78 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



EXPERIENCES WITH CONIFERS IN SOUTHERN 

 CONNECTICUT.— Brett 



The site on which the following coniferous evergreens are 

 grown is an exposed hilltop, three hundred feet above the Sound 

 and about five miles from the water. The soil is thin, never 

 more than a foot deep, with a subsoil of bowlder clay of extreme 

 hardness called locally "hardpan," almost impervious to water 

 and breakable only by the pick or dynamite. 



The firs are diflScult to establish under these conditions and 

 the losses have been large, fully fifty per cent in the case of 

 Abies concolor, and with smaller losses in some of the other 

 varieties. A. concolor does well when once established, speci- 

 mens after barely holding their own for two or three years 

 afterward making an annual growth of eight to nine inches and 

 forming perfect-shaped trees. A. Veitchii is the least satis- 

 factory of the firs in this location, the upward growth being 

 very small and the lower foliage becoming unsightly. A. 

 Nordmanniana and A. homolepis are more satisfactory than 

 A. Veitchii, the annual growth being six inches or more and the 

 trees making otherwise a satisfactory appearance, except that 

 A. homolepis tends to lose the lowest branches as time goes on. 



The hemlocks are also somewhat unsatisfactory in such a 

 location. All varieties purchased from nurseries have perished 

 and only Tsuga canadensis, transplanted from the wild, has 

 succeeded. Even here the losses have been large, fully fifty 

 per cent, as the tree is intolerant of wind and needs shade 

 through the first few years. The situation is exposed to very 

 severe winds from the north and northwest throughout the 

 autumn, winter, and well into the spring months, and the 

 hemlock seems to resent these conditions. Even when planted 

 with specially prepared windbreaks, the losses have been 

 quite large. 



