200 



The HorllcaUaritit and Journal 



Evergreens, Novelties and 

 D^warfs. 



Hcport of T. C. M'ti-icfll, of Oenevti, to Weisteiii 

 j\V»t' Xorh- Jlortirultiifiil Society. 



PROBABLY never before was there a 

 time when so many intelligent men were 

 so deeply interested in the cultivation and 

 development of Ornamental Trees and Plants 

 — when this interest was so wide spread — 

 when so many men were looking for " Sports 

 of Nature," and striving by the best modes of 

 culture, to produce such novelties as will 

 interest the great army of Nurserymen and 

 the immensely greater number of Amateurs, 

 and it is the opinion of the writer that all who 

 have, or will give this subject unprejudiced 

 thought, will concede that these efforts are 

 not without reasonable and encouraging re- 

 sults — the horticultural wofld moves. 



It is true that some of these new things at 

 first appear to some as deformities, unsightly 

 and unworthy of a place in good collections, 

 and so are hastily condemned, yet when we 

 become acquainted with their peculiarities and 

 see them used by men of skill and taste, we 

 can but see that they will add greatly to the 

 interest and beauty of the picture we make 

 about our dwellings and in our parks and 

 cemeteries. 



On Mt. Hounes, Fishkill-on-the- Hudson, is 

 found a sport from our well known Hemlock. 

 The species we all know is remarkably 

 graceful and beautiful, lofty and grand, but 

 this sport grows down as persistently as the 

 Kilmarnock Willow — a real deformity, and 

 yet on Mr. Sargent's lawn it is one of the 

 most interesting and ornamental plants in his 

 entire collection — "a thing of beauty," with 

 which scarcely another tree or plant on these 

 most beautiful grounds or in all the land can 

 compare. 



In England, a nurseryman is sending out 

 a Juniper, "hardy as an Oak," of a beautiful 

 golden yellow through and through. He 

 says "we may a few years hence see our 

 lawns and pleasure grounds adorned with 



pyramids nf gold,'''' and we are told that in 

 France is found a Birch with leaves as purple 

 as the Purple Beech, and we hear in one 

 direction of a Dwarf Weeping Spruce, and 

 in another of an Upright Larch, and in 

 another of a Variegated Spruce, and a Grolden 

 Arbor Vit?e, and of various other sports, some 

 of which we can but hope will prove valuable 

 acquisitions. The numerous variations in 

 form of growth, shape and color of leaf, are 

 adding largely to our list of choice valuable 

 trees and plants, for ornament. 



We are getting variegations of leaf, yellow 

 and white, in nearly all our ornamental trees 

 and shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, 

 and a few eases of tri-colors. Some of these 

 sports are very beautiful, and yet they appear 

 to many persons who only give them a pass- 

 ing glance, as sickly specimens, only fit to be 

 thrown away, and in this careless way, no 

 doubt, many valuable things have been lost, 

 but the time has come when anything re- 

 markable in shape of tree, shape or color of 

 foliage, should have a careful trial, and if 

 found worthy, propagated and disseminated. 



The word "evergreen" in many minds is 

 so associated with the green of our old Balsam 

 Fir and Norway Spruce, that they will 

 scarcely accept as an evergreen any variation 

 from the color of these well known trees, but 

 if they will examine the best catalogues of 

 this country as well as Europe, or what is 

 worth a hundred times more, examine a good 

 collection of trees and plants, they will be 

 interested to notice the many beautiful hues 

 of green evergreens — the white evergreens, 

 some spotted with white foliage all through 

 the plant, and others white only on the ends 

 of the branches — the blue or glaucous ever- 

 greens, some of which are exceedingly beauti- 

 ful — the yellow evergreens, some yellow all 

 through the tree, and others only on the ends 

 of the branchlets of the current year's growth, 

 and in some varieties this yellow and white 

 foliage is sound and hardy — the white will 

 probably prove more liable to burn in the sum- 

 mer than the yellow. Perhaps it will not be 

 out of place right here to say, that I think the 

 best way to bring out the greatest beauty in 



