PARK AND CEMETERY 
490 
the roots of the tree, which have been previously cut 
loose from the surrounding earth. This chain is at- 
tached to the lifting-drum and the tree is slowly 
drawn up until the roots clear the ground. At the 
same time the trunk gradually sinks back until it is 
supported by the padded roller. The tree is locked 
in this position by a ratchet wheel and is now ready 
for transportation. 
The frame of this tree-lifter is very strongly con- 
structed of Washington fir, white oak and hickory 
with very heavy iron bracings. It has a direct lifting 
capacity of over 50,000 pounds, and it will, therefore, 
prove serviceable for moving heavy objects of all de- 
scriptions. 
The other device was patented by Albert F. Street, 
Rockville, Conn., and is described as follows in the 
specifications of the patent office : The axles 5 and 6 
are connected by any proper reach as 7, and the plat- 
form 8 secured on them. Underneath the respective 
axles are arranged the cross-wheels ii, 12, the wheel 
12 being free from the reach 7 and the axle 6. 
Upon the platform 8 are formed cradle-guides 16, 
and fitted into these is a hingeless and rolling cradle 
17 of a semi-circular form in the side view shown. 
This cradle is grooved at each side on its circular por- 
tion for the reception of the chains 18 and 19 that gov- 
ern its position on the wagon. The platform may be 
cut away at its wider end to make room for the roots. 
The upper end of the chains 19 is secured to that end 
of the cradle that is nearest the wider end of the plat- 
form, and then after following the curve of the cradle 
downwardly to the platform the chains extend along 
on the top of the platform toward the narrow end, 
where the end of the chain is secured. This construc- 
tion permits the cradle to rock or roll into any desired 
incline or to stand with its straight portion in a ver- 
tical position, as indicated by the broken lines, and 
at the same time the chains secure it against moving 
out of place longitudinally of the platform. The 
chains 18 are reverselv secured in the same manner. 
TREE-MOVING MACHINE. 
In operating the apparatus, when the earth has been 
sufficiently removed from around the roots of the tree, 
the wider end of the wagon is presented to the stand- 
ing tree, the chains or cables 27 unfastened, and the 
cradle rolled so as to bring its straight side vertical. 
Garden Plants— Their Geography— LXXX VI 
(Coniferales, Continued.) 
Picea, the “Spruce firs,” have about 17 species and 
a vast number of varieties, natives of the temperate 
and Arctic regions of the Northern hemisphere, often 
ascending to great elevations on the mountains. The 
word Picea (Link.) seems to be a very ancient one, 
and is said to have been used by Plinv to designate 
the common spruce which he described as “tonsili fa- 
cilitate,” because it submitted so- well to shearing. Nev- 
ertheless botanists, from Linmeus down to Don, Lou- 
don and Hemsley, have made the most unspeakable 
hash of Picea and Abies, and their successors delight 
to make quote of it ! Modern systematists are begin- 
ning to characterize the Piceas as having from seven 
to nine cotyledones, solitary, four-sided — pointed 
leaves scattered around the shoots in the Bupicca sec- 
tion, and flattish leaves having white stripes on the 
upper surface in the Oinorika section. The female 
flowers and cones are solitary, and the latter when 
mature are mostly pendulous. It is rarely that pur- 
chasers can find cones in nursery grounds however, 
so catalogues can and do perpetuate the old confusion. 
By far the most common spruce is P. excelsa, which 
runs into endless varieties. The Kew catalogues give 
about thirty, but this by no means exhausts them. 
Thev are pyramidal and pendulous, attenuated and 
compact, diffuse, lax, inverted, strict, gigantic, mon- 
strous and pygmy. Besides there are of course aureas, 
glaucas and argenteas, with whole cohorts of com- 
memorative varieties, some well worth knowing and 
planting. There is a variety called “elata” (I don’t 
know why), said to have originated at Flushing, which 
I fail to find in European catalogues. It has curious 
winged branches when young, but when older and vig- 
orous on deep soils the foot long branchlets are droop- 
ing in the manner of the funeral Cypress, and very 
elegant. The common spruces on good soils are rapid 
growers up to 80 feet or so, but on poor, sandy land 
they soon lose their beauty and are short-lived. They 
shear well, make close admirable conical hedges over 
a wide territory, and are splendid for woods and shel- 
ter belts. The dwarf varieties, such as Gregoryana, 
mucronata, pygmaea, stricta and clanbrassiliana, are 
useful for small places, rock-works and massing. 
Hideous jumbles are often made of massed beds, how- 
ever, especially when they stand a few years without 
attention. P. nigra is a native spruce from which the 
