CONIFEE^. 31 



rows on the branch stems : bright, vivid green above, and silvery- 

 green banded below. 



Cones, these are from one-half to one inch long, and from one- 

 quarter to one-half inch broad ; pendulous, generally on the tips of the 

 branches ; oval in shape ; when young they are green in colour, chang- 

 ing to a greenish brown as they arrive at maturity : the scales are 

 entire edged, smooth and rounded, and from one-and-a-half to two-and- 

 a-half dozen to each cone ; the seeds are small and light brown in 

 colour, and are furnished with a wing appendage about a quarter of an 

 inch long, which is yellowish-white in colour. 



Branches, these are slender, numerous, spreading, flat, and when, 

 young somewhat downy; the bark when young is smooth and 

 yellowish-green, changing to a yellowish-brown when old, and when 

 thoroughly matured it assumes an ashy brown colour. 



Tree, bushy-headed, uniform stemmed, and attaining heights of 

 from fifty to one hundred feet. 



It was introduced from America about 1736. It is perfectly hardy, of 

 slow growth ; it dislikes dry soils, and luxuriates in sweet moist earth 

 and a sheltered situation ; and will never succeed in localities where a 

 smoky or impure atmosphere prevails ; its timber when compared with 

 some of its congeners is very inferior ; but its bark contains a greater per- 

 centage of tannin than any firs I have yet examined. It has no claims 

 to entitle it to be classed as a profitable timber tree ; but its rich silvery 

 green foliage, its pendent plum-like branches, and its graceful form 

 and habit of growth, place it in the first rank as an ornamental one. 



Its Quasi-species are : — 



Albertiana : Prince Albert's Californian Hemlock Spruce. 



This kind, in none of its distinguishing botanical characteristics differs 

 in any appreciable degree from the prototype ; but, practically con- 

 sidered, it is a much better plant, inasmuch as it is better constitutioned ; 

 consequently a better grower, and less fastidious as to soil, situation, or 

 shelter ; and will doubtless prove equally beautiful, and a much 

 more useful tree in this country than the common or Canadian kind. 



Brunoniana : The Indian Hemlock Spruce. 



This has larger and more sparse foliage, and is much more capricious, and 

 delicate than the prototype ; and of but little if any use in this country. 



Hookeriana: Hooker's; and Mertensiana? Mertens's Hemlock 

 Spruce Ilrs. 



As sometimes found in catalogues and collections ; are, at best, but 

 very slightly altered forms, or sub- varieties of Prince Albert's Californian 

 Hendock Spruce. 



