the northeastern United States, is rather difficult to establish and 
grows more slowly than any other conifer in the collection, and that 
the two Balsam Firs of the eastern states ( Abies balsamea and A. Fra- 
seri) are in cultivation short-lived and are of no value as ornamental 
trees; and that this is true, too, of one of the Rocky Mountain Firs, 
Abies lasiocarpa, and of the Siberian Abies sibirica. 
Of native conifers in the collection, which now after a trial of from 
twenty to thirty years promise to be most valuable in this climate, 
the Rocky Mountain form of Abies concolor is the most beautiful at 
thirty years of age of all the Firs which can be grown here. Abies 
brachyphylla from Japan, with leaves dark green above and silvery 
white below, Picea omorika from the Balkans, a narrow pyramidal 
tree which seem3 to grow as well in western Europe as it does in New 
England, are promising trees. Abies cilicica from Asia Minor, Pinus 
parviflora from Japan, and P. Koraiensis, from Siberia, Manchuria and 
Korea, a valuable timber tree in its native country, are also promising. 
Pinus monticola from western America, the western representative of 
our eastern White Pine, is perfectly hardy here, but as an orna- 
mental tree is in no way superior to the eastern species. Tsuga car- 
oliniana from the Blue Ridge of North and South Carolina, although 
smaller is a more graceful and beautiful tree than our northern Hem- 
lock. First raised from seeds in the Arboretum in 1881, it gives every 
promise of being one of the most desirable ornamental conifers which 
can be grown in this climate. The collection of the forms of the native 
Arbor-vitae ( Thuya occidentalis ) in the Arboretum is a large one and 
is now in excellent condition, and well worth a visit by any one inter- 
ested in the seminal varieties some trees are capable of producing. This 
tendency to variation, appears, too, in the Japanese Retinosporas 
( Chamaecyparis obtusa and pisifera ) which are planted next to the 
Arbor-vitaes. 
Although Yews are not technically conifers, it may be said that the 
Japanese Taxus cuspidata and its variety brevifolia have come through 
another winter entirely uninjured, and that there is no reason for modi- 
fying the statement already made in these bulletins, that these are the 
most valuable plants which Japan has contributed to New England gar- 
dens, in which the Japanese Yew seems destined to become our best 
hedge plant. A low form of Taxus baccata (var. repandens ) has 
proved very hardy in the Arboretum, and for this climate appears to 
be the most desirable form of the European Yew. 
Of trees related to the Yews the hardiest here, with the exception 
of the well-known Gingko-tree, is the Japanese Torreya, T. nucifera. 
This in Japan is a large tree with a tall trunk and a dense head of 
dark green foliage. It should appeal to Americans as it bears the name 
of a distinguished American botanist, and to the student of trees it is 
interesting because it is the latest of all the conifers or conifer-like 
trees to begin its annual growth, the leaf-buds now only just begin- 
ning to expand. There is a group of these Torreyas among the Laurels 
at the base of Hemlock Hill, and near them is growing the largest 
specimen of the Japanese Yew in the Arboretum. 
The Arboretum will be grateful for any publicity 
given these Bulletins. 
