i>INETUM DANICUM. 



445 



inaiin^t, and as its nature requires, and it will ere long be found that 

 few trees are more amenable to cultivation, and, perhaps, none repay 

 more fully the bestowal of a little extra care and attention at the time 

 of planting. Numerous instances of the rapid growth of this Conifer 

 in the British Isles might be adduced. A moist, deep, rich, but light 

 soil and sheltered situation are its chief requirements. 



Few trees in Britain have attained the age or size at which the wood 

 is mature ; but specimens that have come under my notice might be 

 reckoned as second-class in the Pine list. The late Mr. Speed, 

 gardener at Chatsworth, who had unusual opportunity of observing 

 the tree and testing the quality of the wood, reported the latter as 

 hard and heavy. In its native country the wood of the Hemlock 

 Spruce is not much in request, being coarse and crooked-grained, and 

 liable to splinter. It is sawn into boards of an inferior quality, 

 adapted for mining purposes, flooring of barns, wharves, and out- 

 buildings. The bark is used for tanning purposes, and in America 

 realises about fifteen shillings per ton. Introduced about the year 

 1736 (Trans. Roy. Scot. Arb. Soc. xii. pt. 2). 



Trees of T. canadensis of about a hundred years of age have in 

 some Danish gardens attained a height of 50 feet and more. One 

 planted in 1845 now measures 34 feet in height, with a girth of 2 feet. 



T. C. gracilis, Waterer. Abies canadensis microphylla, hort. 



This is a very singular-looking variety of the Hemlock Spruce, on 

 account of its slender shoots, thin appearance, and small foliage. The 

 leaves are linear, blunt-pointed, glossy above and glaucous below ; 

 more or less obliquely placed all round the shoots, and seldom more 

 than three lines long. Branches and branchlets very slender, little 

 divided, more or less drooping at the ends, and rather thickly covered 

 with the small obliquely placed leaves. 



A very distinct and singular-looking variety, raised at Knap Hill, in 

 Surrey. 



T. c. nana, Carr. Picea canadensis nana, Lawson. 



A dwarf variety, not growing more than two or three feet high, 

 and spreading on the ground, with a more tufted foliage. 



T. caroliniana, Engelm. in Coulter's Bot. Gaz. vi. 23 ; Sargent, 

 Forests of America (Final Reports, Tenth Census of U.S.), ix. 

 207. Ahies caroliniana, Chapman in Fl, of S, States, suppl. 650. 



Habitat. — Southern Alleghany region. Bluff Mountain, North 

 Carolina (A. Gray); "Saluda Mountains," South Carolina (L. S. Gibbs) ; 

 Pinnacle Mountain, North Carolina (Curtiss) ; New River, North 

 Carolina, and Coeurshead, South Carolina (Canby) ; Whiteside's Moun- 

 tain and Devil's Court-house Peak, J ackson County, North Carolina 

 (J. Donnell Smith). 



A small tree, 40-50 feet in height, with a trunk 2-2|- feet in 

 diameter ; dry, rocky ridges between 4,000 and 5,000 feet elevation ; 

 rare and local ; long confounded with the closely allied T. canadensis. 



