226 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Spruces, Hemlocks, and Firs. 
Among the Spruces, Hemlocks, and Firs, are 
found most of the really popular evergreens for 
general cultivation. Our own woods furnish 
jnme of these, and sev¬ 
eral from other countries 
make themselves quite at 
home in our grounds. 
The Hemlock is readily 
recognized, hut to many 
persons it is not easy to 
distinguish a Spruce from 
a Fir. The catalogues 
and books are bother¬ 
some, as there we find 
the botanical names 
Abies , Tsuga, and Picea, 
and used in different 
ways by different au¬ 
thors ; and even botanists 
of reputation are not 
agreed in their applica¬ 
tion of names. A more 
extended knowledge of 
these trees has shown 
that the characters upon 
which they were divided 
into the three genera 
mentioned above, were 
not to be relied upon, 
and in his new Book of Evergreens, Mr. Hoopes 
has very properly placed them all under Abies. 
He makes three divisions of the genus: 1, the 
True Spruces (Abies proper); 2, the Hemlock 
Spruces, (Tsuga); 3, the Firs, (Picea). The most 
to five, and the cones, which ripen the same 
year the trees blossom, while in the Pines they 
do not mature until the year after. The Spruces 
have their leaves pointing in every direction, 
and pendent cones; the cones of the Hemlocks 
Fig. 2.— ABIES CANADENSIS. 
obvious differences between the plants of this 
genus an'd the Pines arc the single or scattered 
leaves, which in the Pines are in clusters of two 
Fig. 1.— ABIES SMITHIANA. 
are hanging down, but the leaves spread in two 
directions,and appear as if placed in two opposite 
rows along the stems; in the Firs, the leaves 
seem to be more or less two-rowed,-but the cones 
are erect, and their scales fall away when ripe, 
while in the cones 
of Spruces and 
Hemlocks the 
scales remain. We 
are glad that Mr. 
Hoopes has plac¬ 
ed all these trees 
under one generic 
name, as nursery¬ 
men and cultiva¬ 
tors need not here¬ 
after be bewilder¬ 
ed with Abies and 
Picea. Mr.Hoopes 
gives an account 
of the hardiness 
of the different 
species, as well as 
their other quali¬ 
ties, derived from 
his own experi¬ 
ence and his ob¬ 
servations in the 
collections of oth¬ 
ers ; so that the 
work, while it 
aims at scientific 
accuracy as far as 
names and de¬ 
scriptions go, is 
nevertheless ex¬ 
ceedingly practi¬ 
cal. The common 
White Spruce {A- 
bies alba) comes in 
for a just share of 
praise, while its 
brother, the Black 
( A. nigra) is not 
recommended, on 
account of the unsightly character of the tree 
when past its youth. The Norway Spruce 
(A. excelsa) is, of course, high in the author’s 
favor, and he gives an account of seventeen 
varieties of this most popular tree. The beauti¬ 
ful Menzies’ Spruce (A. Menziesii), though suc¬ 
cessful with him is often injured elsewhere. 
The Himalayan Spruce {A. Smithiana), fig. 1, 
is as uncertain as it is 
beautiful, and can be rais¬ 
ed in the latitude of Phil¬ 
adelphia only with the 
greatest care. Our author 
is decided in his prefer¬ 
ence for the native Hem¬ 
lock Spruce (A. Cana¬ 
densis i), fig. 2, which he 
considers, and j ustly too, 
according to our notion, 
as the evergreen of ever¬ 
greens. Douglass’ Spruce 
{A. Douglasii), is in the 
same list with the Ilima- 
layan, satisfactory some¬ 
times. Among the Firs, 
the Balsam Fir ( A . bal- 
samea), fig. 3, gets faint 
praise; the young plants 
are beautiful, but the old 
ones are shabby. The 
Cephalonian Fir ( A. Co- 
phalonica ); Nordmann’s 
Fir, (A. Nordmanniana ); 
Great Silver Fir {A. gran- 
dis) ; the Siberian Silver Fir, (A. Piclita) ; and 
other less common species, are commended for 
general cultivation. All lovers of beautiful 
trees, and their number is rapidly increasing, 
will find Mr. Hoopes’ work a most interesting 
Fig. 3.—ABIES BALSAIIEA. 
one. It is the only work published in this 
country that gives the latest experience with 
evergreens, and is fuller than any foreign one. 
