TREES AND SHRUBS. 153 



Austrian, P. Austriaca; Norway or Red, P. rubra; Ccm- 

 brian, P. Cembra; Corsican, P. laricio ; Pyrcnian, P. Pyrena- 

 ica; Jersey, P. inops ; Dwarf or Mountain, P. pumila; which 

 grows about four or five feet high. The Lofty or Bhotan, 

 P. excelsa, has been in our grounds several years, and we have 

 some fair, though not large specimens of this splendid tree. 

 Our summer sun sometimes causes its leading shoots to die 

 back, especially wlicu the growth is very luxuriant. Perhaps 

 this habit might be starved out, by growing the tree in a poor, 

 gravelly soil. The larva of the white pine weevil, (^Rhynclioenus 

 strobi,') often kills the leader of this tree, as well as that of 

 the white pine, Norway spruce, and others, rendering them 

 unsightly for a season or two. Whenever a shoot is observed 

 to wither, it should immediately be cut off, below the injured 

 part, and burnt before the grub makes his escape. 



Norway Spruce, Abies excelsa; Black or Double American, 

 A. nigra; White American, A. alba; Lord Clanbrasil's dwarf 

 Norway Spruce, A. excelsa Clanbrasiliana, grows about three 

 feet high — very bushy and compact. Another dwarf variety 

 is A. e. pi/g-)naea, which grows only a foot or so in height, but 

 spreads very much, xlmerican hemlock, A. canedensis. Of 

 these we exhibited cuttings of four varieties, three of which 

 are chance seedlings. Ground Hemlock, Taxus canedensis. 

 The Hemlock needs the protection of other evergreen trees for the 

 first three or four years after having been planted in localities 

 exposed to the influence of the sun or the wind. The Norway 

 spruce. Balsam Fir, the Scotch, Austrian or White Pine, arc all 

 excellent nurse trees for this purpose. Simply tieing in the 

 branches of young evergreens, before winter sets in, is not only 

 a protection from the rigors of winter, it also prevents injury 

 from snow and ice. The Himalayan Fir, A. Smilhiana, is inva- 

 riably cut down to the snow line in winter. Our trees — about 

 a dozen — which were planted some eight years ago, still live, 

 but their growth being chiefly lateral, they have become a sort 

 of low, scragged hedge. European Silver Fir, Picea pectinati, 

 makes rather slow upward progress for three or four years, but 

 afterwards grows rapidly, and becomes a lofty and perfectly 

 hardy tree. Siberian Silver, P. pichta, and Noble Silver, 

 H. nobilis, are both said to be perfectly liardy ; our plants have 

 stood well for two winters, but as they are only eiglit or ten 



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