328 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



slanting supports that look like the legs of a theodolite or outdoor 

 telescope ; it is immovable during the wildest storm, and not a root 

 is wounded by the thrusting of the stakes into the ground, which 

 must be the case when a stake is thrust down close beside the stem 

 — to say nothing of the incapacity of a close upright stake to hold a 

 tree with any amount of head during a strong gale. Trees so staked 

 should so remain all winter, and generally speaking the supports 

 may be all taken away in the following April, though in some windy 

 places, a strong wire stay should be supplied on the side most needed 

 to hold the tree perpendicular when the wind rages from the cus- 

 tomary quarter. Some of our best garden conifers are not at all 

 particular about soil, as will be observed in the remarks upon the 

 several genera ; and some, again, never do so well as when planted 

 among rocks, or low down with their feet in damp or marshy ground. 



Spruce Firs. — The Spruce Firs are handsome trees, but the 

 more robust kinds must have plenty of room, and hence are not pre- 

 eminently garden trees. As to their characters, we are all familiar 

 with the fine outlines of A. canadensis, the Hemlock spruce, the 

 tree referred to by Longfellow in the line "the murmuring pines 

 and the hemlocks." Their free growth is a great recommendation 

 where they are required for shelter, and for the skirts of plantations, 

 and for that sort of planting which is strictly regulated by price, for 

 they are cheap. Those who want half a dozen of the finest large- 

 growing kinds for a pinetum should take the following : — A. cana- 

 densis, the Hemlock spruce, a common but handsome bushy-headed 

 tree which does best in a moist retentive soil. A. Douglassi, a 

 splendid conical tree, very handsome in a small state when growing 

 well, and quite suitable for pot culture. A. excelsa Finechnensis, the 

 Finedon Hall spruce, a variety of the common Norway spruce, 

 which Messrs. Paul and Son, of Cheshunt, have propagated exten- 

 sively on account of its peculiar beauty. The younger leaves of the 

 upper sides of the shoots are at first a pale yellow colour, but after- 

 wards change to a bronze brown, and when fully matured become 

 light green. It originated amongst a batch of seedlings. A. 

 Menziesii, a very fir-like spruce, which makes a fine tree in a large 

 place, but is unfit in any of its stages of growth for small gardens. 

 It may be known from several species that are like it by the silvery 

 hue of the under sides of the leaves. In anything like a collection 

 it is indispensable. A. rubra, the red spruce ; this is grown exten- 

 sively for the markets to be sold for " Christmas trees." It has no 

 peculiar beauties, but is nevertheless handsome, and grows freely on 

 a damp retentive soil. 



Now let us pick out another and a choicer half-dozen. First of 

 all I place A. Morinda (syn. A. Khutrow, A. Smithiana, etc., etc.) 

 The character of this tree is most elegant, the branches being well 

 clothed with long leaves of a rather light green colour, finely shaded 

 by the darker colour of the old leaves, which remain several years. 

 All the branches and side-shoots droop in a most graceful manner,, 

 so that a good specimen may be likened to a mass of green ostrich 

 plumes. The wide stretch of the lower branches renders it unfit for 

 pots, or for any position where it cannot sweep freely. If planted 



