io6 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1911 
The hemlock spruce, Tsuga Canadensis, should be used here in place of the English yew. For grace 
and endurance it is unsurpassed 
facts regarding the white spruce 
be known and an insistent de¬ 
mand arise, someone will meet 
it, for seed in abundance can 
be collected in the national 
northern forest home of this 
tree. 
Tsuaga Canadensis , the hem¬ 
lock spruce, should be with us 
a full equivalent for the yew 
tree of European gardens, yet, 
what scant attention it receives 
from garden planters? It is 
easily our most graceful ever¬ 
green tree, yields nothing in this 
respect to the commonly planted 
Retinispora which apparently 
has no future with us, whereas 
the hemlock spruce will endure 
beyond our time, its beauty in¬ 
creasing with age and stature. 
When planted as an isolated or 
individual tree it is sometimes 
a little slow growing and seems 
to be retarded or stunted by ex¬ 
posure, but this can be offset or 
corrected by giving it extra 
treatment in a well prepared 
planting site with an abund¬ 
ance of good soil. An unhealthy 
or impoverished tree not only 
evergreen planting generally arise from the misuse and inappro¬ 
priate planting of unsuitable types from Europe, Asia or the Pa¬ 
cific coast. To cite one common example that of the Norway 
spruce. It would have been better for American gardens had this 
tree never been introduced to the country, yet nurserymen con¬ 
tinue to raise it in prodigious quantity and planters are annually 
found to take and plant the product. 
Picea alba or Canadensis, our native white spruce, is an in¬ 
finitely better tree. Why should it be so generally ignored except 
it be on account of its being indigenous to our country? It is 
naturally distributed throughout northern territory from Labra¬ 
dor to Behring Straits and is especially abundant in Maine and 
contiguous north eastern states. It is unquestionably a good 
permanent tree for gardens and greatly to be preferred to its 
Norwegian relative. In infancy it does not grow quite as rapidly 
as the Norway but this is an additional recommendation to its 
use for gardens of limited area, as it makes a beautiful specimen 
individually. If planted for the purpose of a screen or shelter- 
belt it may be a little longer in furnishing the objective but its 
permanence is undoubted and its density will be retained. It is 
especially bright and cheerful in its leaf coloring and shows 
marked variation in this respect from deep green to a decided sil¬ 
very hue holding its color good throughout the entire winter. It 
can stand exposure in any situation without loss of verdure or 
virility, except that hot summers in New York and southwards, 
sometimes bring attacks of red spider which discolors the foliage, 
but this is only an occasional and temporary drawback. Another 
strong point in its favor is that it is a good evergreen for gar¬ 
dens on the seacoast. Sea air and saline winds it has long been 
accustomed to along the rocky shores of Maine. 
In spite of all this merited praise of the white spruce those who 
would purchase it for planting in quantity will find the available 
supply exceedingly small, but only because the public has become 
used to buying Norway spruce and the nurseryman is not to be 
blamed for growing most of what is in largest demand. Let the 
The white spruce (Picea alba ) is infinitely better than the imported 
Norway spruce 
