432 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
northwest coast, Abies grandis, and the coast Hemlock, 
Tsuga heterophylla, raised from seeds gathered on the 
Rocky Mountains of Idaho as these two trees also range 
far inland. 
..Colorado Conifers. The Douglas Spruce, Pseudot- 
suga mucronata, from Colorado is hardy in this climate 
and promises to be long-lived here although this tree 
from the northwest coast, where it grows in its greatest 
perfection, is not hardy in New England. The other 
conifers from the interior of the continent are hardy but 
are not of much promise as ornamental or timber trees 
for the eastern states. Picea Pungens , the well known 
Colorado Blue Spruce, which is still largely propagated 
and sold by European and American nurserymen, will 
disappoint many planters of trees for its beauty is com¬ 
paratively short-lived. This tree growing naturally in 
small groves by some of the streams of the southern 
Rocky Mountains becomes at the end of a few years thin 
and scrawny in habit with a few short branches on the 
upper part of the trunk, and is as ugly an object as a 
tree can well be. In cultivation the Blue Spruce for 
several years is compact in habit with wide-spreading 
branches in regular layers, but as the trees grow older 
the branches at some distance from the ground grow 
more rapidly than those at the base of the trunk, and 
overshadow and gradually kill them. The oldest of 
these trees in cultivation were raised from seed collected 
by Dr. C. C. Parry in 1862 and are thus only fifty-three 
years old. One of these original trees is growing in the 
Arboretum on the southern slope of Bussey Hill where, 
although it is a pathetic object, it is kept to show the 
planters of this tree what they may expect of it long be¬ 
fore it attains half its natural size. For many years 
there have been growing in the Arboretum what have 
been considered the finest specimens in cultivation of the 
second of the Colorado Spruces, P. Engelmannii; they 
formed narrow and compact pyramids with slender 
trunks furnished to the ground with short branches, and 
it was believed until recently that this tree which is so 
handsome on the high slopes of the Colorado mountains 
would prove to he the most desirable of all Spruce-trees 
for this climate. In the last two or three years, how¬ 
ever, the lower branches of these trees have begun to 
die and. although the trees appear otherwise perfectly 
healthy and are still growing rapidly, their beauty as 
specimen trees is much injured. 
Exotic Conifers. The conifers of western and 
northern Europe are generally hardy here but often 
short-lived. The Firs, Spruces and Pines of Japan are 
nearly all hardy in this climate, and although we have 
had a much shorter experience with the Chinese conifers 
than with those from Japan there is every hope that 
many of them will prove hardy in this climate and that 
some of them may be valuable ornamental trees. 
The Cedar of Lebanon. The Cedar of Lebanon 
(Cedrus Libani) in the Arboretum shows the importance 
of careful selection of the seeds from which to raise trees 
for any particular climate. One of the Fir trees of Asia 
minor, Abies cilicica, has been growing for many years 
in New England where it has proved to be one of the 
best of all conifers of its class to cultivate here as an or¬ 
namental tree. With this Fir the Cedar of Lebanon 
grows in Asia Minor on the Anti-Taurus, far north of the 
Lebanon Range in Palestine and in a much colder cli¬ 
mate. As the Palestine Cedar is not hardy here in New 
England the Arboretum had seeds of this tree collected 
on the Anti-Taurus with the view of attempting to intro¬ 
duce a hardy race of Cedars into New England. The 
seeds were sown here in the spring of 1902 and a large 
number of plants were raised. They all proved per¬ 
fectly hardy, not one having suffered from drought or 
cold. Some, however, have been lost in attempts at 
transplanting, for no other tree here has proved so dif¬ 
ficult to move. The average height of all these young 
Cedars in the Arboretum is now about thirteen feet. The 
tallest is twenty-one feet high and there is another speci¬ 
men twenty feet high. It is doubtful if any other con¬ 
ifer can be grown in New England from seed to the 
height of twenty-one feet in thirteen years. 
Torreya nucifera. Of the genus Torreya, which is 
related to the Yews, there are four species found in Flor¬ 
ida, California. Japan and China. The Japanese species 
T. nucifera is well established in the Arboretum, and one 
of the trees produced a few of its green olive-like fruits 
this year. In Japan this Torreya is a magnificent tree 
sometimes ninety feet high with a massive trunk and a 
dense crown of dark green shining leaves. It should 
be better known in this climate where it is apparently 
one of the rarest of exotic trees. The best specimen, 
probably, in the United States is in the Hunnewell Pine- 
turn at Wellesley in this state. The peculiarity of this 
tree is that it does not begin to grow until July. In 
spite, however, of its short growing season it makes long 
annual shoots and increases rapidly in height. There 
is a group of this tree among the Laurels at the base of 
Hemlock Hill; there is a plant of Torreya californica 
among the exotic conifers near the top of Hemlock Hill 
where it has been kept alive for several years by careful 
winter protection. As an ornamental tree it has no 
value in this climate. 
Chinese Cotoneasters. Several of the Chinese Coton- 
easters in the collection of Chinese plants on the southern 
slope of Bussey Hill are objects of much beauty for sev¬ 
eral weeks, for many of them retain their fruit until win¬ 
ter and their leaves are only now, November 5th. begin¬ 
ning to to take on their briliant autumn colors. The 
most beautiful of them perhaps now is the red-fruited 
Cotoneaster Dielsiana. C. divaracata, another red- 
fruited species, will be more beautiful in ten days’ time 
when the leaves will be bright scarlet. C. horizontalis 
and its variety perpusilla with their dark green leaves 
and small bright red fruits, will not lose their autumn 
beauty much before Christmas. These two plants with 
their prostrate stems spreading into broad, compact mats 
are well suited for the rock garden or to train against 
low walls. 
