EVERGREEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 545 
the branches, twisted at the base, narrow, rigid, linear, sharp- 
pointed, in-curved, silvery below, and vivid-green above, three- 
fourths of an inch long, and soon falling off after the first season, 
leaving the branches very naked, warted, and with a jointed appear- 
ance. Buds ovate-pointed, and covered with resin. Cones three 
inches long, one to one-and-a-quarter inches broad, pendulous, cylin- 
drical, blunt-pointed, and with the scales loose, and not compact.” 
* * u The young twigs are slender, and of a yellowish-brown color. 
The tree grows to the height of sixty or seventy feet, with a pyra- 
midal, thickly-branched head, and a silvery appearance.” It pre- 
fers the alluvial soils on the banks of rivers, in shady places. All 
authorities concur in this, that it flourishes best in moist soils and 
air, and that in very dry places and seasons it loses a part of its 
leaves in the summer, and then presents the appearance of a tree 
being killed by drought. Yet we have seen specimens growing in 
deep garden loam, and densely clothed with bright foliage, giving 
no indication of the premature falling of the leaves mentioned by 
Gordon, and confirmed by most of our own authorities. The form 
of the tree is compact and stiffly pyramidal, but less stratified in 
the disposition of its branches than the balsam fir. It may be 
considered almost hardy as to cold, but nearly worthless in many 
locations by reason of its burnt and denuded appearance in 
the sun. 
One quality in the Abies menziesii deserves attention. Its 
leaves are stiff and pointed, like the sharpest needles ; and as they 
are very numerous, and point so as to prick in every direction, and 
the growth is dense and compact, it would seem a formidable ever- 
green hedge-tree for a fence against men and animals. Its ten- 
dency to lose its leaves in summer will, however, condemn its use, 
unless it shall be found to thrive without this fault in damp 
shady places. 
The Himalayan or Morinda Spruce Fir. Abies Smithiana^ 
A. morinda . — This is the most graceful of all the Abies., and in its 
contour and foliage takes a rank midway between the Norway 
spruce and the hemlock. When introduced about twenty years 
ago it was supposed to be quite hardy, and its novelty and beauty 
35 
