ADAPTATION OF CONIFERS 79 



The common juniper is wild throughout western Con- 

 necticut. The type, however, is very rare, and most specimens 

 are Juniperus communis, a dwarf bush usually not exceeding 

 three feet in height and very often six to eight feet across in 

 perfect specimens. It is very easily transplanted, preferring 

 dry situations, will not prosper except in well-drained soils, 

 and can be planted to great advantage on rocky hillsides. As 

 winter comes on, the tips of the new foliage present a pinkish 

 appearance and make a very beautiful picture. 



The red-cedar, Juniperus virginiana, is not planted as an 

 ornamental tree nearly as much as its merits deserve. Easily 

 transplanted at almost any season of the year from the hillsides 

 and abandoned fields in which it grows abundantly, it becomes, 

 under cultivation and care, a handsome tree with a bright full 

 foliage, and is useful for planting along roadsides and for 

 hedges and for blocking out unsightly objects in the landscape. 

 It is not a fast grower as compared with some of the pines and 

 spruces, but makes, under favorable conditions, an annual 

 growth of about eight inches. There are numerous forms in 

 young trees, some being May-pole shafts twenty feet in height, 

 not more than two feet broad anywhere, and covered with 

 dark green foliage from the ground to the top of the tree. A 

 group of these trees with their, in many cases, spire-like heads, 

 makes a beautiful picture against the winter sky. In later 

 years the branches have a tendency to spread and in picturesque 

 old age become horizontal and even drooping, the tree then 

 requiring much more room, but young specimens retain their 

 shape for many years and can be used in formal planting and 

 for numerous other purposes. In young trees the foliage of 

 native specimens often rivals J. virginiana var. glauca in color 

 and retains this bluish tinge for many years, the foliage of such 

 trees being usually finer than that of the type. The red-cedar 



