,26 ON THE PICEA NOBILIS, AND ITS VALUE FOR 



specimen almost invariably produces an awkward side- growing 

 leader, or, in other cases, the union between stock and scion 

 proves a material detriment to the symmetrical development of 

 bole in after growth. This is especially the case with thousands 

 of specimens of the P. nohilis, reared from grafts during the earlier 

 years of its introduction to Britain. The grafts having been taken 

 very promiscuously from branches, and from lateral but not 

 terminal shoots, proved for years most disappointing. The grafted 

 plants grew in the most fantastic form, sideways, and the whole 

 habit assumed was that of a branch growing out of the ground, 

 rather than that of a healthy, upright young tree. No careful 

 pinching or rubbing out of the offending laterally-inclined buds 

 will suffice to check this tendency and insure a terminal leading 

 shoot of erect growth; the planter is brought face to face with the 

 stern truth, so well enunciated in the old line — " Natura.m expellas 

 furcd, tamen usque recurrct ; " — and only after years of growth 

 lost, and much laborious watching and care, does the young 

 P. nobilis indicate submission to the incessant application of the 

 pruning-knif e. The peculiarly distinct character of the P. nohilis 

 increases this awkward habit in grafted young plants ; for in its 

 normal condition of growth, the leaves have the appearance of 

 being placed only on one side of the branch, each leaf curving 

 upwards, while the branches are remarkable for the density of 

 their foliage, and their perfectly fiat surface, spreading out horizon- 

 tally from the trunk; consequently, in specimens grown from 

 lateral shoots or grafts, or from cuttings, this horizontal and 

 lateral habit exists in an increased and strongly-marked degree 

 during their earlier years, which very much retards their progress. 

 Another difficulty in obtaining early seedlings of this conifer arose 

 not only from the fact that, in common with the silver fir (Picea 

 pcctinata), which it closely resembles, there is the liability to 

 produce successive crops of unfruitful cones, so that probably 

 only once in a few years they are fertile ; but like most of the 

 coniferous family, the P. nohilis is also very liable to have its 

 cones infested by a destructive insect. From this cause many 

 of the earlier imported cones failed. This pest is the hymenop- 

 terous insect " Megastigmus pini" and its modus operandi is to 

 pierce the cones, and deposit its eggs in the seeds, seldom failing 

 to miss a single seed. This is much to be regretted, for it is not 

 only a reason why there has been a scarcity of seedlings since the 

 first introduction, but also because the evil is likely to recur from 

 time to time, when seasons favourable to the development of the 

 little marauder come round ; and this liability to destruction 

 becomes the more serious when we revert to the characteristic 

 of the Picea tribe, already referred to, that only about one year 

 in three proves to be a good seeding year for this species. It is 

 curious to note that this peculiarity holds good also in India and 



