Douglas Spruce and in the White Fir, Abies concolor. The latter 
proves to be the handsomest and most desirable Fir tree which can be 
grown in the eastern states. From the mountains of Colorado also 
come the Engelmann Spruce and the so-called Colorado Blue Spruce 
(Picea pungens). The former is a handsome and very hardy tree of a 
narrow pyramidal habit with silvery gray fohage and red scaly bark. 
For many years this tree was the handsomest Spruce in the Arboretum 
but in late years the oldest plants, now about forty years old, have 
begun to lose their lower branches and their greatest beauty as 
specimen trees. The Blue Spruce, which has been raised in great 
number by American and European nurserymen, is handsome for a 
few years but soon loses its beauty through the death of lower branches 
and before it is fifty years old becomes in cultivation, as when growing 
naturally in Colorado, an ugly and unsightly object. Planters of this 
tree are destined to disappointment. 
Of the conifers of the Pacific coast of North America the mountain 
White Pine (Pinus monticola) and the Sugar Pine (Pinus Lambertiana) 
are hardy in the northern states. The latter grows very slpwly but 
the former has grown fast in the Arboretum and promises to become a 
large tree. As ornamental trees these two Pines, however, are not 
superior to the eastern White Pine for eastern planting. 
The Fir of the northwest coast, Abies grandis, lives in the Arbore- 
tum in sheltered positions, but it is not probable that this handsome 
tree wiU ever be of much use in eastern plantations. More valuable 
is the western Arbor Vitae (Thuya pHcata), the Red Cedar of the 
northwest. This tree ranges inward from the coast to the western 
slopes of the northern Rocky Mountains, and the plants raised from 
seed gathered forty years ago in interior regions have produced plants 
which are perfectly hardy in the Arboretum, where they have grown 
rapidly, and are among the handsomest and most interesting trees 
in the collection. Eastern planters may well pay attention to this tree. 
Still going west, it has been found that all the Japanese conifers 
succeed in the eastern states with the exception of those from the 
extreme southern part of the country, Hke Cryptomeria and the 
Japanese Douglas Fir which are not hardy in New England. The 
Japanese conifers which can be specially recommended are Abies 
homolepis and Pinus parviflora. Among the Fir trees the former is 
only second in value to the White Fir of Colorado for eastern planta- 
tions. Of the conifers of eastern continental Asia Pinus koraiensis, 
Pinus sinensis and the Lace Bark Pine (Pinus Bungeana) are valuable 
trees for the eastern states, and, although it is too soon to say much 
about the Spruces and Firs raised from seed collected by Wilson in 
western China, up to this time the young plants have supported with- 
