64 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
thin, ragged and unsightly. In cultivation the young 
plants are handsome and symmetrical, but as the cul¬ 
tivated ])Iants grow older they lose their lower branches 
and much of their beauty, and it is probable that this tree 
will not much longer retain its popularity. The Rocky 
Mountain form of the western Yellow Pine, Pinus pon- 
dcrosa var. scopuloriim, and the Rocky Mountain \Vhite 
Pine, Pinus flexilis, can be seen in the Pinetum but these 
are trees which grow slowly and probably will never be 
large or impoitant trees in this climate. 
The conifers of central and northern Japan usually do 
well in New England although only time can tell whether 
they will ever reach old age here. One of the Silver Fiis, 
Abies hrachyphylla, grows particulraly well in the Ar¬ 
boretum and, next to Abies concolor, is one of the most 
promising of the Silver Firs which have been planted in 
New England. The other Japanese Firs are hardy here 
but none of them seem likely to attain any great size or 
age. Several of the Japanese Spruces grow well, and of 
Picea Alcocldana, Picea bicolor, and Picea Glenhii, better 
specimens can be seen in New England than in Europe. 
The Japanese Arbor Vitae, Thuya Standishii, is not a 
large tree but it is perfectly at home in the Arboretum, as 
is the curious Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verlicillata, and 
the Mountain Hemlock, Tsuya diversifolia. The true 
Pines of Japan, Pinus Thunberyii, Pinus densiflora, the 
eastern Asiatic representative of the so-called Scotch Pine 
of Europe and Siberia, Pinus parviflora and Pinus penta- 
phylla, are all w-ell established in the Arboretum and pro¬ 
duce cones here every year. The different forms of 
Betinispora, or Chamaeeyparis, can also be seen in the 
Arboretum where there is a large collection of these 
plants; they sometimes suffer from our dry summers. 
Of the continental conifers of eastern Asia the most 
interesting in the Arboretum are the Korean and Man¬ 
churian White Pine, Pinus komiensis, one of the most 
valuable timber trees of eastern Asia, and the curious 
Lacebark Pine of China, Pinus Bimyeana. This is a tree 
often shrubby in habit with thin foliage and chiefly re¬ 
markable for the snow-white color of the trunk and 
branches of old trees, a condition which none of the speci¬ 
mens in this country are yet old enough to show. 
Two conifers from the Ralkan Mountains are hardy in 
the Arboretum and produce their cones annually. These 
are a Spruce, Picea omorika, and a White Pine, Pinus 
peuke. Picea omorika, although it forms great forests 
on the mountains of southeastern Europe, has been known 
for a few years only to botanists and some of the oldest 
plants in cultivation are in the Arboretum where they 
fonn narrow, rather compact pyramids and. growing ra¬ 
pidly, promise to be valuable ornamental trees. Its 
nearest relative is the Spruce of the northwest coast, 
Picea sitchensis, which is not hardy here. 
Of the Firs of southeastern Europe and Asia Minor 
Abies cilicica and Abies cephnlonica are perhaps of the 
most promise in this climate where they are perfectly 
hardy. The former is a native of the Cilieican Taurus 
where it grows at a high elevation above the sea-level 
with the Cedar of Lebanon, here in its most northern and 
coldest station. A few years ago the Arboretum was for¬ 
tunate in securing the seeds of the Cedar from this region 
and the trees raised from these seeds are now well es¬ 
tablished and promise to be successful here, while plants 
of this tree derived from Palestine have proved unable to 
bear the New England climate. 
The important conifers of the Caucasus, Abies Nord- 
manniana and Picea orientalis, are hardy here and the 
latter is a valuable ornamental tree not unlike in general 
appearance the Red Spruce, Picea rubra, of northeastern 
North America which grows very slowly and does not 
take kindly to cultivation. The Spruce, Picea Schren- 
kiana, which covers with a stunted forest the dry slopes 
of the mountains of central Asia, is hardy and healthy in 
the Arboretum, but it will probably never become an im¬ 
portant ornamental tree. A more desirable tree here is 
the Spruce of central Siberia, Picea obovata, which is 
well established in the Arboretum where it already pro¬ 
duces its cones. 
All the Larches now known, with the exception of the 
Himalayan species, are growing in the Arboretum, includ¬ 
ing an interesting hybrid between the European and the 
Japanese species lately produced in Scotland. As an 
ornamental tree the eastern North American Larix ameri- 
cana is the most picturesque of all the Larches. The 
Japanese Larix Kaempferi or leptolepis grows the most 
rapidly. The largest of the genus is the western Ameri¬ 
can Larix occidentalis, and the least known are Larix 
chinensis and Larix Potanini. Larix siberica from east¬ 
ern Siberia and tbe Altai and Larix dahurica from eastern 
Siberia are still little known in this country. The 
Larches are at the western end of the Pinetum just above 
the Walter Street entrance. Near them is a group of 
Larch-like trees, Pseudolarix Kaempferi, a Chinese tree 
with the deciduous leaves of a true Larch and erect cones 
which fall apart when ripe like those of the Cedars. This 
interesting, beautiful and hardy tree which for many 
years was only known in temple gardens, has now been 
found growing abundantly on the mountains near Ningpo 
in southern China. 
It is impossible in these brief notes to do more than 
briefly mention the most important conifers in the Ar¬ 
boretum. where there are now growing all the species 
with their numerous varieties which it is possible to keep 
alive here. The world has been pretty thoroughly ex¬ 
plored for coniferous plants and the only place left where 
new trees of this class are likely to occur is western 
China. On the high mountains which form the Chinese- 
Tibetan boundary in addition to Firs. Hemlocks and 
Larches there appear to be more species of Spruce than 
in all the rest of the world. Seeds of all, or nearly 
all. of these trees have been obtained by the Arboretum, 
and tbe seedlingi’s raised from them are now growing here 
and. through the agency of the Arhoretum, in several 
x4merican and European gardens. 
The Taxus Family. Taxaceae, is now usually separated 
from the Coniferae although the Yews and their allies arc 
generally spoken of as conifers. The most important of 
this group is. of course. Ginkqo biloba, the last survivor 
of an ancient race once widespread over the northern 
hemisphere and now known only from the plants culti¬ 
vated in Chinese and Japanese gardens and their descen¬ 
dants. This tree is very hardy; it grows rapidly; it lives 
to a great age; and at maturity becomes very picturesque 
with its wide-spreading and drooping branches. It 
should be planted in this country more generally than it 
