A WORD IN FAVOR OF EVERGREENS. 



491 



liage, the excellent form of the tree, and its 

 adaptation to a great variet}' of soils and 

 sites, are all recommendations not easil}' 

 overlooked. 



Besides, it bears transplanting particu- 

 larly well ; and is, on this account also, 

 more generally seen than any other spe- 

 cies in our ornamental plantations. But 

 its especial merit, as an ornamental tree, is 

 the perpetually fine, rich, lively green of its 

 foliage. In the northern states, many ever- 

 greens loose their bright colour in mid- 

 winter, owing to the severity of the cold ; 

 and though they regain it quickly in the 

 first mild days of spring, yet this temporary 

 dinginess, at the season when verdure is 

 rarest and most prized, is, undeniably, a 

 great defect. Both the Hemlock and the 

 White Pine are exceptions. Even in the 

 greatest depression of the thermometer, 

 known to our neighbors on the " dispu- 

 ted boundary" line, we believe the ver- 

 dure of these trees is the same fine un- 

 changing green. Again, this thin summer 

 growth is of such a soft and lively colour 

 that they are, (unlike some of the other 

 pines, the Red Cedar, etc.,) as pleasant to 

 look upon, even in June, as any fresh and 

 full foliaged deciduous tree, rejoicing in all 

 its full breadth of new summer robes. We 

 place the White Pine, therefore, among 

 the first in the regards of the ornamental 



planter. 



Perhaps the most popular foreign ever- 

 green in this country is the Norway Spruce, 

 (Abies excelsa.) In fact, it is so useful and 

 valuable a tree, that it is destined to be- 

 come much more popular still. So hardy, 

 that it is used as a nurse plant, to break off 

 the wind in exposed sites, and shelter more 

 tender trees in young plantations ; so rea- 

 dily adapting itself to any site, that it thrives 

 upon all soils, from light sand, or dry gravel, 

 to deep moist loam or clay ; so accommo- 



dating in its habits, that it will grow under 

 the shade of other trees, or in the most ex- 

 posed positions ; there is no planter of new 

 places, or improver of old ones, who will not 

 find it necessary to call it in to his assis- 

 tance. Then, again, the variety of purpo- 

 ses for which this tree may be used is so 

 indefinite. Certainly, there are few trees 

 more strikingly picturesque than a fine Nor- 

 way Spruce, 40 or 50 years old, towering 

 up from a base of thick branches which 

 droop and fall to the very lawn, and hang 

 off in those depending curves which make 

 it such a favorite with artists. (See our 

 FRONTISPIECE, from Loadon^s Arboretum.) 

 Any one who wishes occular demonstration 

 of the truth of this, will do well to daguer- 

 reotype in his mind, (for certainly, once seen, 

 he can never forget them,) the fine speci- 

 mens on the lawn at the seat of Col. Per- 

 kins, near Boston ; or two or three, still 

 larger, and almost equally well developed, 

 in the old Linnjean Garden of Mr. Win- 

 ter, at Flushing, Long Island. 



The Norway Spruce, abroad, is thought 

 to grow rapidly only on soils somewhat 

 damp. But this is not the case in Ameri- 

 ca. We saw, lately, a young plantation of 

 them of 10 or 12 years growth, in the ground 

 of Capt. Forbes of Milton Hill, near Bos- 

 ton, on very high and dry gravelly soil, 

 many of which made leading shoots, last 

 season, of three or four feet. Their growth 

 may be greatly promoted, as indeed may 

 that of all evergreens, by a liberal top- 

 dressing of ashes, applied early every spring 

 or autumn. 



Little seems to be known in the United 

 States, as yet, of the great value of the Nor- 

 way Spruce for hedges. Our intelligent 

 correspondent, Mr. Nelson, has described 

 his experience with it abroad, and pointed 

 out its capital points for this purpose, and 

 the mode of growing it, in a previous page 



