August 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



13 



before me is more lustrous than balsamea 

 but that may be due to health. Also, my 

 specimen is more fragrant, but that may be 

 due to a different stage of development. 

 The bark of the Southern balsam is cinna- 

 mon red, while that of the northern is brown. 

 But even if these differences are specific 

 advantages, the sad fact remains that the 

 beauty of the Southern balsam is short-lived 

 in cultivation. The books call this species 

 Fraser's fir, and in the Southern Appala- 

 chians it is known as the "she balsam." 



The Western or woolly fruited balsam 

 (A. lasiocarpa) ought to be more beautiful 

 than the Eastern balsams because the 

 leaves are twice as long and the tree is 

 generally clothed to the very base. It is 

 peculiarly spire-like, owing to the branches 

 being short, tough, and crowded. Accord- 

 ing to the books the leaves are glaucous 

 (i. e., whitish or bluish), not merely on the 

 under surface but on the upper also. One 

 might naturally infer that this would make 

 the tree decidedly brighter than the Eastern 

 balsams and possibly as light toned as the 

 famous concolor, but on examining a speci- 

 men from the Dana collection (which comes 

 under the synonym A. subalpina), I find 

 that it needs a magnifying glass to see the 

 silvery portion on the upper side of the 

 leaves. However, the foliage effect must 

 be more luxuriant and brighter than that 

 of the Eastern balsams, for the color is 

 perceptibly lighter and the leaves are an 

 inch long, while those of the Eastern balsams 

 are only half an inch in length. The fact 

 that this noble species is native to Colorado 

 raises the hope that we may be able to grow 

 it in the East. 



TWO YELLOW-GREEN FIRS 



The only yellow-green firs with which I 

 am acquainted are the European and 

 Siberian. The cheapest and least reliable of 

 all firs is, naturally, the common fir of Europe 

 (Abies Picea, but known to nurserymen as 

 A. pectinate/). It is of great value in Europe 

 as a windbreak, because it will grow in the 

 most exposed places, and, as we should 

 expect, it has the greatest number of varie- 

 ties — weeping, pyramidal, dwarf, etc. In 

 every large group of trees we are likely to 

 find one quick-growing European species 

 that has many horticultural varieties, and 

 these are the ones that our short-sighted 

 nurserymen push. But the American people 

 no longer buy the cheapest simply because 

 it is the cheapest. We want the best. 

 And the quick-growing trees are almost 

 invariably short-lived. I know one honest 

 nurseryman who offers to sell all the silver 

 firs he has at less than the cost of growing 

 them because they are not reliably hardy, 

 and get browned in exposed places during 

 severe winters. This is a pity because a 

 well-grown European fir is rather more 

 cheerful in expression than most firs. It 

 is considered a dark tree in Europe, but 

 the specimens I have seen were all a yellowish 

 green. The peculiar texture of the Euro- 

 pean silver fir is largely due to the fact that 

 the leaves spread in a two-ranked fashion, 

 somewhat like a spray of hemlock. 



Another quick-growing yellow-green fir 

 is the Siberian, which is known to the 

 trade as A. Pichta but should be called 

 A. Sibirica. Although this is hardy, 

 the new growth is often browned by spring 

 frosts, and the tree soon gets thin and loose. 

 But Siberia is a big country, and in some 

 parts of it the climate is closely comparable 

 to that of the northern United States. So 

 let us hope that Professor Hansen has 

 found, or Mr. Fairchild will import, a form 

 that will preserve its beauty here a reason- 

 able length of time. We need a good 

 yellow-green fir, for a little yellow, well 

 blended, makes a conifer cheerful. 



THE BEST DARK GREEN FIRS 



There can be no question that the best 

 dark-leaved fir for the North is the Crimean 

 fir, better known as Nordmann's (A. 

 N ordmanniana) . A dark conifer with a 

 dull leaf is almost certain to be gloomy or 

 depressing, but dark leaves that are highly 

 polished are distinctly cheerful, and the 

 Crimean is probably the most lustrous of 

 all firs. Another reason for its charm is 

 the unusual length of the leaves — quite 

 an inch. Even in the juvenile stage, Nord- 

 mann's fir is a majestic and soul-satisfying 

 tree. Its only defect is that the buds some- 

 times "winter kill," but after the tree be- 

 comes thoroughly established such damage 

 is quickly repaired. The Crimean fir 

 starts into growth later than the other 

 conifers from Asia Minor and, therefore, 

 does not have its foliage browned so often 

 by spring frosts. It is the cheerfullesl 

 and longest lived dark fir that we can grow 



Spring aspect of the Fuji fir. The contrast be- 

 tween the new and old growth in conifers is as 

 enjoyable "while it lasts as if troes had a period of 

 showy bloom 



The showiest of all firs, AbitS concolor. or Colorado 

 ■white fir. The only hardy fir with leaves silvery 

 on both sides 



in the northeastern part of the United 

 States. 



If the Crimean is the stateliest of dark 

 firs, then the most graceful is the Cilician 

 (A. Cilicica). The foliage is only a trifle 

 less dark and lustrous than that of the 

 Crimean fir. In fact, the twigs I have 

 before me are quite as glorious in color and 

 polish. But the expression is wonderfully 

 different, because the Cilician fir mimics 

 our hemlock, the leaves making a flat spray 

 that seems to lie in a single plane. A 

 closer look, however, shows that the leaves 

 are arranged in double rows on either side 

 of the branch, their inner leaves being 

 perceptibly shorter than the other. The 

 only defect of the Cilician fir is that it starts 

 to grow too early in the year and is therefore 

 frequently browned by spring frosts. But 

 we must have it at any price. The leaves 

 are about three-quarters of an inch long, or a 

 fourth shorter than those of the Crimean fir. 



THE SHARP-LEAVED FIRS 



So far, with the exception of the Western 

 balsam, I have mentioned only blunt-leaved 

 firs. In fact, the leaves are so blunt that 

 they even have a notch at the tip. All the 

 other firs here described have sharp-pointed 

 leaves. This distinction may seem to be 

 merely botanical, but when you come to 

 multiply blunt points by the million on one 

 tree and sharp points on another, I believe 

 you will find that the texture is decidedly 

 different. And texture, in my opinion, has 

 more to do with the personality of the firs 

 than anything else — even color of foliage 

 and form of tree. 



