67 
however, will be needed to settle this question. One of the Spruces 
of northern Japan, Picea jezoensis , and its southern form (var. hondo- 
ensis) have grown miserably in Massachusetts up to the present time 
and give little promise of ever being valuable in this climate. The 
rare Tiger-tail Spruce {Picea polita) grows rapidly and is a perfectly 
hardy tree, but often begins to lose its lower branches before it is 
thirty feet tall. The northern Picea Glehnii, introduced by the Arbor¬ 
etum from seeds obtained by Professor Sargent in Hokkaido in 1892, 
now promises to be a handsome tree in this climate. The handsomest 
of the Japanese Spruces, judged by the few trees cultivated in Mass¬ 
achusetts, is Picea bicolor , or as it is more commonly called, P. Alcock- 
iana. This tree, which is rare in Japan, was discovered in 1862 during 
the first ascent of Fuji-san by Europeans. Seeds were collected at 
this time and sent to Europe and it is probable that the few large 
trees of this Spruce cultivated in the United States and Europe were 
raised from these seeds. The trees cultivated in Europe under this 
name are usually Picea jezoensis var. hondoensis, and the Arboretum 
knows only five of these trees in the United States, two in the Hun- 
newell Pinetum, one also planted by Mr. Hunnewell in the grounds of 
the Town Hall at Wellesley, and two on the Phillips Estate in North 
Beverly, Massachusetts. In the Arboretum there are only small un¬ 
satisfactory grafted plants, and for years the Arboretum has tried 
without success to obtain a supply of seeds from Japan, for, judging 
by our present knowledge of the behavior of Spruces in this climate, 
Picea bicolor promises to be the handsomest which can be grown in 
this part of the country. 
Abies. Fir-trees, like the Spruces, are widely distributed with many 
species through northern and elevated regions of the Northern Hemi¬ 
sphere, growing rather further south than the Spruces, as one Fir-tree 
grows in Mexico, one in Spain, one in northern Africa and several in 
southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. Many of the Firs are large and 
handsome trees, but the genus has not contributed much to the beauty 
of our northern plantations. Many of the handsomest and most inter¬ 
esting species are not hardy here, and several of the others are not 
presentable for more than a few years. Judging from the results 
which have now been obtained with these trees there are only two Firs 
which can be depended on to retain their beauty here for more than 
fifty years. These are the western American White Fir ( Abies con- 
color ), especially the form which grows on the mountains of southern 
Colorado, and the Japanese Abies homolepis or brachyphylla, a splen¬ 
did tree with dark green leaves white on one surface and large purple 
cones. The variety of this tree with green cones (var. umbellata) has 
grown more rapidly in the Arboretum than the purple-coned tree, but 
it is a tree of more open habit and with lighter green leaves, and is 
less valuable as an ornamental tree. Abies cilicica from Asia Minor 
and A. cephalonica from southeastern Europe have grown well in Mas¬ 
sachusetts for many years; although they have now nearly recovered, 
these two trees suffered severely in the cold winter of 1917-18. 
Thuja, the name of the Arbor Vitaes, is a small genus confined to 
eastern and western North America, Japan, Korea and north China. 
