ORNAMENTAL TREES. 35 



As has already "ueen stated, the Douglas fir, when raised 

 from seed collected in the Rocky Mountains, is here in New 

 England perfectly hardy. This fact indicates another region 

 to which we may look for additions to the list of American 

 trees valuable for New-England planting. From these high 

 interior mountains, the flora of which is indeed remarkably 

 poor in arborescent species, we have obtained fully half a 

 dozen trees which promise the most excellent results even 

 in our climate, — a result not, perhaps, very surprising, as 

 many eastern species reach these mountains, there finding 

 their western limit, and thriving side by side with some of 

 the peculiar forms of the Pacific forests, thus proving a cer- 

 tain slight analogy between the climate of New England and 

 that of the south Rocky Mountains. 



Of these Rocky-Mountain trees, two deserve particular 

 notice. The blue Rocky -Mountain spruce (^Picea pungens) 

 is a tree of rapid growth, great hardiness, and of a peculiarly 

 charming blue-green color. This tree has been widely tested 

 in Eastern Massachusetts during the last eighteen years, and 

 specimens nearly fifteen feet high may now be seen there of 

 unsurpassed beauty. This tree is perfectly hardy in the most 

 exposed situations, and grows with great rapidity. It is, in 

 its young state, remarkably compact in habit, and will form, 

 it is confidently expected, a valuable hedge-plant. The 

 second of the Colorado trees to which your attention is 

 called is the Douglas fir already mentioned. This tree, — 

 both as a subject for ornamental planting, and in its home, 

 the West, — as a timber tree, is perhaps unequalled by any 

 coniferous tree. The trees first raised here from Colorado 

 seeds are perhaps fifteen feet high, and show by their vigor- 

 ous and rapid growth an indication that the species can 

 adapt itself to our climate and soil. The Douglas fir is the 

 most interesting and valuable of all exotic trees recently in- 

 troduced into Massachusetts ; and, should it be found in the 

 future that it is capable of producing here as valuable timber 

 as that yielded by tliis tree in its native habitat, its intro- 

 duction w^ll be worth many millions of dollars to the State. 



For more than a hundred and fifty years public-spirited 

 citizens have been experimenting with exotic trees in differ- 

 ent parts of the country ; and, if we know now what trees to 

 plant and what to avoid, it is because such experiments have 



