33.0 TREES. 



and agreeable hue <rf its pliant foliage, the excellent form of the tree, 

 and its adaptation to a great variety of soils and sites, are all recom- 

 mendations not easily overlooked. 



Besides, it bears transplanting particularly well ; and is, on this 

 account also, more generally seen than any other species in our orna- 

 mental plantations. But its. especial merit, as an ornamental tree, 

 is the perpetuaJiy fine, rich, lively green of its foliage. In the 

 northern States, many evergreens lose their bright color in mid- 

 winter, o'vfing to the severity of the cold ; and though they regain 

 it qujckly in the first mild days of spring, yet this temporary dingi- 

 ness, at the season when verdure is rarest and iriost prized, is, unde- 

 niably, a great defect Both the hemlock and the white- pine are 

 exceptions. Even in the greatest depression of the thermometer 

 known to our neighbors on the " disputed boundary " line, we be- 

 lieve the verdure of these trees is the sarae fine unchanging green. 

 Again, this thin summer growth is of such a soft and. lively color, 

 that they are (unlike some of the other pines, thfi red cedaij e^c.) 

 as pleasant to look upon, even in June, as any fresh and full foliaged 

 deciduous tree, rejoicing in all its full breadth of new sumnaer robes. 

 "We place _the white pine, therefore, &mong the first in the regards 

 of the ornamental planter. 



Perhaps the most popular foreign evergreen in this country is 

 the IToEWAT. Sprtice (Abies excclsa.) In fact, it is so useful and 

 valuable a tree, that it is destined to becpme much more pppular 

 still. So hardy, that it is used as a nurse plant, to break pS the 

 wind in exposed sites, and. shelter more tender trees in young planta- 

 tions; so readily adapting itself to any site, that it thrives upon all 

 soils, fi:om light sand, or dry gravel, to deep moist loam or clay ;. so 

 accommodating in its habits, that it will' grow under the shade .of 

 other trees, or in the most exposed positions ;; there is no planter of- 

 new places, or improver of old ones, who will not find it necessary 

 ■to call it in to his assistance, Then, again, the variety of purposes 

 for which this tree may be used is so indefijiite. . Certainly, there are 

 few trees more strikingly picturesque than a fine Norway spruce, 

 40 or 50 years old, towering up from abase of thick branches whi6h 

 droop and fall to the very lawn, and hang ofi' in those depending 

 ■curves, whicht make it such a favorite with artists. Any one who 



