118 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



the branches are longer than in the wild trees and 

 often slightly ascending. The leaves are soft to the 

 touch, dark green above and silvery below. 



The Firs delight in a cool soil and climate, but some, 

 like A. concolor, are not exacting and withstand 

 drought and dry situations very well. All are in- 

 tolerant of smoke and soot and for this reason do not 

 thrive in cities or near manufacturing centres. These 

 remarks apply also to the Spruces, although they are 

 slightly less exacting in these matters. 



The Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) is one of the 

 loftiest and most valuable of all coniferous trees and, 

 from a horticultural viewpoint, one of the most in- 

 dispensable. It has an immense range of distribution 

 in the western parts of North America and attains its 

 maximum development in the wet regions bordering 

 the Puget Sound and on the western slopes of the Sierra 

 Nevada, where trees three hundred feet tall with trunks 

 nine to twelve feet in diameter occur. This tree was 

 discovered on the shores of the Nootka Sound by 

 Archibald Menzies in 1792, during Vancouver's voy- 

 age round the world, was rediscovered by David 

 Douglas in 1827, and introduced into England by him 

 the following year. In the mild, moist climate of 

 Great Britain this tree of the Pacific slope soon made 

 itself at home and in most parts of that land it grows 



