10 forms 



40 „ 



100 „ 



160 „ 



460 „ 



ABIE8 17 



that the number of dwarf forms dealt with by earlier 

 writers is approximately as follows : 



Loudon in 1838 

 Carriere (1855-67) . . 

 Beissner (2nd ed., 1899) 

 Beissner (last ed., 1909) 

 The present writer . . 



ABIES. 



Having regard to the number of species and the length 

 of time that some of them have been in cultivation, the 

 silver firs have produced a curiously small number of 

 dwarf forms. With the exception of the pendulous forms, 

 only a few are obtainable or in cultivation, and only two 

 or three of them are in the first rank. The pendulous 

 forms as a rule grow either too high or else too strong, and 

 the dwarf upright forms are inclined to revert to the 

 arborescent type. A. balsamea, var. Hudsoiiica, A. con- 

 color, var. glauca compacta and var. pendula, are the best 

 I have met. There may be others equally satisfactory 

 among those described, but they are not in general culti- 

 vation. 



A. amabilis (Forbes) in nature grows up to 200 feet, but 

 away from its native habitat (Oregon, British Columbia, 

 and Washington) it has not proved a general success. It 

 grows slowly, and occasionally remains quite low-growing. 

 At Brickenden Grange, Herts, Elwes and Henry record 

 (vol. iv., p. 785) a dwarf form 1 foot high with spreading 

 branches 12 feet long. This specimen is of great age, and 

 it is suggested that the constant cropping of its leader by 

 animals caused it to grow in this manner. 



A. amabilis, var. compacta. 



Another specimen in my possession was stated to be 

 about twenty years old when I got it; it is evidently a 

 side branch grafted; it has made an erect shrub, about 



3 feet high and about as much through; it has made no 



2 



