' 274 EVERGREENS. 



hardy but browns worse if possible in winter than 

 the red cedars. 



Norway Spruce. This has been in the near past 

 perhaps the most popular of all the spruces. Bryant 

 says it is more valuable than either the White or 

 Black, and Michaux says it grows to the height of 

 150 feet in its native country, and requires 100 

 years to mature. As an ornamental tree in the 

 State of Illinois and the eastern half of Iowa it is, 

 when young, or was before the advent of the spruces 

 from the Rockies, without a peer, where a grand 

 stately tree of large size is required, but after pass- 

 ing twenty or thirty years it loses its symmetry, 

 becomes ragged and unsightly, measureably, in the 

 locations described, but to a very marked degree in 

 the Missouri valley and west, where it has not the 

 quality of thrift and beauty even while young. 



White Spruce. This is so much like the Norway 

 that one accustomed to handling both might not 

 see the difference, yet it is a distinct species and 

 the difference easy to see when the attention is 

 called to it. In Nebraska it is a very much better 

 tree and much hardier and more valuable in every 

 way. This is called the "White Spruce of Wiscon- 

 sin". There is another variety of this, or it is 

 claimed by some a distinct species, which is not 

 established, and not probable. It will be described 

 under the name of the following, 



Black Hills Spruce. Foliage is much darker, 

 and more silvery than the foregoing, a slower 

 grower, and the expression of the tree is entirely 



