542 EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 



its growth than some of the other dwarfs. At Ellwanger & Barry's 

 nursery, in Rochester, a specimen was shown us which, after grow- 

 ing as a dwarf for some years, at last started up more ambitiously, 

 and having elected a leader, proceeded to grow at the same rate as 

 ordinary Norway firs, and was, when seen, twelve feet high ! Mr. 

 Edward Dagge, the foreman of the ornamental department of that 

 great nursery, thinks that many of the dwarf firs are so in conse- 

 quence of the inferior vigor of these varieties being distributed 

 among an infinitude of twigs ; and that when one of the vertical 

 branches is favored by accident or design, so as to make it a 

 leader, it will bring the tree back, in a considerable degree, towards 

 the normal form and habit of the species. 



GREGORY'S DWARF FIR. Abies e. gregoriana. This is a dwarf 

 of recent introduction, and, considered as an evergreen shrub, is 

 the most valuable for garden embellishment of any of the dwarf 

 spruces. It will probably grow from three to five feet high, and 

 four to eight feet broad ; has a compact yet not rigid growth, and 

 the foliage is a pure healthy green. We cordially recommend it 



THE CONICAL NORWAY SPRUCE FIR. A. e. conica (strirta?). 

 A variety of slow growth and very compactly conical form. It will 

 probably make a tree twenty to forty feet high, of formal outline. 

 The Abies degans is much like it, but has stifFer and more meagre 

 foliage. 



THE COMPACT NORWAY SPRUCE FIR, A. e. compacta, resembles 

 the preceding in form, but has a little more freedom of growth. It 

 is simply an unusually compact tree, with the normal habits of the 

 species in most respects, but of less vigorous growth. 



THE TORTUOUS COMPACT SPRUCE FIR, A. e. tortuosa compacta, 

 is a dwarfish and more spreading tree than the preceding, with 

 young branches curiously twisted. It promises to be an interesting 

 tree. 



THE INVERTED-BRANCHED SPRUCE FIR, Abies e, inverta, Fig. 

 172, is the most curious and the prettiest of all the sports of the 

 Norway spruce. The branches turn so naturally towards the earth, 

 that it is absolutely necessary, as with the weeping beech, to tie 

 its leader to a stake or stiff twig, to gain the height necessary to ex- 

 hibit the charming oddity of its growth. When it is thus trained, 



