44 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



greeu form of it is oue of the least beautiful of all our conifers^ 

 aud he had seen it used by the thousand in an English nursery, in 

 trees from two to four feet high, to fill in roadways, as the greeu 

 trees could not be sold there at any price. 



He thought Picea pungens, in its blue forms, would always be 

 used largely for ornamental planting, but it is well to know the 

 truth, which seems to be that its duration, as a blue tree, is only 

 for a period of, say thirty to forty years. He is more aud more 

 convinced, however, that we have, in Abies concolor^ a tree of the 

 very first rank as to permanent color and beaiity, and which is 

 destined to come into popular favor and be very largely planted to 

 give a rich touch of unusual color to our masses of evergreen trees 

 in ornamental plantations. Its great scarcity and high price are 

 the only obstacles to its immediate use in large quantities, and a 

 supply will soon be grown to meet the demand. The curious fact 

 of this tree having the upper side of its foliage of the same beau- 

 tiful, silvery l)lue as the under side, makes this superb silvei" fir 

 the most strikingly effective tree, even to casual ol)servers, of any 

 species whatever now known to our gardens. 



On the question of transplanting evergreens, Mr. Temple agreed 

 pretty closely with Mr. Strong, although he believed that the larger 

 portion of losses sustained in this work are due more to careless 

 digging and packing, aud lack of attention afterward, than to the 

 supposed difficulties from planting at a wrong time of the year. 

 Another serious fault in such changes is the inattention to proper 

 selection of ground. Many trees set in moist ground live and 

 thrive, which if on a high and dry place would surely die. In Mr. 

 Temple's own grounds he has thousands of Balsam Fir and White 

 Spruce trees, put in between September 20 and the iiiiddlr of 

 October, which with few exceptions rooted well. 



Mr. Dawson did not fully agree with ]\Ir. Tem])le in regard to 

 evergreens from the old world. He considered Abies VeitcliU as 

 the very best we have so far as lie had seen them. A. Sachaliensis, 

 A. bracliyphylla^ A. Cilicica, A. Mariesii, and A. CepJialonica, he 

 esteemed liiglily desirable. Of the pines he named Pimis Koraien- 

 sis^ P. mnnticola, and P. Pence, and of the firs, Picea omorika, P. 

 AJaneyisis, and P. polita, — all of a promising character. Ever- 

 greens may attain a good growth in a sand-bank, in from one 

 hundred to two hundred years, but when we plant them for orna- 

 ment the ground nmst l)e in the best condition in order to have 

 them make their urowtli in our own dav and generation. 



