Horticulture in the United States. 13 



Every year gathers up additional facts relative to the hardi- 

 ness of many of the new and rare ConiferaB which have but 

 very recently been introduced. At page 460 we have given 

 an account of several pines which have withstood the se- 

 verity of our climate for three or four years ; and the infor- 

 mation which comes to us from various sources shows that 

 much remains yet to be known in regard to locality, soil, 

 exposure, &c., before we can safely pronounce a tree not to 

 be hardy. We have, we believe, before mentioned that 

 Cedrus deodara, in a soil where the least moisture stands 

 about its roots in winter, often loses the ends of its branches, 

 while in a dry locality it is as hardy as our native hemlock ; 

 and we have recently noticed, in our foreign journals, that 

 the Cryptomeria japonica in Scotland, in cold, damp soils, is 

 almost sure to be destroyed, while in a dry one it has come 

 out of the winter unharmed. These facts show that we 

 should not hastily decide upon the hardiness of a tree, but 

 await the trial of experiments in various soils and exposures. 



We look forward with high expectations, of many valua- 

 ble additions to our hardy trees and shrubs from California. 

 Mr. Prince, of Flushing, has returned after three years' so- 

 journ there, and in a supplementary catalogue which he has 

 forwarded us, we notice no less than forty species, among 

 them two magnificent evergreen oaks, a California Bay or 

 laurel, with splendid evergreen foliage, an evergreen Photinia 

 with clusters of snow-white flowers, an arbor vitae, forming 

 a tree one hundred feet high, Pinus californica, ponderosa 

 insignis, &c. &c., Cupressus mexicana, /uniperus mexicana, 

 and others. These will all undoubtedly prove hardy, espe- 

 cially in the middle states, and will be most important addi- 

 tions to our already increasing variety of trees and shrubs. 



It only remains now for our nurserymen to take hold with 

 energy, and propagate a good stock of all the finer species 

 and varieties, and test the hardiness of those of which there 

 are doubts, that gentlemen may know which to buy and 

 which to reject. Some information of this may be obtained 

 by knowing the native habitat, and the country from whence 

 they were introduced. But there is no such satisfactory way 

 of ascertaining the requisite information as by actual trial. 



