November 3, 1906 



horticulture: 



463 



Ornamental Conifers 



Cuttings are iiuule froin September on in sand in 

 boxes or on benches in low greenhouses, kept cool and 

 shaded till they make callouses when a little bottom 

 heat will help to develop the roots; when well rooted 

 they are put in pots and in frames to be hardened; in 

 both cases they can be planted outside as soon as weather 

 permits; but it is safer to keep them in pots the first 

 year. It is useless to sjiy that the grafts have to be 

 kept clean from all -(vild shoots and, if side-grafted, the 

 stock cut back level with the graft. 



Seedlings can be started in open ground or in 

 boxes; rarer kinds are better in boxes, as they are easy 

 to handle. The soil must be made very fine and light 

 and seeded in early spring in rows. Sow not too thickly 

 and cover with one-half inch of soil more or less, accord- 

 ing to the size of the seed, and keep shaded. In winter 

 the young seedlings should be covered with leaves to 

 prevent lifting by frost. When sown in boxes the seeds 

 can be sown in February and March in the greenhouses 

 and kept in shaded frames through the summer; in 

 winter they have to be covered to keep the heavy frost 

 out ; in both cases it is better not to transplant before 

 the second year's growth. 



In the botanical order of Coniferae the fir and pine 

 tribes are most important and contain the noblest trees 

 in the landscape of this country. 



Firs are divided into three classes: 



1. Abies, the true firs, have their seed cones erect, 

 falling apart when ripe. The needles are flat with two 

 more or less accentuated white lines on the under sur- 

 face; they are generally split at the top, in a few only 

 are they pointed. 



2. Picea. the spruces, have their cones pendant and 

 persistent. The needles are three or four-edged and 

 pointed. 



3. Tsuga, the hemlocks, have their little cones pen- 

 dant and persistent, their needles small and flat. In 

 olden times they used to be called pines, all without 

 distinction; in some places now-a-days firs are called 

 Picea and spruce Abies, but this is wrong. All the 

 world over fir is Abies, spruce is Picea and hemlock is 

 Tsuga. 



ABIES. (fie). 



Excepting a few dwarf varieties the fir and all large- 

 growing trees should be planted at least from 15 to 30 

 feet apart, according to species. They grow generally 

 in any good soil, but a well-drained, moist situation is 

 the best. They are all pyramidal in shape with spread- 

 ing flat branches, the top ones grow more erect, and 

 these when old enough produce the cones. From North 

 America we have A. balsamea, which grows all over the 

 northeast. It is a nice, narrow pyramidal tree when 

 old, but not of very great decorative value when young. 

 There are some blue and other forms found in the 

 mountains, but these have not been multiplied that I 

 know of. A dwarf form that comes from the moun- 



tains of Now ILunp<hiro, A. b. Hudsonica. is a nice lit- 

 tle tree for rockeries. 



A. Fraseri, the doul)lc balsam fir from Nortli Ijaro- 

 lina, resembles niueh balsamea. The needles are 

 straighter and more thickly set, more glossy and white 

 underneath. They are both very hardy. Fraseri is 

 subject to attack of spider in dry situations when of 

 certain size. A. Fraseri alba-variegata has the point of 

 the needle white when ^rowiner. 



A. concolor from Oregon and California is one of 

 the nicest of all the firs, with long glaucous tinted 

 needles, and when planted against a dark background 

 is very effective. It grows to a very big, narrow, com- 

 pact pyramid. 'I'lie type is grayish green in color, but 

 there is a graduation among trees from that color to 

 nearly white. A. c. violacea is, I think, the best col- 

 ored one; it is said to have violet colored cones, while 

 the others are green. 



A. concolor Lowina — A lasiocarpa of garden-* and 

 more generally known under that name — has the nee- 

 dles long and recurved, set apart, of a grayish green 

 color. It is a very nice tree on account of its long 

 needles, but not very hardy everywhere; the young 

 foliage and shoots '"burn"' easily in winter. 



A. nobilis, from Washington and Oregon, is a good 

 hardy tree when once established, of irregular pictur- 

 esque pyramidal shape. The blue form is the one gen- 

 erally seen in cultivation; it is of a different darker 

 blue than concolor, needles sharper, recurved and 

 thicker set. Once started they make good growth, but 

 it is sometimes difficult to get a leader. Its best posi- 

 tion is on the lawn with a dark background. 



A. subalpina is the true lasiocarpa. This tree varies 

 much in color, is more or less blue and has longer or 

 shorter narrow noodles. It grows wild in the Sierras 

 from Arizona to Washington. It is a nice little tree 

 when young; I have never seen it in large size. It 

 starts early in the spring and the yoimg shoots are 

 often killed by the late frost. A. Arizonica, the "cork 

 bark fir," is a form of it; I have not found this very 

 hardy. 



Among other American firs are A. amabilis, A. 

 bracteata, A. grandis,^ A. magnifica, and their forms. 

 They are all beautiful trees of great ornamental value. 

 There may be in New England some very sheltered 

 situations where they might be gi-own, but in general 

 they will not stand our climate, as is true of all the 

 conifers from the west side of the Eocky mountains 

 and Pacific coast. 



From Europe we have A. pectinata, white fir. It is 

 the great lumber tree of Central Europe; looks much 

 like balsamea, but the needles are longer and more 

 o-lossy and stand flat on each side of the shoots; it 

 is of much larger dimension. Like balsamea it is of 

 not much ornamental value when young; does not 

 grow compact enough; the branches are flat and dis- 



