420 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
it once formed great forests, is one of the handsomest of 
the Spruces with its narrow spire-like crown, soft gray- 
green foliage and tall trunk covered with bright red scaly 
bark. It was also discovered in 1862 and what are prob¬ 
ably the largest specimens in cultivation are in the Ar¬ 
boretum Pinetum. Until two or three years ago these 
were narrow, perfect pyramids with the lower branches 
resting on the ground; then the lower branches began to 
die gradually without apparent cause. This has con¬ 
tinued, and the stems of some of the trees are now bare of 
branches for six or eight feet from the ground, and their 
beauty as specimen trees is ruined. 
Picea canadensis. This, the White Spruce of British 
North America, is a very hardy, fast-growing tree here, 
and is one of the handsomest of the Spruces which can 
he grown in this region; hut the climate of eastern Mass¬ 
achusetts is evidently too warm for it and after it is thirty 
or forty years old it becomes thin and unsightly. 
Picea rubra. This is the Appalachian timber Spruce 
and retains here its beauty longer than the White Spruce, 
for it is a native of Massachusetts and ranges southward 
along the mountains to the high Carolina peaks. It is a 
handsome tree with dark green leaves, but it probably 
grows more slowly than any other large coniferous tree, 
and it is not easy to establish. For these reasons it will 
probably never be a favorite tree with nurserymen. 
Picea omorika and P. orientalis. These are hand¬ 
some and hardy trees, the former a native of the Balkan 
peninsula, and the latter of the Caucasus. No weakness 
has yet been found here in these trees except that they too 
often lose their leaders from the attacks of the borer 
which so often destroys the leaders of the White Pine* 
Picea Glehnii. What the future may have in store for 
this tree here, which is a native of northern Japan and 
Saghalien, no one can predict as it has been in cultivation 
in the Arboretum for only twenty-two years. The trees 
now grow rapidly, are perfectly hardy and show no signs 
of failure of any sort. The best specimens here are now 
about eighteen feet high. 
Picea jezoensis. This is the most widely distributed 
of the species of eastern Asia: ranging as it does from the 
Amoor region to Manchuria, Korea, and to northern and 
central Japan. This is the only Spruce in all that region 
with flat leaves like those of P. omorika and P. sitchensis 
of our northwest coast. It has been sometimes called 
Picea afanensis , P. microsperma and P. hondoensis. In 
Great Britain, where it is usually incorrectly called Picea 
Alcockiana, it grows remarkably well and has been re¬ 
commended as a timber tree for forest planting. In a col¬ 
lection of exotic trees made in 1870 by Dr. George R. Hall 
in Warren. Rhode Island, there is a specimen of this tree 
from sixty to seventy feet high with a trunk forty-six and 
a half inches in diameter and branches spreading on the 
ground. In this Arboretum and in the Hunnewell Pine- 
turn at Wellesley this tree has grown badly, losing many 
of its branches and soon becoming unsightly. 
Picea bicolor. This is one of the rarest of the Japan¬ 
ese conifers, and as it grows in the Hunnewell Pinetum it 
is now the handsomest of all the Spruce trees which can 
he grown in this climate. Mr. Hunnewell’s trees are 
now about forty feet high with the lower branches rest¬ 
ing on the ground and covering a space from thirty-five 
to forty feet across and with perfectly straight stems. 
This beautiful tree is probably better known by its incor¬ 
rect name of Picea Alcockiana. It is one of the rarest of 
the Japanese conifers in cultivation and it is to be re¬ 
gretted there are no good specimens now in this Arbor¬ 
etum. 
Picea Abies. This unfortunately is the correct name 
for the so-called Norway Spruce of Europe which has 
generally been known as Picea excelsa. Fifty oi sixty 
years ago this tree was very generally planted in southern 
New England where it has not proved a success as an or¬ 
namental tree as it begins to fail at the top when about 
thirty years old and then soon becomes ragged and un¬ 
sightly. In some parts of Virginia and in the Middle 
States this is a better tree than it is in Massachusetts. 
In the National Cemetery at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, 
there are magnificent specimens of the Norway Spruce in 
as perfect health and beauty as can be found anywhere. 
Firs. The number of Fir trees that can be successfully 
grown in this climate for many years is not large. One 
of the handsomest here is the White Fir of western North 
America, Abies concolor. There are fine specimens of 
this beautiful tree in the Arboretum raised here from seed 
planted in 1874 and now about sixty feet high, with the 
lower branches resting on the ground, and solid masses 
of gray-green foliage. As handsome and as promising 
in this climate is the Japanese Abies homolepis, or, as it 
has been more often called, Abies brachyphylla. This 
is a large tree on the mountains of central Japan with 
dark green leaves silvery white on the lower surface and 
violet-purple cones. It has proved perfectly hardy in 
this climate. The largest specimen in the Hunnewell 
Pinetum is now fifty-five feet high with branches sweep¬ 
ing the ground. The Arboretum trees are smaller but 
already produce their handsome cones. A variety of this 
tree, (var. umbellata ) with green cones and rather 
lighter-colored leaves is established in the Arboretum 
where it has grown rapidly, the largest specimen raised 
from seeds planted in 1891 being thirty-five feet high. 
Abies cilicica from Asia Minor and A. cephalonica from 
southeastern Europe are hardy trees in the Arboretum and 
now promise to grow here to a large size. Abies Veitchii 
from Japan is still a handsome tree in the Arboretum but 
it is doubtful if it carries its beauty to old age. A. ama- 
bilis and A. grandis from northeastern North America are 
handsome young trees here, and A. nobilis from the same 
region just keeps alive here as a nearly prostrate shrub, 
although in Methuen, in the extreme northern part of this 
state, there are handsome and healthy specimens of this 
Fir nearly thirty feet high. 
Pines. Among exotic Pines the three Japanese species, 
Pinus parviflora, P. Thunbergii and P. densiflora, have 
all grown well here in this climate for nearly thirty years 
and are still handsome and attractive trees of much 
promise. The Scotch Pine ( Pinus sylvestris) and the 
Austrian Pine (P. nigra) are perfectly hardy and grow 
rapidly in this climate, but they are comparatively short 
lived trees here and do not promise to be so valuable as 
the Japanese species. The White Pine of the Balkan 
peninsula ( Pinus peuce) is very hardy here, producing 
its cones freely, and now promises to be a large and val¬ 
uable tree. The Swiss Pine (P. cembra) is hardy but 
grows very slowly but it is possible that the form of this 
tree from central Siberia may prove more successful in 
