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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



W. frustescens, the North American species, has 

 darker violet-tinted flowers in shorter racemes than 

 the common Wistaria ; it flowers, too, in autumn, 

 and is well worth a place on a wall or trellis. 



W. Japonica is a pretty plant, with slender racemes 

 of smaller white flowers ; it is not so vigorous a 

 grower, and, therefore, should be planted where its 

 allies would prove too large. 



Xanthoceras sorbifolia, the only species of 

 the genus, is a native of North China, and is nearly 

 allied to Kozlrcuteria, upon which it may he grafted. 

 A good way of increasing the stock of this beautiful 

 little tree is by means of root-cuttings, should seeds 

 not be available. The foliage is somewhat like that 

 of the Mountain Ash, and the rather large flowers, 

 white with a purplish eye, are produced in terminal 

 simple racemes in May and June. 



Zelkowa. — This genus comprises but a few 

 species, those here mentioned being ornamental de- 

 ciduous trees with valuable timber. Z. erenata is a 

 quick-growing, handsome tree, with rigid dark green 

 crenated leaves, and a rather upright — not spreading 

 — habit. There is a weeping variety in cultivation, 

 and also one with variegated foliage. A native of 

 the Caucasus. The Japanese Z. acuminata has 

 larger, more papery leaves, with long acuminate 

 points, sharper serratures, and more numerous 

 nerves. Both species grow well in moist soils. 



Zeiiobia. — The plant now forming this genus 

 was formerly placed under Andromeda, similar treat- 

 ment to which it requires. There are few more 

 beautiful objects than a well-flowered bush of this 

 handsome Heathwort. Two or three varieties are in 

 cultivation, differing principally in the colour and 

 form of the leaves ; the type, Z. pulverulenta, has 

 foliage covered with a whitish bloom, whilst nitida 

 has light green leaves without any of the powdery 

 covering which is so conspicuous in pulverulenta. 

 Both bave large, pendulous, Lily-of-the-Yalley-like, 

 white flowers. 



COMFEBS. 



By George Nicholson. 



THE natural order Conifcra comprises, according 

 to the " Genera Plantar um," 32 genera and 

 about 300 species. They are found in almost all 

 parts of the world, but principally affect temperate 

 and mountainous regions, and in the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere form vast forests in some countries. AYhether 

 regarded from a purely economic or landscape- 

 gardener standpoint, they are undoubtedly of the 



highest importance. Within the last generation too 

 many Conifers have been planted in proportion to 

 deciduous trees, for purposes of ornament, and to 

 this are due the somewhat monotonous and sombre 

 effects which obtain in too many parks and gardens. 

 In the following notes a few of the more remarkable 

 species of each section or genus, and some of the 

 most ornamental or striking varieties, are mentioned ; 

 those of purely botanical interest being omitted. 



Abies {Fir). — A good deal of confusion unfortu- 

 nately exists betw T een this genus and Picea ; in most 

 books the names of the two genera are transposed. 

 The true species of Abies, of which the common 

 Silver Fir, A. pectinata, may be taken as the type, 

 have flattened leaves, generally more or less definitely 

 arranged in rows, on each side of the branch, and 

 cones with scales which are deciduous and fall off 

 when the seed is ripe, leaving the axis on the tree. 

 All the species, about a score in number, are natives 

 of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. 



A. amabilis, a native of British Columbia, is closely 

 allied to A. grandis, from which it is readily dis- 

 tinguished by its very crowded and darker green 

 foliage, and its large dark purple cones ; excellent 

 figures of this rare and handsome Fir are given in the 

 Gardener's Chronicle for December 4th, 1 880. The late 

 Dr. Engelmann, one of the greatest authorities on 

 North American Conifers, thus describes the species 

 in the very locality where it was first discovered by 

 Douglas sixty years ago : " It is a magnificent tree 

 at about 4,000 feet altitude ; the largest specimen, 

 growing on the banks of a mountain torrent, was 

 probably 150 to 200 feet high, with a trunk about four 

 feet in diameter, branching to the ground and form- 

 ing a perfect cone of dark green foliage. The bark 

 of the old tree is one inch and a half to two inches 

 thick, furrowed and reddish-grey ; that of younger 

 trees, less than 100 years old, is quite thin and 

 smooth, light grey or almost white." 



A. balsa mea, the Balsam or Balm of Gilead Fir, 

 is a native of Eastern North America from Canada 

 and Nova Scotia to Virginia, Wisconsin, and Min- 

 nesota. It is principally valuable as the source of 

 the Canada balsam of commerce. Now and then, 

 in the cold damp woods and mountain swamps of 

 its native habitats, it attains a height of seventy 

 feet with a trunk upwards of eighteen inches in 

 diameter. It has smaller, thinner leaves than the 

 European A. pectinata, which it resembles in general 

 aspect. 



A. braelujphylla, a native of Saghalien and Japan, 

 is a handsome species, one of the hardiest of the Fir 

 tribe. It has only been introduced into this country 

 about fifteen years, consequently no large specimens 

 as yet exist, but in Japan it is said to make a mag- 



