186 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 





lartitiiltiiml J)f|jartnuiit. 



SIX HARDY EVER6EEENS. 



In a climate where deciduous trees are destitute of 

 foliage for nearly three-fourths of the year, it is sur- 

 prising to witness the tardiness with which farmers 

 plant out evergreens. Take a sleigh ride in almost 

 any direction, and you will find set out along each 

 sid^ of the road, at regular distances, tall, straight, 

 branchless sticks — a cross between a hop-pole and a 

 telegraph post — which you will be surprised to hear are 

 intended for shade trees; but where will you meet with 

 a grove of evergreens surrounding a farmer's quiet 

 homestead ? The glaring white houses look cold and 

 cheerless, as the fierce north-wind whistles around 

 their unprotected gables. The atmosphere becomes 

 colder as you gaze, and you drive on, thinking it less 

 strange that so many farmers' sons and daughters are 

 willing to leave such bare and desolate scenes for 

 even the dingy walls of a crowded city, than that in- 

 telligent, industrious, prosperous farmers should so 

 far lose sight of their own interest as to neglect to 

 ornament their rural homes, by planting out a few of 

 the hemlocks, firs, pines or cedars which are to be 

 found in great numbers in their own woods, and which 

 could be transplanted with a ball of earth around 

 tiieir roots, at little expense, during the leisure season 

 of the year. 



There has been much difierence of opinion in re- 

 gard to the best time for transplanting evergreens, 

 from the fact that if the operation is performed with 

 care they can be transplanted with safety at any sea- 

 i8on of the year. In removing large trees from the 

 woods to another part of the same farm, and when 

 a considerable quantity of earth ia taken up with 

 them — as should always be the case in transplanting 

 large evergreens — probably the best time is in the 

 winter, because the farmer has then more leisure and 

 it is easier to remove them with a large ball of earth. 

 Setting aside all considerations of leisure and facility, 

 the best time to transplant evergreens is during the 

 present month, or just as the buds are "swelling to 

 burst." 



The point of most importance in transplanting is to 

 avoid exposing the roots to the air. If the roots are 

 exposed to the sun and wind till they are dried the 

 tree may live, but the chances are very much lessened. 



Nearly all evergreens prefer a rather soft, moist 

 soil, but not wet with stagnant water. They will do 

 well, however, on nearly all soils by judicious manage- 

 ment. Dig the holes of good size and depth, and if 

 you have any muck or peat that has been thrown up 

 a year or two and is thoroughly decomposed— -if it 



has been decomposed with ashes or lime so ranch th« 

 better — put a small barrowful under each tree and 

 mis it up with the soil, and then plant the tree on 

 the top, spreading the roots out carefully and cover- 

 ing them with light, moist soil. Mulch the ground 

 round the tree, and you will be abundantly rewarded 

 for your labor. 



In regard to the best kinds of evergreens, it is dif- 

 ficult to make a selection from so many worthy candi- 

 dates. We have, however, concluded to name six 

 that are perfectly hardy and every way desirable, 

 forming an agreeable contrast in color and habit 



The Norway Spruce (Abies excelsa.) This is a 

 rapid growing, hardy and most beautiful tree. Even 

 in old specimens its fringed branches are gracefully 

 spread out on ihe ground and ascend pyramidically 

 to the top, with its leader pointing to the Bkiee. — 

 There are some beautiful specimens of this tree grow- 

 ing in the grounc's of Aaron Ericsson Esq., of this 

 city, which we never see without exclaiming with 

 Richard Hooker, " the goodliness of trees when we 

 behold them delighteth the eye," and recalling the 

 remark of a more modern bat less orthodox writer, 

 that " without trees the world would be a desert; with 

 them it can be made a paradise." It is the loftiest 

 tree indigenous to Europe, attaining in some instan- 

 ces the height of 180 feet. It derives its nourish- 

 ment chiefly from the surface and luxuriates in soil 

 which is cool and moist; and with a surface-soil of 

 ordinary quality, is one of the few trees that will 

 thrive where the sub-soil is wet and retentive. There 

 is a noble specimen of this tree at Studley, England, 

 150 years old. In 1853 it was 124J feet high and at 

 a yard from the surface of the ground, the trunk was 

 14| feet in circumference. It is still healthy and vig- 

 orous with branches and foliage nearly to the ground. 

 It stands in a sheltered situation on a rich alluvial 

 deposit, and has at no period of its growth sufiered 

 from confinement. The late A. J. Downing says, 

 " there is no ornamental evergreen, on the whole bo 

 satisfactory, so hardy in all parts of the country, and 

 so well adapted to all soils as the Norway Spruce." 

 Thb Black Spruce (Abies nigra.) is indigenous 

 to this country, and closely resembles its Norway Con- 

 gener in habit, though differing from it somewhat in 

 the richer color and increased deasity of its foliage 

 and its less rapid growth. The tree is abnndant in 

 all the northern States, and farmers cannot plant it 

 too extensively? It is from this tree that the genuiiie 

 and wholesome "spruce beer" is made. 



The Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvesiris.) This is also 

 a hardy, vigorous and rapid growing tree ; its dark 

 color and general habit forming an agreeable con- 

 trast with other evergreens. If a native is prefered 

 the Weymouth or White Pine (Finns strobus,) ia 

 every way suitable, though its growth is not so rapid 

 as the Scotch pine. Though indigenous to America, 

 it has become extensively known as the Weymouth 

 pine, from the fact, that at the beginning of the last 

 century large numbers were planted by Lord Wey- 

 mouth on his estate in Wiltshire, England. It is the 

 American White pine of commerce. 



The Austrian Pink (Pinus ./3wsi?-?acaj was intro- 

 duced into England in 1835, and is now more exten- 

 sively propagated than any other foreign pine. It is 

 also rapidly gaining favor in this country. It is, per- 

 haps, the hardiest of all pines, thrives on a great variety 

 of soils, and is of robust growth and handsome habit 

 In Austria, it sometimes attains Ite height of 100 



