EVERGREENS. 259 



where the air is constantly li timid. Where the 

 conditions even approximated those of the home 

 of the tree, in this respect, there has been 

 the nearest approach to success, as in the Austrian 

 pine; and where these* conditions were the most 

 dissimilar, the failure has been the greatest; as in 

 the Irish Junipers. The white pine is an illustra- 

 tion of the value and vitality of our northwestern 

 kinds, but this has been neglected, for the reason 

 that it was "too common," exactly what should 

 have crowded it to the front. 



Now, and strange enough quite recently, we have 

 discovered right here at home at the west of us, trees 

 that are unapproachable in hardiness by any of the 

 eastern or foreign kinds, and peerless in beauty. 

 The scholars; the art students of the world; the 

 critics of exclusive New England; the poet, the 

 botanist, all worship at these shrines of beauty. 

 Their loveliness cannot be described in words; one 

 must see them to appreciate them, and if that one 

 has one little spark of love of the beautiful, it will 

 be kindled into a grand fire of devotion when for 

 the first time they stand face to face. These are 

 principally the western White spruce, the Pungens; 

 Concolor and Douglass spruces described hereafter. 



At present the scarcity and great demand for 

 these trees hold them at high prices, but this will 

 soon change, and when they can be procured 

 abundantly and cheaply, all other kinds will retire 

 before them, and the revolution will be an accom- 

 plished fact 



