FLORA AND SYLVA, 



The Yellow Cypress {C.nootkatensis). — A distinctly 

 beautiful tree, hardy, a native of the northern Pacific 

 coast, and with even more than the grace of the 

 Italian Cypress. It thrives in cold, ordinary soils, 

 and it is a pleasure to see it at all seasons. The 

 English name of Yellow Cypress was given by the 

 colonists of Vancouver's Island from the fresh wood 

 being yellow in colour. Syn. Thuiopsis borealis. 



The Great Japanese Cypress (C. obtusd). — A beau- 

 tiful evergreen tree of the mountains of Japan, 

 better known in our gardens under the wrong name 

 of Retinospora. It grows nearly 100 feet high, and 

 in its own country it is much used to form avenues. 

 It has many varieties with Latin names, but few 

 of them of real value as they grow old, and these 

 varieties and their Latin names and propagation by 

 cuttings will no doubt do their sorry work in blind- 

 ing us to the value of the wild tree. Only plants 

 from seed are worth planting for woods. 



The Douglas Fir. — One of the mostvaluable trees 

 introduced. It is now a common tree in Scotland, 

 for timber, and may at a glance be distinguished 

 from other conifers by its dense soft green foliage 

 on pyramidal trees a hundred or more feet high 

 in the oldest specimens. It should be planted in 

 sheltered valleys or woods, but will live in all soils 

 ranging from light sands and gravels to moderately 

 stiff* clay. There are several varieties of the tree, 

 that known as the Colorado variety being considered 

 the hardiest. Its growth in Ireland is very fine. 



The Sitka Spruce {Abies sitchensis). — In places 

 where this Spruce thrives it is a beautiful tree with 

 bluish silvery-grey leaves. In a damp climate where 

 the soil is deep and moist it grows into a noble 

 tree, but in dry soils it soon becomes poor. It comes 

 from a very cold part of the northern world, and is 

 a precious tree for Britain. I should place it among 

 the best evergreen forest trees. 



The Rocky Mountain Spruce (Picea pungens). — An 

 American Spruce ; a valuable tree for this country, 

 as it is very hardy, quick in growth, and withstands 

 exposure in high-lying places. It is most generally 

 known in gardens by its variety glauca, which is per- 

 haps the most silvery of all conifers, the whole tree 

 being like a cone of frosted silver. This Spruce is 

 largely raised from seed in order to select from the 

 seedlings these silvery varieties, and it is the green 

 kind which is of less value for gardens that is so 

 useful for exposed plantations and shelter groups. 

 I find this tree very good in poor stony and dry 

 ground. 



The Norway Spruce. — One of the most planted 

 of trees, and yet often failing in the southern and 

 dry counties, except near water or in wet bottoms. 

 It is a mistake to plant it on high exposed places or 

 in very dry soil, but over a large area of the western 

 country it is valuable.- 



The Silver Fir. — A noble tree of the mountains 

 of Central Europe, often planted in Britain, and 

 growing well over 100 feet high in many places. 

 It was the first of the Silver Firs planted in Britain, 

 and one of the best. When young it grows well in 

 the shade of other trees, and it is an excellent tree to 

 plant for shelter, as it will grow in the most exposed 

 situations, and in peaty as well as ordinary soils. 



The Giant Arbor-viu {Thuja giganted). — A tall 

 and noble tree, fine in stature and form, hardy in 

 our country, thriving in ordinary soils, and a free 

 and rapid grower, even without the special attention 

 in the way of soils such conifers often receive. It 

 attains in its own country a maximum height of 

 1 50 feet, and its wood is fine-grained and good. 

 N.W. America, finest on the Columbia river (syn. 

 T. Lobbii). 



The Puget Sound Fir [A. grandis). — A beautiful 

 and stately tree of over 200 feet high, with dark 

 green cones 2 to 3 inches long, and dark shining 

 leaves, white below. Hardy and free in various 

 parts of Britain ; best in moist soils, trees in Scot- 

 land at Ochertyre being over 60 feet high in 1899. 

 N.W. America. 



The Columbia Fir {A. nobilis). — A mountain tree, 

 200 to 300 feet high, with deep glaucous foliage 

 and brown cones 5 to 7 inches long. Hardy and 

 rapid grower in Britain. Oregon. 



The Crimean Fir {A. Nordmanniand). — A beauti- 

 ful dark green tree, with rigid branches and dense 

 dark green foliage and large cones. Hardy and 

 good grower in Britain. Caucasus and Crimea. 



The Red Cedar {Juniperus virginiand). — A grace- 

 ful, hardy tree on the hills and mountains of N.E. 

 America, giving somewhat of the effect of the 

 Eastern Cypress in Italy, and in our islands a good 

 sheltering tree in the poorest of soils and rocky 

 places. 



The Hemlock Spruce (Tsuga canadensis). — A tree 

 sometimes over 100 feet high with a diameter of 

 4 feet in the trunk, inhabiting cold northern regions 

 from Nova Scotia to Minnesota. This tree has 

 been much planted in England, but it has not so far 

 seemed to attain the stature and form that it shows 

 in Canada. It is of too high a character among 

 the nobler northern trees to be left out in any varied 

 planting of evergreen forest trees, choosing for it 

 cool soils or river banks. 



The Western Hemlock Spruce ( T. Mertensiand). — A 

 noble tree of fine habit, a larger tree than the Cana- 

 dian Hemlock Spruce — sometimes 200 feet high, 

 with a trunk diameter of 10 to 12 feet. A native of 

 Puget Sound, British Columbia to Alaska, and com- 

 ing from such fog-moistened region hardy enough 

 for our island climate. The foliage, as graceful as 

 a fern, is of a lustrous green, and silvery white be- 

 neath. 



