W. D. Brackenridge, of Maryland, thinks it worth while to put in a few words in favor of that badly abused tree, the Ailanthus glandulosa, but more commonly known as the Paradise tree, or tree of Heaven, and right here we are ready to admit its faults; the first of these being a tendency or disposition to send up suckers from the roots, to the great detriment of sober-kept grass plots and pavements, but the next and crowning evil of all is the offensive odor emitted by the flowers of the male tree, which bears erect, greenish spikes, while the female variety is not in any way offensive in the smell of its flowers, which are followed by large and somewhat pendant bunches of flat seed, and these are withal somewhat ornamental, and any individual of taste will admit that the long pinnate, deep green foliage of either sex, constitutes them invaluable subjects of great beauty in the formation of large groups of trees on a lawn, imparting thereto an oriental and tropical aspect. Now our advice is, to discard the male and adopt the female variety, as both are easily propagated by cuttings of the roots.

The wood is close grained, very heavy and susceptible of taking on a fine polish.