88 REMOVAL TO NEW LOCALITIES — TErMMING. 



CHANGES IN TREES BY REMOVAL TO OTHER LOCALITIES. 



Dr. C. C. Parry, of Davenport, Iowa, to whom science is indebted for 

 many useful observations in botany, has remarked ^ the extreme slow- 

 ness and apparent frequent failure in the introduction of new and desira- 

 ble forms from the domain of native botany to horticulture, the best results 

 being the accumulation of ages of laborious experiment, in which adapt- 

 ation has had time and opportunity for working out the desired results. 

 As an illustration of the results that may follow the removal of trees 

 Irom their native locality, leading to unexpected success or disappoint- 

 ment, he cites an illustration from his own experience : 



In 1862, while engaged in making botanical explorations in the high alpine districts 

 of the Rocky Mountains, I made my first collection of conifer seeds for distribntion, 

 inclnding, besides rare and new species, others well known from early California col- 

 lections. In sending off my collections (mainly to Europe), I naturally called special 

 attention to such as were new and rare, but at the same time sent a collection of all. 

 In due time the seeds were planted in widely remote localities, where it would be im- 

 possible to trace them out, but a few of each kind were retained by Professor Gray, at 

 Cambridge, Mass., and there sown. It seems that by some accident in transplanting 

 the names were misplaced, and eventually lost, so that many years after on a visit, I 

 was requested to examine the different plants, and name the species as well as I could 

 from what I knew of them in their native haunts in the Rocky Mountains. Of course, 

 there was no difficulty with reference to the Douglas spruce, which had been readily rec- 

 ognized from its characteristic foliage, but the striking difference which the tree from 

 the Rocky Mountain seed exhibited by the side of the same identical species from Cali- 

 fornia was apparent as far as they could be seen. The former, thrifty, with bright green 

 foliage, then just putting forth its early summer shoots; the other, with blighted 

 branches, brown, faded leaves, and general decrepit growth. Another species to which 

 my attention was directed, was justly regarded by its owner as the prince of the lawn, 

 presenting a symmetrical cone of dense foliage, covered with a peculiar bluish- 

 silvery bloom, indicating, in the .abundance of stomata, an unusual vigor of growth. In 

 this, also, I had no difficulty in recognizing an old familar acquaintance, the Menzies 

 spruce. The other species of spruce, or pine, on which I had laid so much stress and 

 built so many horticultural hopes, had been overlooked, or proved failures ; but I was 

 urgently advised, iu future collections, to give special attention and colb ct copiously 

 of these common kinds which, two thousand miles from their native habitation, had 

 developed such remarkable horticultural value. In view of such facts, I should be very 

 reluctant to adopt or sanction an opinion that has recently been expressed in discus- 

 sion before this society, that for ornamental evergreens in Iowa we must be contented 

 with the stiff forms of the Norway spruce, or the unsymmetrical Scotch or Austrian 

 pine. However desirable these may be in their proper sphere, and especially as 

 ad.-vpted by long culture to horticultural conditions, we may certainly hope, eventually, 

 to find something more graceful, more symmetrical, and densely foliaged, to grace our 

 ornamental lawns, or act as wind-breaks to soften the force of our tierce winter winds. 

 Whether these desirable acquisitions are to come from our own adjacent mountains 

 or from far Cathay, thoy must and will be eventually secured. 



TRDOIING OF FOREST TREES — REPAIR OF INJURIES. 



Trees left to themselves, successively lose their lower branches as 

 they grow in height, by a natural process of dying out and dropping off, 

 until they reach a certain height, which does not differ greatly in a 

 given species under like circumstances, but is much greater in a dense 

 forest than where freely exposed to the sun in the open air. 



tical direction, so as to work the soil in among the roots, and vacant places may be 

 filled up by crowding with the hand. So, also, when we plant a ball of earth with 

 the roots, the little interstices b'tween this and the sides of the hole should all be 

 carefully filled. Finally, we fill in the remainder with the soil taken from the bottom, 

 pressing it down, and somewhat heaping it up. Thus we reverse the order iu which the 

 soil was taken out. In planting iu a trench, we observe the same order ; but when 

 setting trees with opposite branches such as the maple, ash, horsochestnut, and the 

 like, it is well to place the trees so that the principal branches shall be parallel or 

 transverse to the line of the trench." — (Jrires d'Ornement de Pleine Terre, p. 143.) 

 1 Report on Botany iu its Relations to Borticulture ; Iowa Hort. Report, 1876, p. 167. 



