J'/yES, HEMLOCKS AND SPRUCES. 



647 



The white pine, or Piniis Sirobiis^ is the commonest and best known 

 of the pines. It grows in England, where it is commonly called the 

 Weymouth pine. The solitary white pines remaining from the orig- 

 inal forests are among the most conspicuous and striking 

 objects in northern landscapes. They are always pictur- 

 esque, torn and broken by storms and disfigured by age. 

 They always inspire in us a feeling akin to reverence, and 

 we lament whenever one of them succumbs to the elements 

 or the axe. We should like to see in the country districts a 

 feeling strong enough to preserve all of these scattered sen- 

 tinels until storms and time destroy ^ 

 them. To the horticulturist this iti^'" 

 pine possesses much value. _^ ^ 

 Aside from its use as a wind- ' 

 break it is unexcelled for 

 beauty when planted 

 on the landscape. 



None the less pic- 

 turesque are isolated 

 old hemlocks, 

 although they are 

 very different 

 in expression from 

 the pines, 

 and they are 

 less c o m- 

 mon. Hem- 

 locks do not 

 persist so 

 long as the 

 pines in de- 

 serted clear- 

 ings and on 

 the windy hillsides. 

 But they are now and 

 then seen standing out 

 boldly against the 

 woods, or forming a 

 rough and rugged clus- 

 ter along some gorge or 

 wild roadway. Yet 

 the young hemlock is 

 the most graceful and 

 comely of all our ever- 

 greens. It takes 

 rather unkindly to cul- 

 tivation, however, es- 

 pecially when first 

 transplanted. The hot 

 suns are apt to burn it, 

 and the high cold winds 

 of winter disfigure it. 

 But when once estab- 

 lished in a partially 



Fig. 3. Hemlocks. — "A rough and rugged cluster. 



