DECIDUOUS TREES. 407 



form in different specimens ; it should therefore be introduced spar- 

 ingly, and always for some special purpose. This purpose may be 

 either to give spirit to a group of other trees, to strengthen the 

 already picturesque character of a scene, or to give life and variety 

 to one naturally tame and uninteresting." 



Fortunately we have many other trees — evergreens too — which 

 are much better adapted to the uses suggested by Mr. Downing 

 than the larch. The Norway spruce is equally picturesque, and at 

 the same time a more beautiful tree. It carries all its foliage 

 through the winter months, sustaining with its verdure great lami- 

 nate masses of snow to contrast with the green of its drooping 

 branches , while such meagre foliage as the larch carries through 

 the summer months is lost even before it is touched by autumn 

 frosts and wind, and in winter it stands among its family of pines 

 the one naked branched tree which has been robbed of all its 

 beauty. 



When the larch puts forth its leaves in the spring, the exquisite 

 tender green of the foliage is very charming, at a time when the 

 evergreens have scarcely burst their buds, and only the aspen, the 

 white birch, the buckeyes and willows, have become beautiful with 

 verdure ; but in another month the Norway spruce surpasses it in 

 every element of beauty and picturesqueness. 



The European Weeping Larch, Z. e. pendula, is a very 

 curious and valuable picturesque small tree. It requires to be 

 grafted at from six to twelve feet from the ground, and when well 

 established it is as odd and graceful in its way as anything we have 

 seen. Sargent mentions that it is both difficult to propagate and 

 to transplant. It is irregularly spreading or flat-headed, rather than 

 conical like its prototype, and addicted to eccentricities of form. 



The Sikkim Larch, Z. Griffithiana, is, we believe, a native of 

 China, and is described by Dr. Hooker as " an inelegant, sprawling 

 branched tree, with the branches standing out awkwardly, and often 

 drooping suddenly." All of which goes to show that it is a tree of 

 very odd habit If it is also well clothed with leaves, its deformi- 

 ties of branching may be converted into picturesque beauty. In 



