EVERGREENS FOR THE PLAINS. 163 



often confounded with this and is often sold for it. A prominent 

 dealer in Denver has been known to fill an order of several hundred 

 fine silver Pungens with the Engleman and only one Pungens in the 

 lot. However, the Engleman is a fine tree, usually well tinted, hardy, 

 and transplants well. There are two types, the common and the 

 gigantic. The cones are small and it takes about 200,000 seeds to 

 the pound. 



I notice on the grounds of Mr. Stephens of this place some spruce 

 which I think are the Alcoquinnia, from Japan, which appear to do 

 well. 



I would not fail to mention the Black Hills spruce, which certainly 

 gives great promise. In northwestern Iowa they take the preference 

 of all other evergreens and they certainly behave well and promise 

 well in Nebraska. 



FIRS. 



For firs, I think that the Abies Concolor stands first. This is a hardy 

 tree of peerless beauty, and if asked what is the finest tree in the 

 Rockies, taken all in all, I would say the Concolor. You often find 

 it nearly as bright as the Pungens, and then it retains its silvery 

 brightness till it dies, when the Pungens will, to a large extent, lose 

 its exquisite charms after it is twenty-five or thirty years old. There 

 is nowhere such richness of color as in a grove of Concolors. Take 

 them in the spring, when they are developing their cones. They are 

 clothed in silver and emerald. The new growth is light, soft green, 

 contrasting with the richer color of the older foliage. One tree will 

 have blossoms, buds, and cones of deep purple ; another by the side of 

 it will have those of bright green. The cones are upright and massed 

 upon the top of the tree. From these a clear gum exudes, clear as 

 crystal. Then when the light and the breeze play upon them, you have 

 the mingling of the silver with the various shades of green, from the 

 light and soft almost to the blue; then the deep purple and the 

 sparkle of the gum from the cones like the flashing of diamonds. 



RAISING CONIFERS FROM SEED. 



If Job, living on the outskirts of the great Arabian desert, had 

 tried year after year to fight the hot w T inds and raise evergreens in 

 the very teeth of the sirocco, he would have added much to his repu- 

 tation for patience, to say nothing of his skill. 



