TEEES OF VARIOUS FOEMS. 



145 



on its native mountains, and in this country it grows 

 freely in a shaded situation and a loamy soil. On 

 light, sandy soils, and when exposed to the sun, its 

 leaves are frequently browned by the spring frosts. It 

 has the general form of the common spruce, but is 

 strongly distinguished from it by its glaucous foliage, 

 longer and narrower leaves, and its more slender and 

 pensile branchlets. It is a graceful lawn tree, and it is 

 also well adapted to the woods of the park. It was 

 introduced into this country in 1818, by Dr. Go van, 

 of Cupar, who presented seeds of it to the late Gen- 

 eral the Earl of Hopetoun, grandfather of the present 

 noble Earl. One of the original seedling plants, grow- 

 ing on a lawn in the gardens at Hopetoun House, is 

 now thirty-seven feet high, forming a fine tree, feath- 

 ered from the ground upward. This spruce, as well 

 as many others of the fir tribe, may be grafted with 

 success.* It is somewhat remarkable, that the Him- 

 alayan spruce has been found to stand the smoky at- 

 mosphere of London, better perhaps than any other fir. 



The Larch is now a very common, but also a very 

 valuable tree, for the purposes both of utility and 

 ornament. It has the spiiy pyramidal form of its 

 class, which, perhaps, is too slight in its proportions, 

 when young ; but it acquires a grace and dignity in 

 its broad and vigorous old age. Its main peculiarity, 

 in relation to its class, is that it sheds its leaves, and 

 its decorative properties reside less in its form than in 

 its beautiful tints, which vary through a wide range, 

 with the revolving seasons. 



* At Hopetoun, in the autumn of 1827, the writer of this work grafted several of 

 the Morinda on the common spruce, at about four feet from the ground ; they are 

 now twenty-six feet in height, and apparently as vigorous as if on their own roots. 



