THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



reputed dwarf form but after a few years this is apt 

 to lose its character and to grow into a tall tree. The 

 best pygmy Fir is A. lasiocarpa f. compacta which 

 originated in the Arnold Arboretum from seeds sent in 

 1873 by Dr. C. C. Parry from Colorado. It is a 

 genuine dwarf of compact habit. Both interesting 

 and useful are the diminutive forms of the Douglas 

 Fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolia f. compacta and f. glohosa). 

 The common Hemlock {Tsuga canadensis) has 

 given rise to several abnormal forms the most dis- 

 tinct of which are vars. pendula and compacta. The 

 first-named is a compact form with closely over- 

 lapping pendulous branches forming a broad, low, 

 round- topped mass. It was discovered many years 

 ago on the mountains back of Fishkill Landing on the 

 Hudson River by the late General Howland of 

 Mattapan, New York, and named by him Sargent's 

 Hemlock for his friend and neighbour, Henry Win- 

 throp Sargent. General Howland found four or five 

 of these Hemlocks, and one of his original discoveries 

 is still living at Holm Lea, Brookline, Mass., the estate 

 of Professor C. S. Sargent. The variety has been 

 extensively propagated by grafting but such plants 

 grow more rapidly, are of more open, less compact 

 habit, and less beautiful than the original seedlings. 

 The var. compacta is of upright, broadly pyramidal 

 habit, very dense, and of rather stiff appearance. 



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