50 
Isaac Hicks & Son, Westbury Station, N. Y.—Ebergreens 
Spruce, Oriental, continued 
therefore it never gets open or ragged or gloomy. 
Of course, a lawn planted with this in excess 
would be too somber and ponderous. The art of 
landscape design with plants consists largely in 
arranging the lights and shadows, and the 
various shades of green. The Oriental Spruce 
offers the best color of its form. Another ever- 
green of that form is the Balsam Fir, common in 
the northern forest, but, unfortunately, it does 
not retain its lower branches when over 10 feet 
high in this vicinity. Another dark evergreen is 
the Nordmann's Fir, which is a much broader 
pyramid with larger foliage, giving a different 
texture. The Japanese Yew is equally as dark. 
A prominent landscape architect says that he 
would use Oriental Spruce much more often if it 
was not so difficult to transplant. Like the 
Hickory tree it first builds a sure foundation of 
long and deep roots. We grow our plants wide 
apart and frequently dig a trench around them 
to root-prune them and make a dense mass of 
fibrous roots. They are comparatively rare in 
nurseries because of the difficulty of transplanting 
them and because they are slow to get to salable 
size. However, they are not slow-growing when in 
their permanent location. We advise their use 
in various soils and situations, where a collection 
of the best evergreens is wanted. 
Douglas. Pseudotsuga Douglasii; syn., Pseudo- 
tsuga mucronata. We recommend this tree highly 
because of its rapid growth and because it keeps 
in good condition. The highest authority on trees 
says of it: "It is one of the most beautiful and 
valuable of American conifers, promising to sur- 
pass in permanence and mature beauty the other 
conifers of western America." It was introduced 
by Dr. Parry with the Colorado and Englemann's 
Spruce in 1861. Like the other Colorado ever- 
greens it has a beautiful green or glaucous sheen 
Japanese Yew. In the background are sheared Cedars 
planted by us in the formal garden designed by Daniel Lang- 
ton, Landscape Architect for the late Mr. Robert L. Stevens. 
Spruce, Douglas, continued 
to the foliage. Its habit, however, is entirely 
different from the Colorado Blue Spruce or 
Englemann's Spruce, lacking their sturdy, stiff 
appearance. The long, graceful shoots arch out- 
ward. The foliage is always dense and the long 
lower branches sweep the ground. 
The Latin name indicates its botanical relation 
to the Hemlock. Its softer texture and more 
graceful outline suggest its being grouped with 
the Hemlock, and where the graceful effect of the 
Hemlock is desired in places too windy for the 
latter. It grows as rapidly as the Norway Spruce 
and we recommend that it be substituted. 
We make a careful study of the climate and 
soil of the region from which we get our seed. 
The value of this to our customers is well illus- 
trated by this species. We ordered seed which 
was said to have been collected at 8,000 feet ele- 
vation in Colorado. After growing several 
thousand trees a few years they had to be thrown 
out. On our occasional severe winters they win- 
ter-kill, as do some trees imported from France. 
We now have an extensive stock of the hardiest 
form, being assured by the United States Forest 
Service that the seed was collected at the proper 
altitude. A large proportion of these trees have 
the beautiful blue-green color. 
Alcock's. P. bicolor; syn., Alcockiana. This is 
bluer than the Colorado Blue Spruce in the winter 
time, especially when viewed by the horizontal 
rays of the sun illuminating the lower side of the 
foliage, for the blue is all on the under side of the 
leaves and is not washed off by winter storms. 
It is a taller and narrower tree than the Colorado 
Blue Spruce and grows more rapidly. 
Tiger Tail. P. polita. Like many other of our 
hardiest evergreens this comes from the northern 
mountains of Japan. It is a rough, broad, irregu- 
lar tree, with stubby, sharp-pointed, yellow-green 
leaves. It appears to be entirely hardy and prom- 
ising for windy places. 
Yew • Taxus 
Japanese. Taxus cuspidata. The Yew and Holly, 
and the Oak have enduring places in the literature 
of English-speaking people, and there will always 
be a demand for them. Unfortunately, the 
English Yew is not reliably hardy in northeastern 
United > States, although many old plants of it are 
struggling along in sheltered places. Thousands 
of dollars are wasted in importing English Yew 
and other evergreens which disappear in a few 
years. 
The Japanese Yew, or, at least, certain forms of 
it from the colder part of Japan, is hardy and 
would be extensively used if this fact were known. 
The oldest plant we know of is about 10 feet high 
and 21 feet wide. It is very dark green in color 
and has not been damaged by the severest win- 
ters. It is as yet too rare in nurseries to recom- 
mend for hedges, but we see no reason why the 
Yew hedges of England should not be reproduced 
in this country. 
Japanese. T. cuspidata, var. capitata. This name 
does not appear in any catalogue now published 
and we have the only commercial stock of it. It 
is upright in habit like a Fir tree. A plant about 
twenty-five years old is 13 feet high and 9 feet 
broad. It keeps a central leader and in Japan 
grows 40 feet high with a trunk 2 feet in diameter. 
