The negundo, or ash-leaved maple, as it is called in the Eastern States,
better known at the West as a box elder, is a tree that is not known as
extensively as it deserves. It is a hard maple, that grows as rapidly as
the soft maple; is hardy, possesses a beautiful foliage of black green
leaves, and is symmetrical in shape. Through eastern Iowa I found it
growing wild, and a favorite tree with the early settlers, who wanted
something that gave shade and protection to their homes quickly on their
prairie farms. Brought east, its growth is rapid, and it loses none of the
characteristics it possessed in its western home. Those who have planted it
are well pleased with it. It is a tree that transplants easily, and I know
of no reason why it should not be more popular.
For ornamental lawn planting, I give pre-eminence to the cut-leaf weeping
birch. Possessing all the good qualities of the white birch, it combines
with them a beauty and delicate grace yielded by no other tree. It is an
upright grower, with slender, drooping branches, adorned with leaves of
deep rich green, each leaf being delicately cut, as with a knife, into
semi-skeletons. It holds its foliage and color till quite late in the fall.
The bark, with age, becomes white, resembling the white birch, and the
beauty of the tree increases with its age. It is a free grower, and
requires no trimming. Nature has given it a symmetry which art cannot
improve.