330 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



but it will thrive in many districts near London, where no other 

 coniferous tree except a Juniper can live. Its beauty is inde- 

 scribable, but fortunately the tree is too well known to need 

 describing. Once more I will beg all readers of this work who 

 have deodaras in their gardens, to abstain from tying the leading 

 shoot to a stake. It is an absurd practice — first, because nature 

 makes the leader droop, and knows best about it ; and secondly, 

 because the natural arching over of the leader is one of the most 

 beautiful characteristics of the tree. This silly process of tying up 

 the leader, examples of which abound all over the land, is akin to 

 the process by which our ancestors made cripples of their children 

 by swathing their bodies in cloths, and turned every garden into a 

 candlestick and extinguisher market by clipping box and yew trees 

 into hideous shapes. 



Sii/veb, Ties. — The grandest of the coniferous trees are found in 

 the genus Picea. They require room and favourable conditions ; it 

 is in rich, deep moist loam — in "timber land" indeed — that they 

 alone attain to perfection. Perhaps the most useful among them for 

 garden purposes is P. jpinsapo, a most distinct and noble tree, of a 

 fine rich dark green hue and cylindrical shape, a fine specimen being 

 nearly the same width from head to foot. P. amabilis, P. nobilis, 

 and P. Nordmanniana have certain points of resemblance, but yet 

 are distinct. They all spread horizontally, and have stiff upright 

 leaders, very formal in character, and very grand. P. amabilis is 

 distinguished by its brilliant glaucous hue and less rigid habit. All 

 three are required in even the smallest collection of coniferous trees, 

 but if one only is required for a special position, let it be P. nobilis. 

 P. Fraseri is a pretty small tree. P. grandis, P. pectinata, and 

 P. jpindro (the last growing like a Lombardy poplar) are fine species 

 for the collector. P. cephalonica and P. Wehhiana are splendid 

 trees for the west of England, and for places well sheltered on deep 

 loamy well-drained soils. In bleak and poor places, it will be 

 certain loss to plant them. 



Pines. — The true pinuses will pick up a living where many 

 other coniferous trees would be sure to perish. They attain to vast 

 dimensions on barren rocks, and on sandy and stony soils usually 

 do better than on moist loam or clay. Here, then, is a section 

 adapted for the possessors of starving soils ; and one of the best 

 they can select is P. excelsa, which has a rich and beautiful appear- 

 ance, and is a pattern of symmetry. Next P. cemhra, making long 

 tufted needle-like leaves of a very cheerful tint of green. It grows 

 very slowly, and there is a variety of it called Pyginea which may be 

 said not to grow at all, for it will not attain more than three or four 

 feet in the course of a lifetime, though it spreads laterally and 

 makes a pretty bush. The following are excellent for gardens near 

 towns, and of course suitable also for country gardens : P. Bentlia- 

 miana, with very long leaves ; one of the noblest of the family. 

 P. excelsa, with fine bluish-green leaves of great length and droop- 

 ing ; a magnificent tree, remarkable alike for its dignity and sym- 

 metry. P. insignis, the leaves deep grass-green, in dense bush-like 

 tufts the growth upright and columnar. It is described in the 



