THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



141 



We have long ago discarded the Bal- 

 sam Fir as being one of the most un- 

 satisfactory of evergreens. When it 

 reaches the age of fifteen or twenty 

 years it is easily blown over by the 

 wind, especially if grown in light soil ; 

 and it has an ugly habit of thinning out 

 at the base, which makes it most un- 

 sightly. We would not plant it again 

 even in the most remote corner. 



Possibly the Rural is right also in 

 condemning the Norway Spruce, but 

 we are not prepared to join in so doing. 

 All over Ontario it is the leading ever- 

 green for shelter and ornament, and 

 still very popular. We have a hundred 

 or more about our grounds, many of 

 them twenty-five or thirty yearsplanted, 

 and towering up about thirty feet in 

 height. Except that we have too many 

 of one kind for good taste, we have as 

 yet no cause for regret concerning them. 

 Their colour is good, they spread out 

 their long limbs some ten or twelve 

 feet in every direction, from which 

 hang the most gracefully drooping 

 branches, and there is no thinning out 

 at the bottom. 



Perhaps when they reach the age of 

 fifty years or more, we may have occa- 

 sion to change our opinion, but, if so, 

 it will be with great disappointment 

 when we consider that, not only the 

 writer, but farmers and fruit growei'S 

 generally throughout our Province, 

 have been planting the Norway Spruce 

 most extensively for windbreak and for 

 ornament, and that, too, acting upon 

 the unqualified commendations of all 

 our leading horticultural and agricul- 

 tural journals. 



Possibly this evergreen is better 

 adapted to our Canadian soil and climate 

 than it is to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Long 

 Island and Illinois, from which States 

 the loudest condemnations arise. 



As substitutes for the Norway Spruce, 

 Josiah Hoopes recommends the varie- 

 ties of spruces technically known as 



Picea pungens, P. alba, P. orientalis, 

 P. polita and P. alcoquiana. 



Arbor Day. The -Educational Journal 

 for May 1st is largely occupied with 

 plans for the successful conduct of 

 Arbor Day. The setting aside of one 

 day in the year for the decoration of 

 school grounds is certainly most com- 

 mendable ; but the most difiicult part 

 still remains, viz., to so direct the army 

 of little workers as to make it a time 

 of real profit. 



That it may become an educative 

 power, it will be necessary to have the 

 teachers themselves regarding the 

 grouping and planting of ornamental 

 trees and shrubs, the proper method of 

 making a good lawn, both by seeding 

 and lr>y sodding, and the tasteful laying 

 out and planting of flower beds. 



People generally are lamentably ig- 

 norant, too, of even our most common 

 native trees and shrubs, and a named 

 collection of these in our public and 

 high school yards, would be of great 

 educational value, especially if the 

 teacher were qualified to instruct his 

 scholars concerning their habits and 

 uses on each returning Ai'bor Day. 



The delay in the distribution of plants 

 this spring has caused us no less anxiety 

 than it has our readers who have been 

 flooding our office with impatient in- 

 quiries. We beg to reply to one and 

 all by saying that the orders were 

 placed in the hands of our most i-eliable 

 Canadian nurserymen about the middle 

 of April, and we had hoped for imme- 

 diate attention ; but to wrap these pre- 

 miums one by one for two or three 

 thousand members of our Association 

 is no small undertaking. We must 

 tiierefore "bear and forbear." 



Messrs. Smith «fe Kerman, of St. 

 Catharines, who mailed the Niagai*a 

 Grape, write as follows : " Sir, — We 

 are sorrv that we could not have got 



