ORNAMENTAL PLANTING. 



itc off the smaller shoots over the whole surface of the tree, finding-, 



apparently, at the gibbous base of the shoot made in the preceding 



summer, a small portion of pith; at least, we have never seen any but 



;i>ot of one season's growth to be bitten oil', and always to have 



_uawed only at its base. Being astonished at the wide extent of 



- committed by these animals, in a large plantation of spruces, 



tree being untouched, we caused tin- shoots, which had been 



bitten off and were lying under one tree, to be collected. They filled two 



corn-sacks. The etfect upon the specimen is extremely destructive to its 



:\ anil its growth. 



Among the firs long introduced among us is the hemlock spruce 

 fir (1'inus C'anadensis) a tree of vast growth in its native regions 



r;h America, and of beauty so striking that we wonder it should 

 still be rare in our gardens. In foliage it resembles the yew, but is 

 of a light and cheerful tint, and is free from that rigidity of habit, 

 which is the general fault of the trees of that section of the genus 

 Pinus, which bear solitary leaves, and are generally called firs in con- 

 tradistinction to the pines, which bear their leaves in distinct sheaths, 

 enveloping more or less crowded fascicles. A most interesting fir of 



ction has been recently introduced into this country by the in- 

 defatigable collector of the Horticultural Society of London, Mr. David 

 Douglas, from the north-western regions of North America, where it is 

 found abundantly between the rocky mountains and the Pacific ocean. 

 Pinus Donglasii, which is, perhaps, the Pinus taxifolia of Menzies, is a 

 stupenduous tree, growing from 150 to 200 feet in height. One specimen 

 is -aid, by a traveller upon the Columbia, to have measured 230 feet 

 in height, and fifty feet in circumference. Its timber is singularly 

 close-grained and heavy, its bark surprisingly thick, its foliage very 

 elegant. It is quite hardy, and apparently of rapid growth. Judging 

 iroin the appearance of young specimens, we deem it the most lovely of 

 i known to us. Reverting to the section, the leaves of which, like 

 the Scottish fir, are borne in sheaths, we must mention another fine hardy 

 tree, brought from the same regions by the same distinguished traveller, 

 Pinus ponderosa, so I named from the great specific gravity of its valuable 

 wood. It appears to resemble the Scotch fir in habit, has longer leaves, 

 rapidly, but is understood not to arrive at the gigantic stature of 

 ii. Its wood is singularly close in the grain, and of great 

 durability, probablv excelling in value that of any other species of the whole 

 tribe; and as it appr to grow as last in this climate as the Scotch 



inclined to think that it ought everywhere to supersede that 

 iiut as the whole of the individuals among us were probably 

 from the cones imported by Mr. Douglas, a fresh importation is a 

 ible mattt-r, to which we invite the attention of the public. A 



ii known to the Romans (Pin US Laricio) has lately travelled to our 

 collection^ fiom the mountains of Corsica. Though its native habitation 



: to us, it had entirely escaped the notice of British collectors, 



till the overthrow of Napoleon introduced to them a specimen thriving 



M the arboretum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. Since 



then it has Uen raised in considerable numbers in some of the London 



! not only of the mountains of ( 'orsica, but of the 



loftier summits of the (ireciau archipelago, and has been found upon 



Mount Ida. Handsomer when young than the Scotch fir, it is equally 



;id liner foliage, is <-i more elegant habit, produces 



;.ecific gravity, and is very deserving of the marked 



HI, not only of the ornamental planter, but also of the planter for 



