1G4 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ November, 
amongst hardy evergreens, and many choice 
subjects may be selected from amongst them. 
We do not purpose to refer to the better 
known species, amongst which the Piceas stand 
pre-eminent, but rather to invite attention to 
some of those which are less known. 
One of the most interesting is the Blue 
Spruce of Colorado, Abies Parrijana* as it is 
now called. This beautiful plant is very symme¬ 
trically branched, and furnished wdth spreading 
needle-shaped leaves, so intensely glaucous 
as to impart to it a distinctly blue colour. 
It has been referred to Abies Menziesii and to 
A. Engelmanni, but we are much inclined to 
think it is distinct from either. Certainly, when 
regarded as an ornamental tree, the glaucous 
form must be set down as being by many points 
the best and handsomest of the Spruces. Many 
of the seedlings, however, come green, and the 
rest vary in the glaucous colouring. 
Two very pretty varieties of the Hemlock 
Spruce, Abies canadensis^ have been introduced 
to the Knap Hill collection. Cne of these, var. 
n/Jrt, has the tips of the young growth in the 
early summer for about half-an-inch in length 
almost pure white, producing almost as gay an 
appearance as if the plant were covered with 
blossom. The other, var. jyendiila, is of weep¬ 
ing character, the slender branches being 
gracefully drooping. Both of these will take 
a high position amongst plants of this class. 
A very elegant little fir is the Abies 
HooJceriana. It forms a slender pyramidal- 
growing species, with moderately spreading 
branches, and short silvery leaves, and is alto¬ 
gether a distinct-looking ornamental plant 
The Abies o)-ientalis, though not exactly 
new, is a little known, little grown, but most 
graceful tree, comparable to a very slender 
Norway Spruce. It has been far too much 
neglected by planters, but is one which it is 
most desirable to introduce largel}^, on account 
of its comparatively small size, and its stri¬ 
kingly refined and elegant character. 
Amongst the dwarf tufted-growing Firs, 
Abies excelsa pumila, a rather stout-growing, 
but close dwarf form, may be commended. It 
forms tussocks of foot high, and about 3 ft. 
over, close-set and uniform in character, and 
is a plant well adapted for use in terrace 
* Or, as il will probably have to be calleJ, 1‘kea I’nrryana. 
gardens, and as a bold, shrubby edging to 
carriage-drives. 
The Knap Hill Cypress, Cupressus Lawson- 
iana erecta viridis, together with the varieties 
(jracilis and -««««, was picked out of the first 
large batch of seedlings of this species which 
was raised in this country. The inimitable 
Knap Hill Cypress is, without exception, the 
handsomest evergreen shrub at present in cul¬ 
tivation, being the finest and most slender in 
ramification, the most perfect in shape, of the 
richest and most enduring verdure, and alto¬ 
gether in its style of growth, and without the 
use of the knife or shears, so symmetrical and 
refined in character, as to take the topmost 
place in the ranks of ornamental evergreens. 
This remarkably symmetrical growth is not 
indeed fully shown in the very young state, 
but begins to Aevelope itself in specimens of 
three or four feet in height, and these go on 
improving in beauty as they increase in bulk. 
It is necessary to add that one or two much 
inferior sorts have been sent out under the 
same name. 
Amongst the choicer Conifers, w'e should not 
omit to include Cupressus Laicsoniana lutea, as 
it is without doubt the best of all the golden 
Cypresses, being distinctly flushed with colour, 
of free growth, and what is equally, if not 
even more important, not being subject to burn, 
as are all the other yellow variegated forms of 
this plant at present known. 
Another good variety of this Cypress is that 
called Cupressus Laicsoniana pijramidalis alba, 
in which the tips of all the branchlets are 
pale-tinted, and the leaves glaucous, so that 
it takes on a silvery hue, which is striking and 
distinct. This is not only a slender and 
graceful plant, but one w'hich is free-growing 
in habit, and does not burn. 
The well-known Thuja orientalis aurea —of 
Avhich the original seedling plant now growing 
in the Knap Hill Nursery, where it originated, 
forms a large, dense mass, 10 ft. in height, 
and proportionate in bulk—is one of the most 
popular of dwarf hardy shrubs—so popular 
indeed that the progeny of the parent plant 
must now be reckoned by millions. 
Of more recent introduction and of Con¬ 
tinental origin, is the Thuja orientalis semper- 
aurea, which is of a deeper golden hue, the 
colouration being, moreover, continuous through- 
