Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. I 
NO. 17 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
JAMAICA PLAIN, MASS. NOVEMBER 5, 1915 
The Pinetum. The abundant rains of the past season have been a 
great benefit to the conifers in the Arboretum and many of these 
plants are now in an unusually good condition in spite of the severity 
of several recent winters. It is the province of the Arboretum to teach 
as far as it is possible to do so the value of all trees in this climate 
and to show those which fail as well as those which succeed, a duty 
which sometimes interferes with the beauty of the Arboretum as a 
garden. It has been shown by the Arboretum, for example, that the 
Balsam Fir, of the northeastern United States ( Abies balsamea) and its 
near relatives, the Fir of the southern Appalachian Mountains {A. Fra- 
seri), the Fir from the northern Rocky Mountain region ( A . lasiocarpa ), 
and the species of central Siberia, A. sibirica, can live here but soon 
become unsightly, and they are not worth growing in this climate for 
ornament or as timber trees. It has been shown here, too, that east- 
ern Massachusetts is not cold enough for the White Spruce of the 
north, Picea canadensis. This beautiful tree grows here rapidly until 
it is about twenty-five years old and then, save in exceptional situa- 
tions, it begins to become thin and soon loses its beauty. 
Pacific Coast Conifers. Of the conifers of the Pacific coast region 
of North America the White Pine, Pinus monticola, is the most suc- 
cessful. It is hardy, grows rapidly and, although not more beautiful 
or as valuable as the native White Pine, Pinus Strobus, it is a tree 
well worth attention in New England. The Sugar Pine, Pinus Lam- 
bertiana, which on the California Sierra Nevada becomes the largest 
of all Pine trees, is perfectly hardy here and is in good condition al- 
though it grows slowly. The White Fir of the California Sierras, 
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