EVERGREEN ORNAMENTAL TREES. *^59 
is of a light bluish green tint. The cones are also mucn 
larger on the White Spruce tree. 
The Hemlock Spruce, or, as it is more commonly called, 
the Hemlock (H. canadensis), is one of the finest and most 
distinct of this tribe of trees. It is most abundantly 
multiplied in the extreme northern portions of the Union ; 
and abounds more or less, in scattered groups and thickets, 
throughout all the middle states, while at the south it is 
confined chiefly to the mountains. 
It prefers a soil, which, though slightly moist, is less humid 
than that where the Black Spruce succeeds best ; and it 
thrives well in the deep cool shades of mountain valleys. 
In the Highlands of the Hudson it grows in great luxuri- 
ance ; and in one locality, the sides of a valley near Crow’s 
nest, the surface is covered with the most superb growths 
of this tree, reaching up from the water’s edge to the very 
summit of the hill, 1,400 feet high, like a rich and shadowy 
mantle, sprinkled here and there only with the lighter and 
more delicate foliage of deciduous trees. 
The average height of the Hemlock in good soils is about 
70 or 80 feet ; and when standing alone, or in very small 
groups, it is one of the most beautiful coniferous trees. The 
leaves are disposed in two rows on each side of the branches, 
and considerably resemble those of the Yew, though looser 
in texture, and livelier in color. The foliage, when the 
tree has grown to some height, hangs from the branches in 
loose pendulous tufts, which give it a peculiarly graceful 
appearance. When young, the form of the head is 
regularly pyramidal ; but when the tree attains more age, 
it often assumes very irregular and picturesque forms. 
