194 . TRANSACTIONS OF THE HORTICULTURAL 



not recommended for planting much further north. American black 

 cherrv was in perfection on North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan, 

 in 1846. 



From Nebraska, Russian mulberry, and a native willow said to be 

 durable as fence posts_, are recommended. 



EVEKGEEENS. 



BY ROBERT DOUGLAS, OF WAUKEGAN. 



S. M. Slade, Esq., President 



Northern Illinois Horticultural Society : 



Ml/ Dear Sir — I thank you for your kind letter of January 5th 

 inviting me to contribute a paper in regard to anything new in the 

 evergreen line. 



I regret very much that a prior engagement compels me again 

 to deny myself the pleasure of meeting with you. 



My experience in regard to what is new in the evergreen line 

 has been very much like navigatijig a rocky channel without a chart, 

 and as I have not yet reached destination the most I can do now is 

 to point out the rocks and shoals so far as I have gone, so that other 

 navigators may avoid them. Twenty to thirty years ago I tested all 

 the new evergreens that were being imported about that time, and 

 not, in a single instance did I find one of them that would endure 

 this climate for ten years. My next ex^ierience was in the way of 

 evergreens from the Pacific coast. That ])romised better. They 

 succeeded well in the East, and were believed to be hardy. Mr. 

 Meehan. editor of The Gardener's Mouthli), had so much faith in 

 them that he said in the Monthly that any man who would grow the 

 Lawson's Cypress and Nootka Sound Cypress in large quantities, so 

 that they could be used for ornament and for hedges, would be a 

 public benefactor. Well, I went into the public benefactor business 

 vei\y strongly. I found that most of the Lawson Cypress seeds had 

 been shipped to Europe. I sent an order to the party in Europe for 

 all he could spare. Fortunately for me I could only get three and a 

 half pounds, for when T paid the bill, together with a duty in gold 

 of thirty per cent., and a heavy premium oji gold, I found that the 

 seeds had cost me $(32.50 per pound. I tested all the silver firs, pines 

 and spruces of California and the Northwest for inany years, at a 

 cost of from three to eight hundred dollars a year for seeds alone. 

 As a result of all this trial of patience and pocket, I can, perhaps, 

 give you the clearest idea by giving you an account of a trip with 

 our dear old friend, Dr. Warder, about four years ago. 



After inspecting the conifers in Cincinnati. Cleveland, Roches- 

 ter, Boston, Central Park, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 

 Washington, we had not seen a good specimen of a conifer from the 

 Pacific slope, with the exception of one Douglas fir on the grounds 



