196 CONIFEROUS TREES 



are clothed throughout with distinctly pendulous 

 and feathery branchlets. Some difference in the 

 shade of colour is noticeable on different specimens, 

 but usually this is of a dark green and nearly 

 approaching that of the better known and more 

 commonly cultivated Hemlock Spruce {T. cana- 

 densis). Both as an ornamental tree and for its 

 rapid growth, this species can well hold its own 

 with any other that has yet been introduced. It 

 is of erect growth with a stout, leading shoot, 

 that usually keeps well ahead of the branches, 

 the latter being long, lithe, and of irregular lengths, 

 while the branchlets are distinctly pendulous 

 and feathery. The foliage is two-ranked, and 

 spreads horizontally, or nearly so, each leaf half 

 an inch long, and of a dark shade of green. Cones 

 are plentifully produced in this country, resem- 

 bling those of T, canadensis, but having more 

 elongated scales and longer wings to the seeds. 

 They are of a distinct russety brown when fully 

 mature. 



The tree, when favourably situated, is of rapid 

 upward growth, the average of fifteen specimens 

 that I measured being 15 inches a year. By far 

 the finest specimen that I have measured is grow- 

 ing amongst the Welsh hills at Hafodunos, and 

 which produced in thirty-five years 48J feet of 

 wood, or fully i| feet a year. I have experimented 

 with the timber of twenty-five years' growth, and 

 though it is hard, not heavy, and of a pleasing 

 light brown colour, yet the lasting properties were 

 not remarkable. The partial immaturity of the 

 wood would, to some extent, account for this. This 

 species is worthy of trial for afforesting purposes. 



