154 CONIFERS 



soft silvery tone of its foliage, and it is the most graceful because 

 it has the longest and softest needles. Most firs are stiff; this is not. 

 But England has us badly beaten on hundred-foot firs. She 

 can grow to perfection the colossal firs that attain two hundred and 

 three hundred feet on the Pacific Coast the Cascade Mountains, 

 Puget Sound, Columbia, and California red firs (Abies amabilis, 

 grandis, nobilis, magnified). These we can never hope to grow. 

 But I saw them only as specimens in collections; they do not 

 affect the English landscape. Whether we can ever grow hundred- 

 foot conifers on Eastern estates time alone can tell. Our only 

 chance, apparently, among firs is with the Colorado white and the 

 Crimean (Abies concolor and Nordmanniana). If we fail we can 

 console ourselves with the reflection that they are out of proportion, 

 anyhow, on a small estate. 



THEIR BEST PINE AND OURS 



The only pine native to England is the "Scotch" (Pinus 

 sylvestris) and it is no wonder that we waste thousands of dollars on 

 it, for in its own country it is very lovely. It is a picturesque pine, 

 but mildly so, as befits a mildly picturesque country. Its chief 

 asset is its warm red bark. And since it is everywhere planted 

 for timber it conspires with the brick cottages, tile roofs, and rosy 

 cheeks of the people to make England seem the warmest and 

 merriest place on earth. Fortunately, the tree is open enough to 

 display the red bark to advantage. The metallic blue cast of the 

 foliage is the third element of its beauty. 



In America, the Scotch pine grows quickly but deteriorates 

 or dies after twenty or thirty years. Our nearest approach to it 

 is the red pine (Pinus resinosa) which agrees with the Scotch in 

 having an open, roundish head when old, two leaves in a bundle, 



