the lakes. It is perhaps the most useful evergreen to-day in 

 this section of the country. To grow good specimens, great 

 care should be exercised to allow only one trunk to form, be- 

 cause heavy snows are very apt to injure their symmetrical 

 form when two or more reach the top of the tree. 



OBSERVATIONS ON FOREIGN CONIFERS GROWN FOR SEVERAL YEARS 

 ON THE COLLEGE GROUNDS. 



Abies Normanniana, Link. Nordmann's Fir. Habitat, the Cri- 

 mea and the Caucasus. A very desirable evergreen closely 

 resembling the better known Silver Fir; having larger and 

 more glossy green leaves. The young trees in our heavy soil 

 seem slow in growth, although they carry an abundance of 

 beautiful leaves, and seem not to be affected by the winters. 

 Its adaptability in Pennsylvania has been sufficiently tested to 

 pronounce it a very useful fir for a more general planting. 

 The accompanying- illustration shows a very good specimen 

 planted fourteen years in the clayey soil common in this val- 

 ley. It stands fifteen feet high with a very dense growth and 

 healthy foliage. 



Abies pectinata, De Can. Silver Fir. Habitat, S. Europe. 

 This very common fir has a noticeably slender form, its hori- 

 zontal branches being short, and soon die away from below. 

 Very young specimens are beautiful, but older trees lack many 

 qualities that make up an ornamental evergreen. Specimens 

 on the grounds are probably thirty years old; they stand 

 thirty feet high with no branches under ten feet. 



Biota orientalis, Don. Chinese Arbor Vitce. Habitat, China 

 and Japan. This was once much planted both for hedges and 

 specimens, but has fallen into disfavor in America. It has a 

 much slower growth than the American Arbor Vitae, but a 

 finer and brighter green foliage, which, however, turns a red 

 brown early in the fall. Our best specimen is about twenty 

 years old, but only seven feet high, loose and ragg-ed in out- 

 line. This is in clayey soil ; much better trees are grown in 

 lighter and more porous soils. 



Cupressus Lawsoniana, Mur. Lawson's Cypress. Habitat, N. 

 California. Yery deserving of greater popularity in Pennsyl- 

 vania. It was formerly feared that it would not be perfectly 

 hardy in this state. Our tree, now six feet high, has been 

 planted here for about fifteen years, and has shown no signs 



