The Conifers. 303 



nearly related to the scion as may be ; as, for example, pines should 

 both be two-leaved, three-leaved, or five-leaved, and some, like the 

 white pine, are very difficult to graft at all. We can not take dif- 

 ferent genera of conifers, nor those of the same genus and subdi- 

 vision, unless of equally vigorous growth. 



1241. For reasons already stated [§ 299], we can not cultivate 

 the conifers of the Pacific Coast in the Atlantic States with 

 success. Those from the mountains can be removed with much 

 better chances of their living, but to do this with certainty the 

 greatest care must be taken to keep the roots from the air, and to 

 bring an abundance of the soil with them. 



1242. After excavating around the tree, so as to include as many 

 of the small roots as possible, and without disturbing them, a sheet 

 of coarse canvas should be passed under the roots and bound firmly 

 around them. The trees should not be more than three or four feet 

 higli ; they should be selected from open places, and the more un- 

 disturbed soil that is taken with them the greater will be the 

 chances of their living. 



1243. In planting conifers in the prairie regions west of the Mis- 

 sissippi, the greatest difiiculty has been met with, on account of the 

 dryness of the climate, and the great and sudden changes of tem- 

 perature that occur. Indeed, very many have failed altogether; 

 perhaps after giving some promise of success for a few years, until 

 overcome by a dry season or other adverse conditions. 



1244. The kind of all others most likely to succeed in Iowa and 

 Southwestern Minnesota, is the native red cedar. According to the 

 opinion of careful observers those that next after this should have 

 order of preference would be : 1. Scotch pine ; 2. White pine ; 

 3, Austrian pine ; and, 4. Red pine. 



1245. The conifers embrace about 300 species, which are arranged 

 by Bentham and Hooker' into six families, based upon common re- 

 semblances, as follows : 



I. The Cypeess Family (Oupressinos), including seven genera, of 

 which the California white cedar (Libooedi-us) , ai-bor-vitse or common 

 white cedar (Thuja), cypress (Owpresszts), and junipers (Juniperus), are 

 native in the United States. The remaining three occur in Asia, 



^Genera Plantarum, iii. Part I., p. 420 (1880). 



