EVERGREEN ORNAMENTAL TREES. 293 



h of a light bluish green tint. The cones are also much 

 larger on the White Spruce tree. 



The Hemlock Spruce, or, as it is more commonly called, 

 the Hemlock (A. canadensis), is one of the finest and most 

 distinct of this tribe of trees. It is most abundantly 

 multiplied in the extreme northern portions of the Union ; 

 and abounds more or less, in scattered groups and thickets, 

 throughout all the middle states, while at the south it is 

 confined chiefly to the mountains. 



It prefers a soil, which, though slightly moist, is less humia 

 than that where the Black Spruce succeeds best ; and it 

 thrives well in the deep cool shades of mountain valleys. 

 In the Highlands of the Hudson it grows in great luxuri- 

 ance ; and in one locality, the sides of a valley near Crow's 

 nest, the surface is covered with the most superb growths 

 of this tree, reaching up from the water's edge to the very 

 summit of the hill, 1,400 feet high, like a rich and shadowy 

 mantle, sprinkled here and there only with the lighter and 

 more delicate foliage of deciduous trees. 



The average height of the Hemlock in good soils is about 

 70 or 80 feet ; and when standing alone, or in very small 

 groups, it is one of the most beautiful coniferous trees. The 

 leaves are disposed in two rovv^s on each side of the branches, 

 and considerably resemble those of the Yew, though looser 

 in texture, and livelier in color. The foliage, when the 

 tree has grown to some height, hangs from the branches in 

 loose pendulous tufts, which give it a peculiarly graceful 

 appearance. When young, the form of the head is 

 regularly pyramidal ; but when the tree attains more age, 

 t often assumes very irregular and picturesque forms. 



