Fischbach, Schlesien, Oct. 18, l88? 



Dear Sir, 



Too late I recently heard from our general secretary Prof, Wittmark of your 

 presence in Europe, otherwise I would not have neglected to seek your personal 

 acquaintanship, which would have been very important and of great interest to me 

 because of my ardent love of conifers. Please therefore permit me to seek Instruction 

 in writing, which I v/ould much have preferred to receive verbally. 



My work with conifers pursues a double purpose. First, I am seeking to introduce 

 in our Fatherland such trees which would have a value in forestry, and secondly I 

 have the value of beauty in our parks in mind. 



In both respects I have been occupied for several years with Abies Engelmanni 

 (Parry) Abies pungens (Engelmann) and Abies Parriana (Hortoram) ; of the latter 

 particularly the bluish form glauca or argentea . However, in spite of sealous efforts, 

 I have not been successful in correctly distinguishing between the three trees, so 

 that nothing remains but to turn to the most certain source. I possess all three 

 trees in small specimens of meter height, some of them somewhat larger and some to 

 the assumption that Ab. pungens and Ab. Parriana are one but Ab. Engelmanni different 

 from these. 



However, Veitch in his Manual of the Coniferae, a book without scientific value, 

 but highly useful for gardening purposes, mentions a tree Ab. Engelmanni , which up 

 to now I have known as pungens respectively Parriana and does not at all mention Ab . 

 Engelmanni - which up to now I understood to be among them. Ab. pungens and 

 Parriana have stiff, all around prominent, more or less curved needles with sharp, 

 prickly points. The color varies quite a bitj from a dull yellowish green to a 

 bluish color on both sides , which is almost so intensive as that of Ab. sitchensis 

 (Ab. Menziesii) on the underside. 



In comparison on Ab. Engelmanni the needles are much softer and lie much closer 

 to the branches, also the buds of the form which I possess as Parriana glauca are 

 much stronger and more leafy than the comparatively smooth buds of A. Engelmanni ; 



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