1310 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, 1917 



What Kinds of Spruce to Plant 



There are three species of spruce 

 native to Eastern Canada, namely 

 the white, red, and black, but the 

 white is much the best for ornamental 

 purposes, and the black spruce has 

 not done well under cultivation at 

 Ottawa, says W. T. Macoun, Dom- 

 inion Horticulturist in "The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist." The black 

 spruce grows naturally in swampy 

 ground and appears stunted when 

 grown in well drained soil. The red 

 spruce, which is a very prominent 

 tree in the Maritime Provinces, is 

 a good deal like the Norway spruce 

 in color of foliage but is not as grace- 

 ful a tree as the Norway. The white 

 spruce is, however, a very desirable 

 tree. One should get the bluest 

 specimens that can be obtained as 

 individual trees vary much in color, 

 some being much bluer than others. 



This native spruce is a more grace- 

 ful tree than the Colorado blue or 

 Rocky Mountain blue spruce, but 

 both are necessary. Where there i^ 

 only room for one the preference is 

 given to the Colorado blue, as one 

 cannot get cjuite as blue an effect from 

 the white spruce and the Colorado 

 blue spruce makes less room. More- 

 over, the white spruce suffers from 

 the Spruce Gall Louse, which in re- 

 cent years has injured the appear- 

 ance of it. The variety of Colorado 

 blue spruce known as Kosteriana is 

 particularly blue. They are obtain- 

 ed grafted. If one has a large place 

 and needs many trees the cheapest 

 way to obtain blue specimens of this 

 spruce is to buy small mixed seed- 

 lings and select those of best color, 

 as the Colorado blue spruce varies 

 from a most attractive shade of steely 

 blue to green, and all gradations are 

 found in the seedlings. 



Well grown specimens of the bluest 

 shades are expensive. This spruce 

 is one of the hardiest. It succeeds 

 well in the prairie provinces, where 

 the temperatures are very low some- 

 times. It is a rather slow grower, 

 but eventually reaches a good height. 



One of the best spruces is a wes- 

 tern native species, Englemann's 

 spruce, which grows in the Rocky 

 Mountains. This does very well at 

 Ottawa. It has a more graceful out- 

 line than the Colorado Blue Spruce 

 and while the leaves are not quite so 

 blue they are of an attractive bluish 

 green shade. The Norway Spruce 

 has been planted on private grounds 

 in Canada, more, perhaps, than any 

 other species. 



There are several reasons for this. 

 It is one of the cheapest spruces to 

 buy; it grows rapidly; and it is quite 

 ornamental particularly for the first 

 twenty-five or thirty years. The 

 Norway Spruce is the fastest growing 

 spruce of all the species which have 

 been tested at Ottawa. Its pendu- 

 lous branches make individual speci- 

 mens very attractive and its large 

 cones add also to its interest. It has 

 been much used for wind-breaks in 

 the province of Ontario and is very 

 desirable for this purpose. 



Many hedges have been made of 

 this tree and where they get plenty 

 of light are quite satisfactory, but if 

 the hedges are shaded they lose their 

 foliage at the bottom. There are 

 large numbers of dwarf, varigated and 

 weeping forms of the Norway Spruce 

 but none of them are very attractive. 



The Servian Spruce is a beautiful 

 species which it was thought was go- 

 ing to be hardy at Ottawa, but in a 

 verv severe winter it was killed. 



FRUIT TREES ON THE PRAIRIE 



The climate that produces the 

 finest wheat in the world is not fav- 

 ourable to fruit trees. However, with 

 great care certain hardy varieties of 

 apples can be produced in some sec- 

 tions. There are wild plums in Mani- 

 toba; a number of the trees were 

 planted on the Dominion Experi- 

 mental Farm in Brandon some years 

 ago and there is now a fine orchard. 

 The plums, which grow abundantly, 

 are small but of fine flavour. Black 

 and red currants, raspberries and 

 strawberries grow very successfully. 



