80 ANNTJAX REPORT 



sists nature in her operations, and whenever truant branches (as 

 he is pleased to call them) reach out too far away from the parent 

 stock a little clipping in with the shears is very effectual to pro- 

 mote harmony of growth, and whitli, if done before the scion strays 

 too far, is soon covered up with a dense foliage, so that a practical 

 eye could hardly detect nature's wandering attempt." 



Here is the Abies Excelsa. Although a native of Norway it has 

 become universally popular on account of its many good qualities; 

 so healthy, hardy, thrifty and graceful when young and adapts 

 itself to so great a variety of soil and climates that no native tree 

 on our own continent is so universally planted for embellishment. 



The next in value as a hardy ornamental tree is the alms nigra 

 or black spruce. We must not confound this with the alha or 

 white spruce, it being a far better and more desirable tree, equal in 

 many respects and in some superior to the Norway spruce. Both 

 trees have proved to be superb representatives of their class. The 

 Professor says, " the abies alba has not given satisfaction in these 

 grounds, its growth and foliage is too thin and meagre." There are 

 several others of the spruce family that deserve attention, but our 

 time is too limited to notice them all. But here is one that seems 

 to be an oddity in its way, almost calculated to provoke our risi- 

 bility. Fanc}'^ might imagine it to be the old man of the forest, 

 clothed in a monk's gown. It is labeled Abies excelsa inverta. The 

 Professor describes it to be " a sport of the Norway spruce." The 

 branches turn so naturally toward the earth that it is absolutely 

 necessary to tie the leader to a stake to gain the height necessary 

 to exhibit the charming oddity of its growth. 



When it is thus trained the side branches fall directly down- 

 wards, and with their rich covering of foliage drape the stem as a 

 robe falls around the person. This and Wales' new drooping Nor- 

 way spruce and the Picea pectinata pendula, their counterpart in 

 another famil} . are the three most charming novelties among the 

 hardy evergreens suited to the decoration of small places. 



Our attention is now directed to the beautiful Piceas, the most 

 common of w4iich is the Balsam fir. It is a native of our North- 

 ern States, and the Professor says, "the most popular and least val- 

 uable of the whole tribe. As seen in the nursery it has a pleasing 

 effect, and it is not singular that its infantile beauties have made it 

 the universal favorite with all novices in planting; but it is like one of 

 those pretty little girls who surprise us in a few years by her sud- 

 den transition to homely old maidenhood." The Professor no 

 doubt would have trees and girls grow old gracefully. 



