September 7, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



217 



less bushy and stunted, as well as in having starlike and not 

 round cones. The latter came from Italy earlier in the same 

 century, and its best use is for a dense bush to hide objects 

 just behind it. 



The above-mentioned Pines, with two or three interesting 

 dwarfs, have their leaves in pairs. Of those which have them 

 in threes the most considerable are P. macrocarpa, P. Ben- 

 thamiana, and P. insignia. The first came to us about forty 

 years ago from California, the third in the same year, and 

 the second about fourteen years later from the same country. 

 Already the wavy habit of the glaucous grey foliage on branches 

 horizontally set and distant from each other, the violet bark 

 of the young shoots, and the length and breadth (12 inches 

 by 6) of the dark yellow cones of P. macrocarpa, make it a 

 striking contrast to the dark-hued Conifers, and inspire hopes 

 of a majestic tree if in its younger stages its tops do not suffer 

 from the action of the sun after a frost. In its home it attains 

 100 feet, a height which is doubled, however, by P. Benthami- 

 ana, a hale giant, with branches irregularly spread, clustering 

 cones, and dark green leaves, resembling those of the North 

 American P. ponderosa, only longer and darker. It has the 

 advantage over the latter that it makes deeper roots ; and it is 

 of rapid growth if defended whtn young from the ravages of 

 insects. From its mountain home in the Sacramento country 

 we should augur its hardihood in Great Britain ; though there 

 might be more questions as to P. insignia, which is probably 

 from lower altitudes, and certainly needs shelter from frosts, 

 although it likes a situation fairly high and dry. The graBsy 

 green of its foliage makes it a lovely contrast to the darker 

 Conifers, as well as to most deciduous trees. Indeed it is a 

 Pine worth care and watching, one that no lawn or park should 

 be without. That it may weather our frosts and survive our 

 winters is proved by its attainment of the height of 70 feet, 

 with a girth of 8 feet 7 inches, in that nursery of choice Coni- 

 fers, Dropmore. 



Of Pines with five leaves none surpasses the Himalayan 

 P. excelsa, naturalised in this country for some fifty years. 

 An open, spreading-branched, conical tree, it haa a pale bark, 

 pendulous habit, and long slender glaucous green leaves. It 

 likes air and" light, with moderate shelter, and bears some re- 

 semblance, though of more elegant habit and rapid growth, to 

 the Weymouth Pine (P. Strobus). In its own country it is 

 called the Weeping Pine, and found with the P. longifolia, or 

 Cheel tree, and the Pinna Kutrow. P. excelsa reaches 120 feet 

 in its own country, and P. Strobus 130 in its North Amerioan 

 home. Of the timber of the former we know no more than 

 that it is white, compact, and resinoua. The latter often 

 passes for red deal from America, though not really equal to 

 it in quality. 



The oldest type of Spruce in this country is the Norway 

 Spruce (Abies excelsa), which was introduced as early as 1548. 

 Unlike the Soots Pine, to which of our home-grown timber it 

 comes next for plants and scantlings, it is of pyramidal habit, 

 and feathers horizontally from top to bottom. Its deep green 

 foliage is rich and dense. Owing to its rapid growth and 

 encroaching roots it is not so good a nurse as it was expected 

 to be, but it will do justice to ground of its own in a sheltered 

 hollow free from wet subsoil, and should be planted in a group 

 or singly. In such situations it may reach the height (130 feet, 

 and 16 feet in girth) of the Studley tree, said to have been 

 planted by Eugene Aram, or the Blair Athol Spruces, some of 

 which are 110 feet high. The Black Spruce (A. nigra) with 

 blackish bark, light spiral form, and dark green foliage, differs 

 from the excelsa in its more pointed habit. But most familiar 

 to us after the common Spruce is the Canadian or Hemlock 

 Spruce, a contrast to it in its vivid light green foliage, with a 

 silver striped underlining. Slow to start into growth, and 

 particular as to soil, it is a little disappointing at first ; but 

 towards thirty or forty years of age it assumes a graceful pen- 

 dulous habit, which, however, changes to horizontal, and be- 

 comes more Cedar-like as the tree grows older. We do not 

 hear of it as a timber tree ; but few Conifers are so noticeable 

 for elasticity or look so well when bearing, as it does without 

 collapse, a heavy burden of snow. There are good samples of 

 this Abies at Studley Royal, Elvaston, and elsewhere ; but it 

 has not yet reached in Great Britain its Canadian height of 

 110 feet. A. Albertiana from Oregon (1858) of which our 

 largest English sample is about 20 feet high, is said to be 

 likely to eclipse it in grace, growth, and timber. At home it 

 reaches 140 feet. The fault of the White Spruce, a slow grower 

 of silvery aspect, and of the Abies Morinda.a Himalayan Spruce 

 of drooping habit and great promise, is their impatience of 



transplanting ; but this fault cannot be attributed to the Abies 

 Douglaaii, a king among Fire in reaped of vigour, habit, and 

 denBe dark foliage. The young shoots are of a tender light 

 green, the mature leaves bright green above, pale and glaucous 

 below. Introduced from North America half a century ago, 

 it has reached upwards of 100 feet at Dropmore, and 70 at 

 Hopetoun House ; and feathered to the ground with foliage of 

 cheerful bright green above, and a glaucous underleaf imper- 

 fectly two-rowed, it is really noble to look upon. Few Conifers 

 are easier to acclimatise, as the seeds ripen readily, and with 

 moderate shelter the young plants are not fastidious as to soil. 

 The Dropmore specimen was raised from seed in 1828. The 

 Californian A. Menziesii is not unlike it in charaoter and 

 nobility of aspect, besides being nearly as rapid a grower and 

 very hardy. It might be worth planting for forest purposes, 

 though as a single tree it is against it that it is semi-deciduous, 

 and that its branches are left bare during part of the spring. 

 We have yet to mention Abies or Picea nobilis, perhapB the 

 most majestic Fir of all, a Californian Bpecies introduced in 

 1831 by Douglas, of pyramidal appearance, deep glaucous hue, 

 and an incurved habit of foliage which allows a view of its 

 glaucous underleaf. The bark of the stem is cinnamon-hued, 

 its branches and cones being of a purplish tinge. Like 

 A. Douglasii it is undeniably hardy and adapted to cool- 

 bottomed soils in moderate shelter. In Hongredien's " Trees 

 and Shrubs " there is an engraving of a fine specimen at 

 Wimbledon ; and another at Dropmore is from 50 to 60 feet 

 high. Others in Scotland are of equal height and propor- 

 tionate girth ; but we learn that one auch was uprooted by the 

 high winds of last October. — (Quarterly Review.) 



FLOWER GAKDENING. 



" Eveky dog has its day," and so haB every fashion. Now 

 that a reaction has evidently set in with considerable vigour in 

 favour of hardy herbaceous flowering plants, some seem to 

 think that what has been nicknamed "bedding-out" has 

 nearly had its day, and that it must be cast aside as a tawdry 

 vulgar delusion, if not something worse. Well, our strength 

 does sometimes grow out of our weaknesses ; and like the stag 

 which admired its elegant head of horns and was ashamed of 

 its feet, till the hunters appeared on the scene, when what 

 appeared its shame proved its best friend, so what in gardens 

 has been most admired may turn out of least use to us. There 

 is, however, a nee and a place for everything in the way of 

 flowers as well as there is for horns and feet. There cannot 

 be a doubt that our grand old herbaceous border plants have 

 been far too much neglected for a long time, and it is matter 

 for rejoicing that the tide has set-in in their favour. 



While we agree with every word that some writers have said 

 of the folly shown in so much neglecting hardy plants, we have 

 no sympathy with their sweeping condemnation of the modern 

 system of parterre flower gardening. It is not only the most 

 effeotive and appropriate style of flower gardening for certain 

 positions, but it has, beyond all doubt, done more than any 

 other system to popularise and foster the love of flowers 

 among the masses. And we do not believe, nor do we desire, 

 that we are near the end of its reign yet. The great charm of 

 the one iB that it is diverse from the other. The two together 

 make a complete whole in gardening ; and the discussion 

 about the superiority of the one over the other ia, to say the 

 least, unprofitable. The one may be regarded as the brain, 

 and the other the heart of flower gardening. 



The error in this matter has been in allowing one phalanx of 

 flowers to elbow every other out of many gardens. This has 

 resulted neither from good taste nor economy. Great errors 

 of judgment have also been manifested in trying to adapt the 

 massing of tender plants which do not bloom effectively in 

 many localities to every garden. There are Borne localities in 

 the British Isles where this style of gardening has proved just 

 so much labour loBt, and where it should never have been at- 

 tempted except on a small scale, especially as it is just in such 

 localities that hardy herbaceous and alpine plants are more 

 satisfactory. In moist sunless districts the grouping of tender 

 flowering plants outdoors never could be more than a com- 

 parative failure, while it is just in these localities that most 

 herbaceous and alpine plants grow the beat and continue to 

 bloom vigorously for the longest time poasible. But then, 

 herbaceous plants in some other localities, where the soil is 

 sandy, dry, and poor, and the rainfall very little, bloom but for 

 a Bhort time ; and let the autumn, as it frequently does, prove 

 one of drought, and the herbaceous-border gardening is one o5 



