January, 1908 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



291 



exotic conifers should choose those from 

 Northern China, Northern Japan, Korea, 

 the Caucasus and Colorado. The affinities 

 of the southern climate are not sufficiently 

 determined but we can grow many trees 

 from the Balkans, the Himalayas and a 

 small part of California. 



THE PINE 



The best pines for Northern planting are 

 the native white and red pine (Pinus Strobus 

 and P. resinosa). One of the most promis- 

 ing exotics for this region is the Korean 

 pine (P. Koraiensis). These and all other 

 long-lived hardy evergreens are described 

 by T. D. Hatfield in Country Life in America 

 for January, 1907. 



There is plenty of suggestion among 

 the poets that the pine and palm never 

 meet, but this is not true. The South has 

 three splendid pines, but unfortunately the 

 popular appreciation of them has not yet 

 gotten to the point of planting them extens- 

 ively for ornament. You will search most 

 Southern catalogues for them in vain. 



The most beautiful of these is the long- 

 leaf pine (P. palustris or Australis) which is 

 often found growing on land that remains 

 submerged during long periods. It is 

 especially beautiful when not over ten to 

 fifteen feet in height. Then only a few of 

 the rare exotic species are more conspicuous, 

 for it has dark green, shining, flexible leaves 

 often fifteen to twenty inches long and 

 crowded in large bunches at the end of its 

 branches. As this tree forms a very large 

 and long tap-root, much difficulty attends 

 its transplanting. Therefore, very young 

 plants should be selected from their native 

 places, or seedlings grown in pots and trans- 

 planted when a foot high. 



The horticultural value of the loblolly, or 

 old field pine (P. Tceda) is that it will quickly 

 beautify wet, sterile, worthless land. Its leaves 

 are six to nine inches long and pale green. 



The short-leaf pine (P. echinata) should 

 always be a prominent feature of the uplands 

 of the South, as it prefers a well-trained, grav- 

 elly soil with clay intermixed. The leaves 

 are three to five inches long, blue-green, 

 flexible, in twos or threes. It is more pro- 

 lific of seeds than the long-leaf pine. 



Of the exotic pines, the most desirable for 

 the South is the Bhotan or Himalayan pine 

 (P. excelsa) which resembles our native 

 white pine, but has much longer leaves of 

 a more glaucous green, and instantly recog- 

 nizable by their graceful droop. In Florida, 

 the Jerusalem pine (P. Halepensis) does 

 well at the seaside and the cheer pine of 

 India (P. longifolia) is said to do well. 



THE SPRUCE AND FIR TYPE 



Spruces and firs are very important in the 

 North, but unhappily none of them seems 

 well adapted to the South. The hardy mem- 

 bers of both groups are described in the arti- 

 cle above cited, and the hardy spruces are 

 reviewed by Mr. John F. Johnston in 

 The Garden Magazine for August, 1905. 



The most popular species of this group — 

 and perhaps of all conifers — is the Colo- 

 rado blue spruce, but it seldom survives its 



first summer in the South. We must place 

 our dependence on the deodar as a substitute 

 for it. The fast-growing Norway spruce 

 and European silver fir, if planted in a cool 

 situation where protected from the direct 

 rays of the summer sun, make trees of a 

 moderate height but can never be expected 

 to be as beautiful in the South. 



About the only tree of this type that 

 thrives in the South is Fraser's balsam 

 (Abies Fraseri), and that only in the moun- 

 tains where it is native and attains an extreme 

 height of seventy feet, though commonly 

 thirty to fifty. Professor Sargent declares 

 that most of the trees sold under this name 

 are Northern balsams. Therefore, it is 

 important that Southern planters should 

 get their stock from a nurseryman who will 

 guarantee he has the right species. 



THE YEW TYPE 



The yew that everybody wants is the 

 English yew, because it is the most famous 

 and because it is very long-lived in Europe. 

 Unhappily, it is not long-lived in the North 

 or in the warmer sections of the South, but 

 in the mountain regions some excellent 

 specimens have been seen, including the 

 erect-growing or Irish variety. The variety 

 adpressa of the Japanese species and Taxus 

 cuspidata are useful plants for cemeteries in 

 the Piedmont region owing to their slow 

 growth and the dark green color of their 

 foliage. 



The nearest approach to the English yew 

 that seems adapted to the South is the 

 Korean yew ( Cephalotaxus pedunculata, 

 var. jastigiata), which agrees with the Eng- 

 lish yew in having upright growth, density 

 and dark color. However, it grows only 



six or eight feet high. It is not columnar, 

 like the Irish yew, but vase-shaped, as may 

 be seen by the picture. It has withstood 

 ten degrees below zero in Western North 

 Carolina, and is adapted to the Piedmont 

 region. Nurserymen often call it Podo- 

 carpus Koraiana. 



The tallest conifer of the yew type adapted 

 to the South is Fortune's yew (Cephalotaxus 

 Fortnnei),oi which a splendid example is here 

 pictured. In its native country it attains fifty 

 feet, but with us it is usually a low bush with 

 an extraordinary spread. It forms numerous 

 branches from the base, and is therefore 

 properly called the many-headed yew. 

 It has an interesting fruit like a small plum, 

 and for a long time it was stated that there 

 were two forms, male and female, but this 

 is incorrect, as single specimens yield an 

 abundance of fruit. It is hardy as far 

 north as Baltimore. 



The best very dwarf yew for edging beds 

 of conifers in the South is the plum-fruited 

 Japan yew (Cephalotaxus drupacea), which 

 is of procumbent habit. 



The nearest approach to the Irish yew 

 for the South is Podocarpus Japonica, which 

 grows ten or fifteen feet high and is in con- 

 siderable demand for cemetery plantings. 

 These black columnar conifers always seem 

 to me like hired mourners and it is a pity to 

 spoil them by funereal associations, for they 

 are appropriate to formal gardens, while in 

 a cemetery they make disconsolate a place 

 whose dominant expression should be beauty 

 and hope. 



THE CEDAR TYPE 



Under the name cedar the people confuse 

 two utterly distinct types, that everybody can. 



The best yew for the South is Fortune's yew (Cephalotaxus Fortune*) which attains a height of fifti 

 and is noted for its wide spread. English and Irish yews are not long-lived here. 



