352 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Notes from Arnold Arboretum 
Valuable information for the Planter of Evergreens 
The collection of cone-bearing trees and shrubs is of 
special interest this autumn as during the past twelve 
months it has had to endure such severe weather con¬ 
ditions that plants which are now in good condition 
should be able to successfully support any extremes of 
heat, cold and dryness which they are likely to meet 
with in Massachusetts. In discussing the'possibility of 
cultivating conifers in the northeastern United States it 
must be remembered that at its best this is not a fav¬ 
orable climate for these trees. There are only a few in¬ 
digenous species here in New England, and all the exotic 
species which can be grown here grow better in other 
parts of the world. This is the region for trees and 
shrubs whch lose their leaves in autumn and the man 
who wants to plant successfully and permanently here 
must use these plants, and not conifers or broad-leaved 
evergreens, unless he is prepared to suffer many dis¬ 
appointments. It is the business of a scientific estab¬ 
lishment like the Arboretum to experiment with all 
plants which, judged by the region where they grow 
naturally, have any chance of success and to report 
failures as well as successes. Enough is now known of 
.he habitat and climatic conditions necessary for the con¬ 
ifers of the world to make it possible to say that none of 
these trees which grow in any part of the world south of 
• the equator can grow here. It is now known that none 
of the conifers of the southern United Stales, Mexico, 
Central America and the West Indies can be grown in 
the north. This is tme, too, of the species of southern 
Europe, northern Africa, southern India, south-western 
China, Eormosa and the southern islands of the Japanese 
empire. Of the conifers of the Pacific coast of North 
America only a few can grow at all in the east. The 
planter of conifers therefore in the New England, middle 
and middle western stales must make his selection from 
native species, and from the species of northern Japan, 
Korea, northern China, Siberia, the Caucasus and eas¬ 
tern and northern Europe, That is, the largest and some 
of the handsomest and most interesting trees in the world 
cannot be successfully grown in the United States ex¬ 
cept in the south, and in western Washington, Oregon and 
California where the climate is better suited to the suc¬ 
cessful cultivation of conifers perhaps than that of any 
other part of the world, with the exception possibly of 
New Zealand where conifers from all parts of the world 
have grown with astonishing rapidity and vigor, and in 
the case of some species to a larger size than individuals 
yf the species attain in their native lands. 
In spile of the unusual and prolonged cold of the win¬ 
ter which followed a dry summer, the cold spring and 
the drought which lasted from April to September the 
Arboretum conifers are not in bad condition, and it is 
now possible to discuss with more conlidence the value 
of many exotic species than it has been before. Only one 
species has been entirely lost from the effects of the se¬ 
vere winter. This is the blue-leaved form of Cedrus 
atlantica, a native of the mountains of Algeria. There 
was only one specimen in the Arboretum where it has 
been growing for many years in a sheltered position in 
the middle of a pine grove. This beautiful tree some¬ 
times grows fairly well south of Cape Cod, but tliere is 
little hope that it will live for more than a few years at 
a time in Massachusetts. 
Some of the species of the northeastern states have 
suffered more than any of the exotic species, and several 
plants of the Red Spruce {Picea rubra) were killed or 
so badly injured that it was necessary to destroy them. 
If any coniferous tree should be hardy here it is the Red 
Spruce which grows on some of the high mountains of 
New England and close to the seashore of Maine and New 
Hampshire where it is fully exposed to the gales from 
the Atlantic. The Red Spruce, although there are now a 
number of healthy individuals in the iVrboretum, does 
not take very kindly to cultivation and always grows 
slowly. Another eastern American tree, the short-leaved 
Pine {Pinus echinala) was injured by the winter. This 
tree finds its northern home on Staten Island, New York, 
and there have been a number of trees raised from seeds 
collected at this northern station growing in the Arbore¬ 
tum for twenty years. These all lost their leaves and 
several were killed; the others produced new leaves in 
June and now look nearly as well as ever. One specimen 
of this Pine raised here in 1879 from Missousi seeds also 
lost all its leaves but is now in comparatively as good 
health as it was a year ago. Several plants of the 
White Cedar of the eastern states [Chamaecyparis Ihy- 
oides) lost their tops and were a good deal injured by the 
winter although none were killed. This plant has not 
taken kindly to the conditions the Arboretum affords it, 
but it is surprising that it is not more hardy liere, as 
within twenty miles of Roston there are hundreds of 
acres of low ground covered with forests of this tree. 
Cedar of Lebanon. The Cedars of Lebanon raised 
here from seeds gathered on the Anti-Taurus, which liave 
been growing in the Arboretum for sixteen years and 
which have not before been injured by heat or cold, in 
early spring lost all their leaves which had been killed 
by the excessive cold of the winter; they soon put out a 
new growth, however, and although the branches are 
now less densely covered with foliage than in other years 
the trees are in good health. Among the Spruces and 
Firs the Grecian and Roumanian form of Abies ceph- 
alonica (var. Ajtpollinis) suffered the most, and although 
the plants are still alive they can never grow into good 
trees. Some small plants of Abies cepluilonica were 
killed, but the large plants of this Fir in the collection 
are in good condition, although this tree was badly in¬ 
jured in other collections in Massachusetts and New 
York. Abies cilicica, which has been for many years 
considered one of the hardiest and handsomest of the 
