550 E V E R QUEEN TREES AND SHRUBS. 
common hemlock that the weeping beech does to the common beech. 
It is of an eccentric rambling nature, but well clothed with verdure. 
Grown without training it will probably be a broad, irregular, flat¬ 
headed tree or great bush, with an overlaying of downward growing 
branches like that of the Scamston elm. By grafting it well up 
on other trees, or by tying its leader to a stick or stake, we believe 
it will be one of the prettiest and most picturesque of evergreens. 
The best effect will be produced when grafted well up on an 
ordinary hemlock stem. The tree was brought into notice by H. 
W. Sargent, Esq., who found it growing wild on Fishkill mountain. 
The Japan Hemlock Spruce. Abies tsuga .—This species, 
which is a great favorite in Japanese gardens, seems scarcely known 
yet in this country. On the mountains near Yeddo it is a lofty 
tree, while in gardens it is grown in pots and boxes to any size 
that the gardeners desire. There is also a variety that is dwarf by 
nature. 
The California Hemlock. Abies mertensianci. Abies canaden¬ 
sis taxifolia .—This is described in Gordon’s Pine turn as “A hand¬ 
some, bushy, round-headed tree, growing from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty feet high, and from four to six feet in diameter, 
with a straight round stem, etc. It is quite hardy, and resembles in 
general appearance the hemlock spruce.” * * “It is found in 
Oregon and Northern California, where it constitutes one-half the 
timber in the neighborhood.” Probably only a grosser variety of 
our native hemlock. 
THE SILVER FIRS. Picea. 
The difference between the spruce fir family and the silver firs, 
aside from their botanical traits, may be briefly mentioned as 
follows : 
The silver firs have a more rigid horizontality of branches, and 
the stratification of their foliage is usually more marked and formal. 
In general outlines the two families differ but little, but the rigidity 
