ADAPTATION OF CONIFERS 65 



deep green leaves, with horizontal massive branches. At Boston 

 this fir looks bad, but there is a fine individual, perhaps thirty 

 feet tall, in the Park Department Pinetum, Rochester, New 

 York, which is in excellent health and has not suffered any 

 injury. 



The balsam fir, Abies balsamea, which always looks so at- 

 tractive in native conditions in northern woods, in this country 

 and Canada, soon assumes a most unhappy appearance in 

 cultivation and cannot be recommended. The low variety of 

 the balsam fir known as hudsonia is an excellent dwarf form for 

 gardens and seems to maintain good health. 



The red fir, Abies nobilis, is perhaps one of the noblest of all 

 firs as it grows in a wild state on the Pacific Coast. After 

 twenty years in western New York, it is only a dense bush six 

 to eight feet tall and does not seem inclined to form a leader 

 and become tree-like. It seems, however, to be quite hardy. 



UiJibrella-pine. 



The umbrella-pine, Sciadopitys verticillata, a native of Japan, 

 presents a most singular appearance amongst conifers. There 

 are two kinds of leaves : those on the shoot small and scale-like, 

 but at the end of the branch much longer and linear and forming 

 an umbrella-like circle. The habit of young trees is narrowly 

 pyramidal. Wilson states that in native conditions in Japan 

 the habit is gaunt and thin, and is very different from the dense 

 pyramids to be seen in American parks and gardens. The 

 umbrella-pine should be planted in deep, moist, well-drained soil 

 to appear at its best. It has not been injured in the Northeast 

 in severe winters 



Sequoia. 



The big tree. Sequoia gigantea, Is perhaps one of the noblest 

 vegetable organisms on earth. The largest trees in cultivation 



