of Cedar of Lebanon,
87; on introduction of Horsechestnut into
America, 124; introduces Cucumber-tree
into Europe, 138
Bartram, W., discoverer of Ear-leaf Um-
brella-tree, 141
Bay Laurel, or Bull Bay noblest of the

evergreens, 141
Beech, character of the bark, 30; fall colour-
ation of foliage, 39, 41, 42; history and
habitat, 155; famous trees in Great
Britain, 156, 163; the different species,
159; distribution, 160; forms recognized,
162; use for hedges, 163; the nut and its
uses, 170
Beech, Copper, seedling of the Purple, 167
Beech, Crested-leaf, 168
Beech, Dawyck, a fastigiatc form, 246
Beech, Fastigiate, original tree on Balfour

estate, Scotland, 169
Beech, Fern-leaf, and forms, 167
Beech, Golden, discovered in Serbia, 169
Beech, Parasol, of French origin, 169
Beech, Purple, best tree with coloured

leaves, 166
Beech, Weeping, and various forms, 168
Belon, Pierre, early visitor of Cedars on

Mt. Lebanon, 80
Bertlioletia excelsa, the Brazil-nut, 176
Betula ptndula var. fastigiata, 246
Big Trees, thickness of the bark. 30
Bigclow, Dr. Jacob, poem on moving of

Ginkgo to Boston Common, 57
Birch, character of the bark. 29. 30, 31
Birch, character of the bark, 29, 30, 31;
fall colouration of foliage, 39, 40, 41

INDEX

Bitternut, best stock for giafting Hickories
and Pecans, 186

Brazil-nut, importance as food nut, 176

Brown, "Capability," opposed to clipped
hedges and topiary work, 106

Buckeye, species of horsechestnut, 126

Buckeye, Dwarf, Handsomest of flowering
trees, 266

Bunge, Dr. Alexander von, tale of prodi-
gious Ginkgo near Peking, 59

Burbank, Luther, Walnut hybrids origin-
ated by, 182

Burnham Beeches, celebrated in song and
story, 155, 156, 164

Butternut, fall colouration of leaves, 39

Butternuts, American and Asiatic species,
180

Button-tree, fall colouration of foliage, 39

Canarium commune, the Pili-nut, 176

Carpinus Betulus var. globosa, 246

Carpinus Betulus var. pyramidalis, 246 ]

Carya Cathayensis, 183

Carya cordiformis, used as stock for graft-
ing, 186

Carya Dunbarii, a hybrid, 184

Carya lacinosa, 185

Carya Laneyi, a valuable hybrid, 184

Carya ovata, 184

Carya pecan, 183

Castanea alnifolia, dwarf Chestnut, 190

Castanea crenata, 188

Castanea dentala, disappearing through
Chestnut-blight 186, 190

Castanea Henryana, largest of Asiatic
chestnuts, 189

Castanea mollissima, introduced by Profes-
sor Sargent, lii9

Castanea pumila, used in effort to obtain
immune hybrid, 187; of value to hybri-
dists, 190

Castanea Seguinii, 190

Catalpa, fall colouration of leaves, 39

Cedar, among earliest forms of tree vege-
tation, 10, 11

Cedar, date from Cretaceous period, 92

Cedar, Atlas, habitat, 88; how it differs
from Cedar of Lebanon, 88; in England
and France, 89; varieties of, 89

Cedar, Deodar, habitat, 90; introduced
into England, 91; varieties of, 91; value
as timber, 94

Cedar, Incense, distribution, 15; of fasti-
giate form, 249

Cedar Red, dwarf forms of, 264

Cedar, White, dwarf forms of, 263

Cedar of Lebanon, among earliest form of
tree vegetation, 11; Biblical reference to,
78; habitat, 80, 82; early reports of visi-
tors to Mt. Lebanon, 80; successful
growth at Arnold Arboretum, 83; varie-
ties of, 83; notable specimens in England,
84; on the Continent, 86; in the United
States, 87

Cedrus atlantica, 88

Ccdrus brevijolia, 89

Cedrus deodora, 90

Cedrus libani. See Cedar of Lebanon.

Ccphalotaxus drupacea f. fasligiata, 251

Chamaecyparis obtusa nana, 264

Chamaecyparis pisifera filifera, 264

Chamaecyparis thujoides var. ericoides, 263

Chamaecyparis thujoides var. leptoclada, 264

Chambers, B. E. C, first to flower Mag-
nolia obovata, 149

Cherry, character of the bark, 31; fall col-
ouration of foliage, 40

Cherry, Bush, common wild shrub in
China, 217

Cherry, Chinese, 217

Cherry, Fuji, dwarf flowering tree, 265

Cherry, Sand, 218

Cherry, Sour, habitat, 215

Cherry, Sweet, habitat, 215; in ancient
history, 216

Chestnut, character of the bark, 29, 30;
fall colouration of foliage, 39, 41, 42

Chestnut, Chinese, hardy and valuable for
hybridizing, 189

Chestnut, European, largest and noblest
of European trees, 188

Chestnut, Japanese, valuable and hardy
nut tree, 188

Chestnut-blight ravages of, 186

Chestnut Sunday, observed near London,
117

China, ancient flora of, 19

Chinquapin used in breeding an immense
Chestnut hybrid, 187; the bush Chestnut,
190

Clark, W. S., introduces Magnolia hobus
var. borealis, 145

Cocoa-nut, most valuable food nut, 176

Co<os nucifcra, most important of nut trees,
176

Collinson, Peter, letter to John Bartram on
planting seeds of Cedar of Lebanon, 87;
on introduction of horsechestnut into

272

NDEX

America, 123, 124; with John Barlram
introduces Cucumber-tree to Europe, 138;
on history of Weeping Willow, 235

Colouration of autumn leaves, 35; how ef-
fected, 37; few trees show colour in Great
Britain, 13

Cornel, character of the bark, 32; fall col-
ouration of foliage, 40

Corylus americana, 194

Corylus Avellatia, 192

Corylus californica, 193

Corylus chinensis, 191

Corylus colurna, 191

Corylus ferox, 194

Corylus hallaisanensis, 195

Corylus heterophylla, 194

Corylus heterophylla var. yunnanensis, 195

Corylus heterophylla var. sutchuenensis, 195

Corylus intermedia, 193

Corylus Jacquemontii, 191

Corylus maxima, 193

Corylus pontica, 193

Corylus rostrata, 193

Corylus Sieboldii, 194

Corylus tibetica, 194

Cottage Gardens Nursery, succeeds in
flowering Magnolia salicifolia, 148

Crataegus monogyna var. monumentalis, 247

Crataegus monogyna var. stricta, 247

Crepe Myrtle, character of the bark, 31

Cucumber-tree, for avenue planting, 135,
138

Cucumber-tree, Yellow-flowered, discov-
ered by Michaux, 138

Cycads, early evolution of, 9, 10, 11

Cydonia vulgaris, the quince, 210

Cypress, Lawson, dwarf forms of, 264

De Candolle, recognizes female Ginkgo
near Geneva, 56

Diaportha parasitica, the Chestnut-blight,
187

Dickson, Messrs, originators of Taxus
baccata var. adpressa. 111

Diospyros kaki, Japanese Persimmon, 223

Dogwood, Poison, fall colouration of foli-
age, 40

Douglas, Roliert originator of Douglas's
Arborvitac, 218

Dwarf or pygmy forms of tree growth, 255

Elm, character of the bark, 29, 31; fall

colouration of foliage, 39
Elm, Cornish, fastigiate variety, 245

Elm, Exeter, the fastigiate form, 245
Elm, Guernsey, of upright habit, 245
Estaugh, Elizabeth Haddon, famous Yew
trees planted by, 109

Fagus Engleriana, 159

Fagus grandifolia, 159

Fagus Ilayatae, 159

Fagus japonica, 159

Fagus longipetiolata, 159

Fagus lucida, 159

Fagus multinervis, 159

Fagus orientalis, 159

Fagus Sieboldii, 159

Fagus sylvatica, 155

Fagus sylvatica var. atropurpurea, 167

Fagus sylvatica var. borneyensis, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. cristata, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. dawyckii, 169, 246

Fagus sylvatica var. grandidentala, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. heterophylla, 167

Fagus sylvatica var. macrophylla, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. miltonensis, 169

Fagus sylvatica var. pagnyensis, 169

Fagus sylvatica var. pendula, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. purpurea, 166

Fagus sylvatica var. purpurea pendula, 167

Fagus sylvatica var. quercoides, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. remillyensis, 169

Fagus sylvatica var. rolundifotia, 168

Fagus sylvatica var. tortuosa, 169

Fagus sylvatica var. tricolor, 167

Fagus sylvatica var. zlatia, 169

Fastigiate trees, 243

Filberts, varieties and habitat, 192

Fir, Balsam, dwarf form of, 261

Fir, Douglas, distribution, 15

Fir, Douglas, dwarf forms of, 262

Fir, European, dwarf form of, 261

Fortune, Robert, introduces Castanea

Seguinii into England, 190
Fraser, John, introduces Ear-leaf Umbrella-
tree into Europe, 141
Fruit trees and their history, 199

Ginkgo biloba, in Tertiary period, 18;
one of the earliest forms of tree vegeta-
tion, 9, 10, 11; fall colouration of foliage,
39, 41; oldest existing type of tree, • ',.>;
original habitat unknown, 51; earliest
Chinese record of, 52; derivation of
name, 53; introduction in Eun>|.
name Ginkgo biloba given by Linnaeus.
51; story of its introduction into Prance,

-7^

INDEX

55; discovery of female tree near Geneva,
from which grafts were sent all over
Europe, 56; introduction into America,
56; historic tree moved to Boston Com-
mon, 57; in China, 58; in Korea and
Japan, 59; location of oldest, and ln-st
specimens in America, 62; in Canada, 64;
in England and the Continent, 65;
varieties of the type, 66; peculiarities
and habits, 66; use of the nuts, 72, 175;
fastigiate form at Fairmount Park,
Philadelphia, 251

Glacial drift, influence on vegetation, 18,
51; effect on Cedar forests, 93

Gleditsia, distribution of, 15, 17; character
of the bark, 31; fall colouration of foli-
age, 39

Hall, Dr. George R., introduces Japanese
Yew into America, 110; introduces
Magnolia stellato, 146

Hamilton, William, introduces Ginkgo
into America, 56, 62; introduces Lom-
bardy Poplar into America, 231

Hammon & Co., W. P., propagators of
Japanese plums, 221

Hawthorn, fall colouration of foliage, 40

Hazel-nuts, importance as food, 175;
their distribution, 191

Hemlock, dwarf forms of, 262

Henry Dr. on habitat of Atlas Cedar, 88

Hickory, Character of the bark, 31; fall
colouration of foliage, 39

Hickory, Shagbark, importance and dis-
tribution, 184

Hicks & Son, Isaac, originators of Taxus
cuspidata var. Hicksii, 112; originators of
upright form of Japanese Yew, 250

Hirase, Prof. S., discovers motile male
sperms of Ginkgo biloba, 60

Holly, bark easily injured, 28

Honey-locust, distribution, 15, 17; char-
acter of the bark, 31; fall colouration of
foliage, 39

Hooker, Sir Joseph, visits Cedars on Mt.
Lebanon, 80; on habitat of Atlas Cedar;
88; on prehistoric Cedar forests, 92

Hornbeam, character of the bark, 30

Hornbeam, European, upright forms of,
246

Horsechestnut, fall colouration of foliage,
39; handsomest flowering tree, 117;
a native of Greece, 128, 120; origin of

name, 120; introduction into Europe,
121; into America, 123; description of
tree, flowers and fruit, 125; American
and Old World species, 126; uses of
wood and nuts, 127; varieties of, 128;
double-flowered, 129; hybrids, 129;
fastigiate form, 247

Howland, General, discoverer of Tsuga
canadensis var. pendula, 262

Hume, Lady Amelia, introduces Magnolia
coco, 151

Influence of trees on human race, 3

Japan, ancient flora of, 19; people delight in

autumn beauty of trees, 43
Jardin des Plantes, Paris, historic Cedar of

Lebanon in, 87
Juglans californica, 180
Juglans cathayensis, 181
Juglans cinerea, American Butternut, 180
Juglans formosana, 180
Juglans Hindsii, 180
Juglans mandshurica, 181
Juglans nigra, valuable timber tree, 180
Juglans regia, improved by selection, 175;

most important of nut trees, 176
Juglans rupestris, 180

Juglans Sieboldiana, Kurume Walnut, 179
Juglans Sieboldiana var. cordiformis, 179
Juglans stenocarpa, 181
Jujube, introduced by Frank N. Meyer,

223
Juniper, dwarf forms of, 264
Juniperus communis var. adpressa, 264
Juniperus communis var. monlana, 264
Juniperus chinensis var. Pfitzeriana. 264
Juniperus chinensis var. Sargentii, 265
Juniperus Sabina var. humilis, 264
Juniperus Sabina var. lamariscifolia, 264
Juniperus squamata, 264
Juniperus virginiana var. globosa, 265
Juniperus virginiana var. reptans, 264
Juniperus virginiana var. tripartita, 264
Jussieu, Bernard de, introduces Cedar of

Lebanon into France, 87

Kaempfer, Engelbert, first describes Ginkgo

to Europe, 54
Kentucky Coffee-Tree, only two species of,

15; character of the bark, 31
Kew Gardens, first in Europe to flower

Ginkgo biloba, 54; first to flower Magnolia

Watsonii, 150; and M. Dclavayi, 151

INDEX

Kilmer, Joyce, poem on Trees, 6
King -nut, one of the most important nut
trees, 185

LagerBtroemia, character of the hark, 31
Larch, Dwarf, seeds from Mt. Fuji sown

in Arnold Arboretum, 256
Libocedrus decurrens, 249
Liquidambar, distribution, 17
Linden, character of the bark, 31; fall col-
ouration of foliage, 39
Linnaeus, names Ginkgo biloba, 54
Liriodendron Tulipifera var. pyramidale, 245
Locb, William, introduces Western Yew
into England, 109

Magnolia, in Tertiary period, 18; habitat
and number of species, 133; fossil re-
mains from Tertiary period, 13 1

Magnolia, Great-leaf, description and habi-
tat, 1 10

Magnolia acuminata, value for street plant-
ing, 135

Magnolia Alexandria, 145

Magnolia CampbeUii, gorgeous but not
hardy. 147

Magnolia coco (syn. M. pumila) not hardy,
150

Magnolia cordala, discovered by Michaux,
138

Magnolia cyathiformis, 145

Magnolia Delavayi, introduced by Mr. Wil-
son, 1908

Magnolia denudata (syn. M. conspicua) , 143

Magnolia denudata var. purpurascens
(syn. M. obovata var. discolour), intro-
duced by Mr. Wilson, 143

Magnolia Fraseri, Ear-leaf Umbrella-tree,
111

Magnolia grandillora, most popular of the
genera in America, 134; noblest of the
evergreens, 141; varieties of, 142

Magnolia kobus, common in Japan, 145

Magnolia kobus var. borealis, most northern
of the species, 145

Magnolia Lennei, 145

Magnolia lilitlora (syn. M. obovata, M.
purpurea or M. discolor), 1 1 1

Magnolia macrophylla, largest leaved tree
in temperate zone, 139

Magnolia obovata (syn. M. Iiypoleuca), in-
troduced from Japan, 148

Magnolia officinalis, introduced by Mr.
Wilson, 149

Magnolia pani/bra, lloriferous and sup-
posedly hardy, 149

Magnolia pyramidala, a popular species,
l.'d; tender in New England, l ll

Magnolia salicifolia, not hardy in New
England states, 133; introduced by Pro-
fessor Sargent, 147

Magnolia Sargentiana, discovered and
introduced by Mr. Wilson, 147

Magnolia Soulangeana, a hybrid, 144

Magnolia speciosa, 145

Magnolia spectabilis, 145

Magnolia stellata (syn. M. Halliana, popu-
larity of, 131; introduced by Dr. George
K. Hall, 146

Magnolia superba, 145

Magnolia tripelala, 140

Magnolia triumphans, 145

Magnolia virginiana (syn. M. glauca), value
to gardens, and habitat, 137; varieties of,
137

Magnolia Watsonii, not hardy in New Eng-
land states, 133; of mysterious origin, 150

Magnolia Wilsonii, discovered and intro-
duced by Mr. Wilson, 150

Magnolia, Yulan, introduced into England
by Sir Joseph Banks, 1 13; natural habi-
tat, 143

Maidenhair-tree, see Ginkgo biloba

Malus prunifolia var. rinki, 206

Malus pumila, parent of modern apples,
205

Malus Sargentii, 266

Malus Sieboldii, 266

Mains sylvestris, 205

Maple, character of the bark, 30; fall col-
ouration of leaves, 35, 36, 40, 41, 42; fasti-
giate varieties, 244, 245

Maple, Silver, fall colouration of foliage, 40

Medlar, old but little-known fruit, 210

Melville, Hon. Leslie, introduces Deodar
Cedar into England, 91

Mespilus germanica, 210

Meyer, Frank N., observations on Ginkgo,
58; introduces the jujub

MontiK-llier Botanic Garden, notable
Ginkgo at, 56

Morchella csculcnta, found in Beech woods
170

Morel, Common, gathered in Beech woods,
170

Mountain-ash, fall colouration of foliage,
10

Mulberry, fall colouration of foliage, 39

^75

INDEX

Natural History Review, article by Sir Jo-
seph Hooker on Cedars of Lebanon, 80

Nectarine, of Chinese origin, 211

Nut fruits and manner of seed distribution,
173

Nut-pine, Korean, seeds used as food, 175

Oak, character of the bark, 29, 31; fall

colouration of foliage, 40, 41, 42
Oak, Cypress, upright growing variety, 246
Orange-tree, brought from India by sol-
diers of Alexander the Great, 22; intro-
duced into Persia from China, 22

Parson, S. B. (Flushing Nursery), dis-
tributes Magnolia slellata, 146; fastigiate
Red Maple at, 244
Peach, introduced into Persia from China,
22; fall colouration of foliage, 40; history
of the, 210; search for hardy varieties,
212
Pear, fall colouration of foliage, 40; history,

206
Pecan, oldest cultivated nut tree of Amer-
ica, 183
Persimmon, character of the bark, 32
Picea Abies var. Clanbrassiliana, 259
Picea Abies var. columnaris, 248
Picea Abies var. pyramidalis, 248
Picea Abies var. dumosa, 260
Picea Abies var. Gregoryana, 260
Picea Abies var. pumila, 260
Picea Abies var. pygmaea, 260
Picea glauca var. albertiana f. conica, 261
Picea glauca var. nana, 261
Picea mariana var. Doumettii, 260
Pili-nut, as a food nut, 176
Pine, Mugho, most widely used dwarf

evergreens, 258
Pine, Norfolk Island, among earliest forms

of tree vegetation, 11
Pine, Red, Japanese, dwarf forms of, 259
Pine, Scots, fastigiate form of, 248
Pine, Scots, dwarf forms of, 259
Pine, Sugar, seeds used as food, 175
Pine, Swiss, seeds used as food, 175
Pine, White, dwarf forms of, 258
Pine, White, fastigiate variety of, 244, 248
Pine, Japanese White, dwarf forms of, 259
Pinus cembra, seeds used as food, 175
Pinus koraiensis, seeds used as food, 175
Pinus Lamberliana, seeds used as food, 175
Pinus tnontana (syn. P. mughus or P.
pumilio), 258

Pinus parviflora (syn. P. pentaphylla), 259

Pinus pumila, 258

Pinus Strobus var. fastigiata, 248

Pinus Strobus var. nana, 258

Pinus sylvestris var. nana, 259

Pinus sylvestris var. pyramidalis, 248

Pinus sylvestris var. Watereri, 259

Pinus densiflora var. globosa, 259

Pinus densiflora var. umbraclifera, 259

Plane-tree, character of the bark, 31

Plum, fall colouration of foliage, 40; history,
and derivation of varieties, 220

Plum Beach, 223

Plum, Canada, 222

Plum, Chicasaw, 223

Plum, Japanese, introduction into America,
221

Plum, Pacific, 222

Plum-cot, hybrid of Apricot and Plum, 221

Pocock, Dr. Edward, credited with intro-
duction of Cedar of Lebanon into Eng-
land, 84

Pope, Alexander, ridicule of topiary work,
105; famous Weeping Willow in garden
of, 235

Portland, Duke of, introduces Magnolia
liliflora into England, 144

Poplar, character of the bark, 30; fall
colouration of foliage, 39

Poplar, Lombardy, history and proper
uses, 227; habitat, 230; introduced into
Europe and America, 231; in landscape
planting, 237

Populus alba var. pyramidalis (syn. P.
Bolleana), 247

Populus euphratica, 232

Populus theveslina, 247

Proctor, T. E., succeeds fn flowering Mag-
nolia salicifolia, 147

Prunus americana, best known of native
Plums, 222

Prunus Amygdalus, the Almond, 195

Prunus angustifolia, 223

Prunus Armeniaca, 213

Prunus avium, 214

Prunus Besseyi, 218

Prunus cerasifera, 220

Prunus cerasus, 214

Prunus dasycarpa, 214

Prunus domestica, 218

Prunus horlulana, 222

Prunus incisa, 265

Prunus insititia, 218

Prunus mandshurica, 214

276

INDEX

Prunus maritima, 223

Primus Munsoniana, 222

PruttUS nigra, 222

Piunus persica, of Chinese origin, 211

Primus pseudocerasus, 217

Primus pumila, 218

Promts salicina (Syn. P. triflora), 220

I'nmus sibirica, 213

Primus Simoiiii, hybrid Plum-apricot, 221

Primus subcordata, 222

Primus subkirteUa var. autumnalis, 2GG

Primus lomentosa, 217

Pseudotsuga taxifolia f. compacta, 262

Pseudotsuga taxifolia f. globosa, 262

P>rws Calleryana, 210

Pjyrws serotina, 208, 209

Pjyrus ussuriensis, 208, 209

Quercus ballota, acorni used as food, 174
Quercus ptdunculata var. fastigiata, 246
Quince, fall colouration of foliage, 40
Quince, history of the, 210

Robinia, character of the bark, 31
Rochford, Earl of, introduces Lombardy
Poplar into England, 231

Sa/»jt a/6a vitallina pendula, 236

Sa/u: babylonica, 227

Satec blanda, a hybrid, 236

Sa/ix koreensis, 233

Sa/i'x Matsudana. 233

Sa/ix purpurea pendula, 236

Sa&C Salamonii, a hybrid, 236

Sa/i'x Warburgii, 233

Sand Pear, favourite in China and Japan,
208

Sargent, Professor, introduces Japanese
Yew into United States, 112; first to
(lower Magnolia kobus var. borealis, 146;
introduces Magnolia salicifolia, 147;
hardy European Walnut, in garden of,
178; introduces Castanea tnollissima, 189;
introduces Malus Sargentii, 266

Sassafras, in Tertiary period, 18; fall colour-
ation of leaves. 36, K)

Savin, dwarf forms of, 264

Seed forms and manner of dissemination,
173

Sequoias, in Tertiary period, 18

Shadbush. fall colouration of foliage, 40

Smoke-tree, fall colouration of foliage, 40

Sorrel tree, fall colouration of foliage, 40

Spruce, Black, dwarf variety of, 260

Spruce, Blue, dwarf form of, 260
Spruce, Norway, dwarf forms of, 259
Spruce, While, dwarf form of, 261
Stuarlia, character of the bark, 31
Sumach, fall colouration of foliage, 40, 41
Sweet Hay, hardy in New England, 136
Sweet-gum, distribution, 17; in Tertiary
period, 18

Taxus baccata, 108
Taxus baccata var. fastigiata, 249
Taxus brevifolia, 107
Taxus canadensis, 107
Taxus chineusis, 108
Taxus cuspidata, and varieties, 108
Taxus cuspidata var. Hicksii, 250
Taxus floridana, 107
Taxus glohosa, 107
Taxus Wallichiana, 108
Thuja occidentalis f. Little Gem, 263
Thuja occidentalis {. recurva nana, 263
Thuja occidentalis f. Reedii, 263
Thuja occidentalis f. Tom-Thumb, 263
Thuja occidentalis I. umbraculifera, 263
Thuja occidentalis f. Woodwardii, 263
Thuja occidentalis var. pyramidalis, 248
Tilia platyphyllos var. pyramidalis, 246
Topiary work, early use of the Yew, 105
Truffle, found in Beech woods, 170
Tsuga canadensis var. compacta, 262
Tsuga canadensis var. pendula, 262
Tuber cibarium, found in Beech woods, 170
Tulip-tree, only two species of, 15; in Ter-
tiary period, 18; fall colouration of leaves.
36, 39, 41; fastigiate variety of, 244, 245
Tupelo, fall colouration of foliage, 40, 41,
42

Ulmus glabra var. fastigiata, 245

Ulmus nitens var. stricta, 245

Ulmus nitens var. Wheatleyi (Syn. U. cam-

pestris monumentalis), 246
Umbrella-tree, description and habitat,

140
Umbrella-tree, Ear-leaf, discovered by W.

Bartram. 1 11
Ungnard, Dr. von, introduces boreecbeat-

nut into Europe, 120
Utrecht Botanic Garden, first Cinkgo-tree in

Europe planted in, 54

Van Fleet, Dr., work in producing Chest-
nuts immune to blight, 187; with Bush-
chestnuts, 190

Viburnum, fall colouration of foliage, 10

277

INDEX

Walnut, introduced into China from Per-
sia, 22; character of the bark, 32; fall
colouration of leaves, 39

Walnut, Black, valuable timber tree, 180

Walnut, Californian, 180

Walnut, European, improved by selection,
175, 178; most important of nut-trees,
176; hybrids of, 179, 181

Walnut, Formosan, 180

Walnut, Japanese, an important nut-tree,
179

Walnut, Texan, 180

Webb, Philip Barker, obtains specimens of
Atlas Cedar in Tangier, 88

Willow of Babylon, history, 227; native of
China, 232; first mention of in Europe,
234; hybrids of, 23G; use in landscape
planting, 237

Wren, Sir Christopher, plants avenue of
Horsechestnuts in Bushey Park, 117

Yew, among earliest forms of tree vegeta-
tion, 10; of historical importance, 99; in
ornamental gardening, 104; geological
antiquity, 106; American and Asiatic
speoies, 107; specimens in the United
States, 110

Yew, Canadian, 107

Yew, Chinese, 108

Yew, European, 108, varieties of, 112

Yew, Florida, 107

Yew, Himalayan, 108

Yew, Irish, of fastigiate form, 249

Yew, Japanese, habitat, 107, 111; in Amer-
ica, 110; Japanese, upright form of,
originating in nursery of Isaac Hicks
& Son, 250

Yew, Mexican, 107

Yew, Western, 107

Zizyphus saliva, 223

278

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

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