PRICE SXX CKN'P 
*‘i.50 PER YEAR. 
VOl.. XXXVI. No. 21 
WHOLE No. 14 5ii. 
[Entered according to Act of OoitRreeB. in the year 1K77, by the Rural Publishing Company. In the office of the l.iliruriai' of Ooinm'ss at Washington. | 
eulogistical accounts of it given by Dr. Siebolii, 
Mr. Fortune, and others it has attained great 
popularity. It is a tree of oonica 1 shape, donsoly 
furnished from tho ground upwards with nearly 
horizontally disposed branches, arranged mostly 
in whorls v Tho nodes and ends of the hrancli- 
lets have crowded wborMlke clusters of leaves— 
thirty to forty in number, two to four inches 
long, one-tifth to one-seventh inches wide, and 
of a deep green color. It is a very slow grower, 
but nevertheless one of onr prettiest and molt 
distinct of conifers, and so far as I ant aware, as 
hardy us a Hemlock Spruce. It is well fitted for 
isolation on small lawns, or tho center of a 
(lower lied where none of the surrounding 
plants come near enough to it, to oven touch or 
shade a leaf of it. 
in the gardens hero we have a nice two-foot 
high plant of it and which till now had been 
growing on the terrace, where it withstood the 
winters with impunity, without oven a mulching 
of leaves as a protection from frost. Last 
March when the thaw came I happened to pass 
by it and found it flatly prostrated on tho 
ground, having been thrown out by tho frost. 
With my hands I made a 
hole in the earth, replaced 
it in position, and with a 
stamp or two of tb«> foot 
left it standing firmly. 
About the end of May 
when planting sonic little 
succulents" around it I 
found it had tttksn hold 
and was freely omitting 
fresh roots. Towards the 
end of July I had occasion 
to grade tho laud whereon 
- it was growing, conse¬ 
quently I lifted and potted 
it, and placed it with 
lW ’" SS3,, ' many other odds and ends 
at the north side of tin 
Arbor-vitae hedge where 
it has remained since. 
^—- J Notwithstanding all this 
“knocking about" it 
looks as bright and heal- 
thy to-day (Nov. 10; as it 
did^a year ago. 
In its natural habitat— 
mostly mountainous re- 
gions—it is reported to 
attain a height of from 80 
to 150 feet. In tho Lon- 
_ don Garden, Vol. IV p. 
254, “H” says:—“There 
^ is a specimeu of this Pino 
(Sciadopitys vcrticillata) 
^ * nine feet high in Lady 
William’s garden at Tre- 
gillo, Cornwall," and 
again, in Vol. X, p. 492 
of the same work, “ G. 
M. B , Bagshot ” writes : 
“ We have here a plant 
of this Pine which meas¬ 
ures eleven feet four 
,, W inches in bight, and nine 
feet one inch through the 
branches. It forms a 
abj| handsome evergreen 
tree.” Now, so soon 
§£lji after the introduction of 
rf the tree, and considering 
its general habit, l regard 
these figures as oxtraor- 
diuary. I don’t remember 
>&5g! having seen any much 
Sg l over half that bight, 
•JffiL Tho prettiest plants I 
mu know of in New England 
are in Mr. G. S. Sargent's 
Arboretum, at Brookline, 
Mass. One is soma three 
of plants out for several winters and they have 
proved perfectly hardy. Propagation from seods 
or cuttings. Have not as yet found any stock on 
which they unite for grafting so as to accelerate 
growth. It is a Conifer of first merit bnt slow 
of growth the first ten years ; after that, it will 
grow rapidly.” 
And the following from Mr. William Fal¬ 
coner of the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. 
THE UMBRELLA PINE (Scladopltys ver- 
ticiltata. 
This beautiful pine tree is a native of Japan, 
and a near relative of the Mammoth Tree 
(Sequoia) of California. It is a great favorite 
with the Japanese, who cultivate it extensively 
in their gardens aud from time immemorial they 
havo grown it around their temples. Tho 
Japanese too, possess many varieties of it, some 
with shorter or longer leaves, others with a 
more compact, or lax habit than tho typical 
form, and oven a variegated-leaved variety. It 
is hut recently however—some sixteen years 
since, that it has been introduced from Japan, 
and so far, on account of its hardiness and tho 
ness, a matter upon which so much depends in 
the determination of its popularity. We have, 
therefore, written to several of our friends who 
have had experience with it, aud they have kind¬ 
ly responded as follows: 
“ The Sciadopitys verticillata has been entirely 
hardy at, this place and in our noil, even when 
quite young. Our specimen, now about ten 
years plauted, thrives beautifully, although of 
slow growth. It. has never been injured in the 
least by the winters, and like Abies polita and 
others of the Japanese Conifers, it may be class¬ 
ed as entirely successful in tho Middle States. 
Not only is it an attractive plant, hut, tho ar¬ 
rangement of its leaves renders it curious to 
those who have never made its acquaintance. It 
is difficult to propagato excepting from seeds, 
consequently it is very rare in collections in this 
country.— Jobiah Hoopes." 
The following is from Mr. J. It. Trumpy, tho 
skilled propagator of the Ivissena Nurseries of 
Flashing, L. I.: 
“ We received seeds of Sciadopitys verticillata 
through Dr. Hall in 1802. Have had a number 
PLANT PORTRAITS 
SCIADOPITYS VERTICILLATA.* 
Whorl-leaved Sciadopitys, or Parasol Fir, Hy- 
nyiim ; Pious verticillata—S iebobd; Ta xes ver 
We are far from wishing to praise onr sketch¬ 
es, so far as regards the credit which snch praise 
may attach to the Rural. Our readers will bear 
us out in the statement that for a considerable 
time [last we have carefully guarded against tho 
publication of all words of praise; while during 
that period, though especially of late, the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker has never before received more 
gratifying assurances that its labors are appre¬ 
ciated. But wc wish our readers who are inter¬ 
ested in the plants of tho series wo are present¬ 
ing in their turn, to know that they are taken 
from life, and that though by tjo means offered 
as fine engravings, they are considered by those 
familiar with the plants, as admirably true to 
life. We make these re¬ 
marks, therefore, so that 
our friends may feel that 
they can trust the impres¬ 
sions which these portraits 
create in their minds. 
The subject of our pres¬ 
ent sketch, Bciadopity 
verticillata, is an ever- 
green that differs from all ^ 
Others in so marked a de- 
greo, that there can bo 
little doubt it must bo ac- xV 
oepted in all collections 
that lay claims to any \ 
completeness in this class y 
of ornamental trees. And 
it is not improbable that -- t)<|> v 
its real merits w ill assure 
for it a more general re- 
cognition. 
The specimen from 
which our engraving is 
taken, is not over eight- 
een inches high, and as 
it was set out not until 
last spring, we have noth 
ing to Bay of our own 
knowledge as to its hardi- 
* Leaves Ions', linear, or 
somewhat falcate, smooth, 
entire, alternate, persistent, 
without any foot-stalks, and 
tapering to an obtuse? point, 
concave anti ribbed on the 
tinder sir]*, m close tufts of 
from thirty to forty <n num¬ 
ber on the end® of the shoots 
in a sort of whorl tu the form 
erf an extended parasol, aud 
reruaininif on the branches 
for three or four years, 
brunches alternate, or in 
whorls, with t.hc young shoot 
cylindrical, and w i t b out 
leaves, except towards the 
top, but covered with persist- 
cut scales, which when uld 
fall off, and leave tho uduJt 
branches marked by their 
Sears; hurt* terminal, vertic¬ 
ally numerous and scaly, at 
first imbricated, but after¬ 
wards scattered. Male and 
female Dowers uu tfic same 
plant, tfie male catkins term¬ 
inal, somewhat globular; I** 
male, solitary, and growing 
from among the scaly buds. 
Cones elliptic, cylindrical, 
obtuse at the ends.solitary, 
two inches and a half long, 
and one inch and a halt in 
diameter, and somewhat re- 
sum bluer those of the l’mua 
ceinbra, denies regularly im¬ 
bricated, wedge-shaped, half 
rounded on the outer part, 
leathery, irregularly reliev¬ 
ed round the edges, rather 
thin, persistent, aud of a 
grayish - hrown color, brac- 
teas adhering to the scale, 
and shorter. Seeds elliptic, 
compressed, seven in num¬ 
ber under each scale near 
the upper parts, with a coria¬ 
ceous covering, tapering into 
membranaceous wings. at¬ 
tenuating to the base and 
apex. From Life, 
By L, F. GRARTHSIj* 
HCIADOPITYH VBJITJI II -LATA 
