244 Landscape Gardening 



variety of purposes for which this tree may be used is so 

 indefinite. Certainly there are few trees more strikingly 

 picturesque than a fine Norway spruce, 40 or 50 years old, 

 towering up from a base of thick branches which droop 

 and fall to the very lawn, and hang off in those depending 

 curves which make it such a favorite with artists. Any 

 one who wishes ocular demonstration of the truth of this, 

 will do well to daguerreotype in his mind (for certainly, 

 once seen, he can never forget them) the fine specimens on 

 the lawn at the seat of Col. Perkins, near Boston; or two 

 or three, still larger, and almost equally well developed, in 

 the old Linnaean Garden of Mr. Winter, at Flushing, Long 

 Island. 



The Norway spruce, abroad, is thought to grow rapidly 

 only on soils somewhat damp. But this is not the case in 

 America. We saw lately a young plantation of them of 

 10 or 12 years growth in the ground of Capt. Forbes, of 

 Milton Hill, near Boston, on very high and dry gravelly 

 soil, many of which made leading shoots last season of 

 three or four feet. Their growth may be greatly promoted, 

 as indeed may that of all evergreens, by a liberal top- 

 dressing of ashes, applied early every spring or autumn.* 



Little seems to be known in the United States, as yet, of 

 the great value of the Norway spruce, for hedges. We 

 have no doubt whatever that it will soon become the favor- 

 ite plant for evergreen hedges, as the buckthorn and Osage 

 orange are already for deciduous hedges in this country. 

 So hardy as to grow everywhere, so strong, and bearing the 

 shears so well, as to form an almost impenetrable wall of 

 foliage, it is precisely adapted to thousands of situations in 

 the northern half of the Union, where an unfailing shelter, 

 screen, and barrier, are wanted at all seasons. 



The balsam fir is a neat, dark green evergreen tree, per- 

 haps more generally employed for small grounds and plan- 

 tations than any other by our gardeners. In truth it is 



* Unfortunately the Norway spruce is short-lived. After reaching 

 the age of 40 to 50 years it deteriorates rapidly. In the states of the 

 middle west and south it can hardly be grown at all. -- F. A. W. 



