most evergreens by its flat foliage, composed of a great number of scales closely imbricated, or overlaying each other, which give the whole a compressed appearance. The seeds are borne in a small cone, usually not more than half an inch in length.

This tree is extremely formal and regular in outline in almost every stage of growth; generally assuming the shape of an exact cone or pyramid of close foliage, of considerable extent at the base, close to the ground, and narrowing upwards to a sharp point. So regular is their outline in many cases, when they are growing upon favorable soils, that at a short distance they look as if they had been subjected to the clipping-shears. The sameness of its form precludes the employment of this evergreen in so extensive a manner as most others; that is, in intermingling it promiscuously with other trees of less artificial forms. But the Arbor Vitæ, from this very regularity, is well suited to support and accompany scenery when objects of an avowedly artificial character predominate, as buildings, etc., where it may be used with a very happy effect. There is also no evergreen tree indigenous or introduced, which will make a more effectual, close, and impervious screen than this and as it thrives well in almost every soil, moist, dry, rich, or poor, we strongly recommend it whenever such thickets are desirable. We have ourselves tried the experiment with a hedge of it about 200 feet long, which was transplanted about five or six feet high from the native. habitats of the young trees, and which fully answers our expectations respecting it, forming a perfectly thick screen, and an excellent shelter on the north of a range of buildings at all seasons of the year, growing perfectly thick without trimming, from the very ground upwards.

The only fault of this tree as an evergreen, is the comparatively dingy green hue of its foliage in winter. But to compensate for this, it is remarkably fresh looking in its spring, summer, and autumn tints, comparing well at those seasons even with the bright verdure of deciduous trees.

The Arbor Vitæ is very abundant in New Brunswick, Vermont, and Maine. In New York, the shores of the Hudson, at Hampton landing, 70 miles above the city of New York, are lined on both sides with beautiful specimens of this tree, many of them being perfect cones in outline; and it is here much more symmetrical and perfect in its growth than we have seen it. Forty feet is about Vitæ, and the stem

the maximum altitude of the Arbor rarely measures more than ten or twelve inches in diameter.

The wood is very light, soft, and fine-grained, but is reputed to be equally durable with the Red Cedar. It is consequently employed for various purposes in building and fencing, where, in the northern districts, it grows in sufficient abundance, and of suitable size.

The Chinese Arbor Vitæ (T. orientalis) is a tree of much smaller and more feeble growth. It cannot, therefore, as an ornamental tree, be put in competition with our native species. Bnt it is a beautiful evergreen for the garden and shrubbery, where it finds a more suitable and sheltered site, being rather tender north of New York.

The White Cedar (Thuja spheroida*), which belongs to the same genus as the Arbor Vitæ, is a much loftier

* Cupressus thuyoides of the old botanists.

tree, often growing 80 feet high. It can hardly be considered a tree capable of being introduced into cultivated situations, as it is found only in thick swamps and wet grounds. The foliage considerably resembles that of the common Arbor Vitæ, though rather narrower, and more delicate in texture. The cones are small and rugged, and change from green to a blue or brown tint in autumn. In the south it is often called the Juniper.

The White Cedar furnishes excellent shingles, much more durable than those made of either Pine or Cypress ; in Philadelphia the wood is much esteemed and greatly used in cooperage. Charcoal," according to Michaux, "highly esteemed in the manufacture of gunpowder, is made of young stocks, about an inch and a half in diameter, deprived of their bark; and the seasoned wood affords beautiful lamp-black, lighter and more intensely colored than that obtained from the Pine."

THE AMERICAN HOLLY TREE. Ilex.

Nat. Ord. Aquifoliaceæ.

Lin. Syst. Diccia, Tetrandria.

The European Holly is certainly one of the evergreen glories of the English gardens. There its deep green, glossy foliage, and bright coral berries, which hang on for a long time, are seen enlivening the pleasure-grounds and shrubberies throughout the whole of that leafless and inactive period in vegetation-winter. It is also, in our mother tongue, inseparably connected with the delightful associations of merry Christmas gambols and feastings, when both the churches and the dwelling-houses are

decorated with its boughs. We have much to regret, therefore, in the severity of our winters, which will not permit the European Holly to eastern states, as a hardy tree. may become acclimated; but it further north.

flourish in the middle or South of Philadelphia, it appears to suffer greatly

A beautiful succedaneum, however, may, we believe, be found in the American Holly (Ilex opaca), which indeed very closely resembles the foreign species in almost every particular. The leaves are waved or irregular in surface and outline, though not so much so as those of the latter, and their color is a much lighter shade of green. Like those of the foreign plant, they are armed on the edges with thorny prickles, and the surface is brilliant and polished. The American Holly is seen in the greatest perfection on the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia, and the lower part of New Jersey. There it thrives best upon loose, dry, and gravelly soils. Michaux says it is also common through all the extreme southern states, and in West Tennessee, in which latter places it abounds on the margins of shady swamps, where the soil is cool and fertile. In such spots it often reaches forty feet in height, and twelve or fifteen inches in diameter.

Although the growth of the Holly is slow, yet it is always beautiful; and we regret that the American sort, which may be easily brought into cultivation, is so very rarely seen in our gardens or grounds. The seeds are easily procured, and if scalded and sowed in autumn, immediately after being gathered, they vegetate freely. For hedges the Holly is altogether unrivalled; and it was also one of the favorite plants for verdant sculpture, in the ancient style of gardening. Evelyn, in the edition of his

Sylva, published in London in 1664, thus bursts out in eloquent praise of it: "Above all natural greens which enrich our home-born store, there is none certainly to be compared to the Holly; insomuch that I have often wondered at our curiosity after foreign plants and expensive difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar but incomparable tree,-whether we will propagate it for use and defence, or for sight and ornament. Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, than an impregnable hedge of one hundred and sixty-five feet in length, seven high, and five in diameter, which I can show in my poor gardens, at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and varnished leaves? The taller standards at orderly distances blushing with their natural coral. It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breaker :

'Et illum nemo impune lacessit.""

THE YEW TREE. Taxus.

Nat. Ord. Taxaceæ. Lin. Syst. Monacia, Monadelphia.

The European Yew is a slow-growing, evergreen tree, which often, when full grown, measures forty feet in height, and a third more in the diameter of its branches. The foliage is flat, linear, and is placed in two rows, like that of the Hemlock tree, though much darker in color. The flowers are brown or greenish, and inconspicuous, but they are succeeded by beautiful scarlet berries, about half or three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which are open at the end, where a small nut or seed is deposited. These