104 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
A tree that looks to God all day, 
And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 
A tree that may in summer wear 
A nest of robins in her hair; 
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 
Who intimately lives with rain. 
Poems are made by fools like me, 
But only God can make a tree.” 
Joyce Kilmer. 
And when I plant out the little switches with an inner 
vision of the tree that is to be I do assure you that I feel 
like a very favored hand maiden of God to be able to do 
my small part towards beautifying the world. 
EVERGREENS 
THEIR PLANTING AND USE 
Read at the Illinois Nurserymen's Convention by 
Thomas A. McBeth 
M y principal apology for appearing before you on 
this occasion is that a wise man once said “any 
one who plants a tree, or causes two blades of 
grass to grow where one grew before is a public bene¬ 
factor.” If I can, in my humble way, influence any one 
to take a more lively interest in, or create a desire for 
the planting of more trees, I will feel that I have not la¬ 
bored entirely in vain. 
To any one traveling over the country and observing 
the enormous number of trees being cut down, without 
any attempt or practically no attempt at reforestration, 
considering the enormous amount of water thrown into 
the atmosphere by transpiration from growing trees, and 
their equalizing influence on the temperature and climate, 
the need is imperative. 
I shall not attempt to go into the subject in a scientific 
or technical way. as that is beyond my ability, but try to 
give what information I have been able to collect from 
the observations of others and my own experience durin" 
several vears of practice, fl am fully aware that T will 
not be above criticismL I feel bighlv honored that T was 
called upon to be the first man to speak on Evergreens to 
the nurserymen of the state in which Coniferous Ever¬ 
greens were first grown in the United States for a com¬ 
mercial purpose. T refer to the late Robert Douglas, of 
Waukegan, the godfather of two of our best arbor-vitaes. 
Since coming here I have heard that the last of the 
Douglas nurserv has passed out of the hands of the fam¬ 
ily. It seems to me it would be a nice thing if the nur¬ 
serymen of the United States would buy a part of that 
nroperty containing some of the fine specimens and set 
it aside as a memorial to Mr. Douglas. And it seems to 
me to be eminentlv fitting that the Illinois nurserymen 
should take the initiative. 
I don’t know just what your secretary’s idea was in 
assigning the subject, but I shall divide it into two parts: 
First, Evergreens; second, their planting and use from 
the nurseryman’s and landscape architect’s standpoint. 
In speaking of evergreens, nurserymen of the north gen¬ 
erally mean Coniferous Evergreens, so I will confine my 
remarks principally to that class, but may have some¬ 
thing to say along the line of broad-leaf evergreens. 
My observations apply to the latitude of about 40 de¬ 
grees. I am situated near that line. It passes through 
Illinois near Urbane, about half-way down the state. We 
have very much the same temperature as middle Illinois, 
except that we are subject to greater extremes. We are 
on the water-shed between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, 
the thermometer ranges higher with us than at Cincin¬ 
nati, and lower than at the Lake. Plants can be grown 
along the lakes that winterkill in Springfield, Ohio, no¬ 
tably Japan maple, and some varieties of Retinispora, 
Gupressus, etc., so that any plants that will endure our 
climate can be depended on for central Illinois. 
Few persons recognize the possibilities of landscape 
beauty that can be obtained by exercising a careful 
choice of the species and varieties of evergreens, and 
providing proper conditions and protection for their 
growth. I have seen fine effects in landscape work pro¬ 
duced entirely with evergreens, but I prefer an intelli¬ 
gent combination of evergreen and deciduous trees and 
shrubs. 
I will mention a few of what I consider the best of the 
species and varieties that are adapted to our locality. I 
suspect that the first should be tbe pines, and to my mind, 
the first of them is the white pine. It is in its most beau¬ 
tiful period at about twenty to forty feet high, and it 
carries its foliage well to the ground at that height. The 
light glaucous green color contrasts beautifully with other 
species. The long, slender leaves are easily moved by the 
least wind, and then present a beautiful commingling of 
green and silver surpassed by few trees. The stately 
dignity of an old white pine, sixty to eighty feet high, 
silhouetted against a summer sunset sky, forms a picture 
well worth anyone’s contemplation. It is a good grower, 
and will thrive any place except in a wet situation. Of 
recent years it is a victim of the White Pine Blister Rust, 
which apparently threatens its extermination. (This is 
one of the imported fungus diseases which our importer 
friends seem to think of trifling moment). 
Then there are the Austrian, Scotch and Mugho pines, 
the last a beautiful dwarf variety that should be in every 
collection. Probably the most popular evergreen is the 
Norway spruce, with which you are all familiar. Its 
extreme hardiness and adaptability to almost every soil, 
and the cheapness with which it can be produced, make it 
an invaluable tree. There is, however, a monotonous for¬ 
mality in its appearance that gives it a questionable value 
in landscape planting. It is subject to the attack of the 
red spider, and should not be planted in mass when that 
is prevalent. Engelman’s spruce is of fine form and a 
beautiful tree where it does well. 
White Spruce {Picea Canadensis)., is an excellent tree 
of fine form and lively color. It grows on almost any 
kind of soil, and. like the Nonvay, is subject to red spider, 
and should not be planted much further south than this 
locality. The Black Hills variety is better suited to the 
West. 
Colorado Blue Spruce is the spruce par excellence. It 
is perfectly hardy, of sturdy upright growth, and seems 
to be adapted to all soils. The beautiful silvery blue of 
some of the varieties makes it a striking figure in any 
