276 EVERGREENS. 



wonderful beauty while young; but these retain 

 their attractiveness down to old age. But in 

 order to see these trees in all their glory, you should 

 see them while they are bearing their cones. All 

 are dressed in their marvelous attire of silver and 

 green. On one tree the cones are of a deep red 

 purple. What a contrast to the other hues 

 another has cones of lightest green, and another 

 contrast. The cones grow erect at the top of the 

 tree, and are perfect in form, about the size of an 

 ear of Sweet corn. As they mature these colors 

 seem to deepen, and then from the cones that clear 

 gum exudes; the sun shines, and it seems almost 

 too beautiful for earth. I note that these trees do 

 as well at the east as they do in their own habitat 

 and you will soon have these mountain treasures 

 there. I have tried selecting seeds from the rarest 

 specimen and find that among the thousands now 

 coming up, most of them fairly sparkle with silver." 



The above description was evidently written by 

 a lover of trees, and while it is somewhat florid, it 

 is not overdrawn, as words are poor for painting a 

 beautiful tree or flower. This description will 

 apply to the Douglass, and with greater force to the 

 Pungens, the most beautiful and hardy of all. 



Douglass Spruce. In habit like the hemlock 

 from which it acquired its botanic name, Seudo- 

 tsuga, Tsuga being the hemlock species. 



Seen at a distance good specimens are taken for 

 the Pungens, and it is said that the specimens 

 grooving at the greatest elevations produce the 



