..A WOKD IN FAVOR OF EVEEGEEBNS. 333 



rapidly becoming popular among our planters, that it needs little 

 fiirtiier commendation. 



■ Among the foreign evergreens worthy of attention, are the Chili 

 pine (^rawcana), the Cedar of Lebanon, and the Deodar cedar, — 

 three very noble trees, already described in previous pages, and 

 worthy of attention in the highest degree.. The ty;fO first have stood 

 ikp .past winter well, in our own gi'ounds; and are likely to prove 

 quite hardy, here. »■ 



For a rapid growing, bold, and picturesque evergreen, the Aus- 

 trian pine. (Pmtts Austriaca) is well deserving of attention. We 

 find it remarkably hardy, adapting itself to all soils (though said' to 

 grow naturally infAustria on the lightest sands). A specimen here, 

 grew nearly three feet last season ;#and its, bold, stiff foliage, is suflS- 

 ciently marked to ar^st the attention among all other evergreens. 



The Swiss stone pine (Pinus cemhra) we find also perfectly 

 hardy in this latitude. This tree produces an eatable kernel, and 

 though of comparatively slow growth, is c^tainly one of the most 

 interesting of the pine family. The Italian stone pine, and the pinas- 

 ter, are also beautiful trees for the climate of Philadelphia. The 

 grand and lofty pines of California, the largest and loftiest evergreen 

 trees in. the world, are not yet' to be found, except as small specimens 

 here and there in the gardens of curious collectors in the United 

 States. But we hope, with, our continually increasing intercourse 

 with western America, fresh seeds will be procured by our nursery- 

 men, and grown abundantly for sale. The great Califomian silver 

 fir (Picea grandis) grows 200 feet high; with cones 6 inches long, 

 and fine silvery foliage ; and the noble silver fir {P. noUlis) is 

 scarcely less striking; " I spent three weeks," says Douglass, the 

 botanical traveller, " in a foriast composed of this tree, and, day by 

 day, could not cease to admire it." Both these fine fir-trees grow in 

 'Northern California, where they cover vast tracts of l^nd, and, along 

 with other species' of pine, form grand and majestic features in the 

 landscape of that ocfuntry. The Ejiglish have been before us in in- 

 troducing these natives of our western shores ; for we find them, 

 though at high prices, now oflfered for sale in most of the large 

 nui'series in Great Britain. - , . 



The most beav,tiful evergreen-trep in America, and,-perhijps, — 



