58 



passed over without remark ; such as the white and pitch pines, 

 balsam fir, white or swamp cedar, and the savin or red cedar ; and 

 where nothing is stated to the contrary with regard to any vari- 

 ety, it may generally be considered as perfectly hardy. This 

 class embraces such trees as the Scotch Pine, Piniis sylvestris ; 

 Kui^ivmi, P . Austriaca ; Norway or Red, P. resinosa ; Cem- 

 brian, P. Cemhra ; Corsican, P. laricio ; Pyrenian, P. Pyrena- 

 ica ; Jersey, P. imps ; Dwarf or Mountain, P. pumila, which 

 grows about four or five feet high. The Lofty or Bhoton, 

 P. excelsa, has been in our grounds several years, and we have 

 some fair, though not large specimens of this splendid tree. Our 

 summer sun sometimes causes its leading shoots to die back, es- 

 pecially when the growth is very luxuriant. Perhaps this habit 

 might be starved out, by growing the tree in a poor, gravelly soil. 

 The larva of the white pine weevil, (^Rliynclioenus strobi,^ often 

 kills the leader of this tree, as well as that of the white pine, Nor- 

 way spruce, and others, rendering them unsightly for a season or 

 two. Whenever a shoot is observed to wither, it should immedi- 

 ately be cut oif, below the injured part, and burnt before the grub 

 makes his escape. 



Norway Spruce, Abies excelsa ; Black or Double American, 

 A. 7iigra ; White American, A. alba; Lord Clanbrasil's dwarf Nor- 

 way Spruce, A. excelsa Clanbrasillana, grows about three feet 

 high — very bushy and compact. Another dwarf variety is A. e. 

 jyyymaea, whicli grows only a foot or so in height, but spreads 

 very much. American Hemlock, A. canedensis. Of these we 

 exhibited cuttings of four varieties, three of which are chance 

 seedlings. Ground Hemlock, Taxus canedensis. The Hemlock 

 needs the protection of other evergreen trees for the first three or 

 four years after having been planted in locahties exposed to the 

 influence of the sun or the wind. The Norway Spruce, Balsam 

 Fir, the Scotch, Austrian or White Pine, are all excellent nurse 

 trees for this purpose. Simply tieing in the branches of young 

 evergreens, before winter sets in, is not only a protection from the 

 rigors of winter, it also prevents injury from snow and ice. The 

 Himalayan Fir, A. /Smithiana, is invariably cut down to the snow 

 line in winter. Our trees — about a dozen — which were planted 

 some eight years ago, still live, but their growth being chiefly 

 lateral, they have become a sort of low, scragged hedge. Euro- 

 pean Silver Fir, Picea pectinata, makes rather slow upward pro- 

 gress for three or four years, but afterwards grows rapidly, and 

 becomes a lofty and perfectly hardy tree. Siberian Silver, 

 P. picJita, and Noble Silver, H. nobilis, are both said to be per- 

 fectly hardy ; our plants have stood well for two winters, but as 

 they are only eight or ten inches high, we cannot, without further 

 trial, pronounce upon their hardiness. 



