Greater evergreen trees of Northern Forest 37 



always a gain in having a tree from a like climate. If 

 we go to California and warm regions for our ever- 

 greens we may make mistakes, and costly ones. There 

 are certainly fine trees in the North Pacific region ; but 

 for the evergreen woodland we ought to take first the 

 hardiest trees of regions like our own. 



We have to steer clear of many pitfalls made for us 

 by catalogues in giving pompous Latin names to mere 

 ' states ' or slight varieties of each tree ; of fine trees 

 not hardy save in favoured spots, as the Indian Deodar; 

 of false names like Retinospora ; of failures like Crypto- 

 meria ; of trees starting too early in our spring ; of 

 weedy, poor trees like the western Arbor-vitae, and to 

 whole lists of poor varieties of such trees, rubbish for 

 woodland, and little better for the pleasure ground. 



Useless evergreen trees. Much has been spent and 

 wasted in planting these, owing to the excitement over 

 the Wellingtonia and other Pacific coast trees. For 

 these, people almost ceased to plant the best native 

 trees and the really good Pines for our land, the main 

 result in many cases, except in the most favoured places, 

 being ugly sticks often half dead. The effect, also, is 

 so ugly in what is called the ' Pinetum ' that people 

 might well be tired of planting conifers. But the true 

 ' Pinetum J is the Pine wood, where no tree should ever 

 enter which is not as hardy as the Scotch Fir or the 

 Yew. 



The Deodar Cedar is unfit for the woodlands of our 

 country, being tender. The Redwood of California, 

 which is a fine tree in its own country and grows 

 pretty well with us, is injured almost every year even 

 in southern parts of England, though it may thrive as 

 a close wood. Araucarias should never be planted in 



