COJNIFER^, OR CONE-BEARING TREES. 



255 



is rich in tannin, and it is in great demand for tanning leather. 

 A strictly Northern tree, succeeding only in cool climates. 

 Very abundant in the Northern States and Canadas, and along 

 the mountains southward to Georgia. There are quite a num- 

 ber of varieties of the Canada Hemlock in cultivation, some 

 with broader leaves than the species, and others with smaller 

 and deeper green, r.nd several of a dwarf habit, and very com- 

 pact growth, but the most unique of all is Sargent's WeeiDmg 

 Hemlock, a very graceful tree, with pendulous branches. 



T. Merteusiana, Bongard. — California Hemlock. — Leaves about 

 three-fourths of an inch long, flat, obtuse, crowded, bright 

 green above, slightly whitish below. Branches and twigs very 

 slender, drooping, Cones about an inch long, ovate, with a few 

 persistent kidney-shaped entire scales. A large tree, one to two 

 hundred feet high, with a more rounded conical head than our 

 Eastern Hemlock, but wood quite similar, although claimed 

 by some to be of better quality. Said to be hardy in England, 

 but the foliage often burns badly in our Eastern States during 

 the hot weather in summer. Native of California, and north- 

 ward to Alaska, in the Coast regions. 



T. Pattoniaiia, Engelm. — Pat ton's Hemlock. — Leaves mostly 

 convex or keeled above, somewhat sharp-pointed, about an inch 

 long. Cones cylindrical-oblong, two to three inches long, 

 seeds larger than in the last species, and the wings shorter. A 

 very tall, strictly pyramidal tree, one hundred to one hundred 

 and fifty feet high, and growing at elevations of eight to ten 

 thousand feet in the Sierra Nevada and northward through the 

 Cascade Mountains in Oregon. 



The Asiatic species of the Hemlock have frequently been in- 

 troduced, and so long as kept in a conservatory or carefully 

 protected in winter, they thrive, but do not succeed when 

 planted out and exposed to our severe climate. 



PICE A. — Spruce, 



A genus of about a dozen species peculiar to the mountainous 

 regions of America, Europe and Asia. Male flowers axiUary 

 or sometimes terminal on last year's branchlets. Female cat- 

 kins at the end of short or long twigs, with. scales much larger 

 than the bracts. Cones maturing the first year, and pendulous. 

 Scales and enclosed bracts persistent on the axis, the cones fall- 

 ing off entire after the seed have dropped out. Leaves usually 

 keeled above and beneath, disposed somewhat spirally all 



