o 



PLANTING IN SCOTLAND. 27 



in other countries and climates, particularly in regard to the 

 Picea family, though it also holds true of the other conifiers more 

 or less. In the North-Western Provinces of India and the Hima- 

 layas, Colouel Pearson observed this very distinctly — particularly 

 with the C. Deodar, silver fir, spruce, cheel, and pencil cedar. 

 Writing to the author, under date 27th January 1870, he says : — 

 " I can send any quantity of seed (particularly Deodar) if it is a 

 good season, but occasionally the cones all fail, and not a pound 

 is obtainable. Indeed, about one year in three is said to be a good 

 seed year for the conifers here ; " — a singular coincidence this 

 between the habits of the coniferous family under such different 

 circumstances of growth. 



The appearance of the P. nohilis when young and in full 

 vigour of growth is most striking. The shoots present, at first, 

 tints of the palest and most delicate pea-green, afterwards blend- 

 ing into a deep emerald shade, and when older assuming a rich 

 deep dark-green colour; while the branches being set at right 

 angles to the trunk of the tree, and the leaves being more curved 

 on the younger branches than on the older ones, the various shades 

 are seen to great perfection ; and this, coupled with the ashy-grey 

 colour of the bark of the young twigs, and the cinnamon-coloured 

 hues of the trunk, combines to render the tree an object of strik- 

 ing interest even to the most untutored eye. Some trees present 

 more than others the peculiar ///rM/.co?^^ colour of foliage, and so much 

 has this been observed in some specimens in this country, that it 

 is now supposed by some cultivators to be indicative of a different 

 and distinct type or variety, which is by some nurserymen sold 

 as "Ficea nohilis glauca." Closer inspection, however, will not 

 bear out this theory. Constitutional peculiarities, variations of 

 site, soil, exposure, and other circumstances may and do frequently 

 induce in individual trees of all descriptions appearances of dif- 

 ference, which often lead to such a belief ; but in the case of the 

 P. nohilis the non-staijinfj characteristic of this apparently dis- 

 tinctive variety, as it acquires age, leads to the conclusion that it 

 cannot be considered as the evidence of a truly well-defined or 

 distinct variety ; and it has been observed that the intensity of 

 the glaucous hue arises from the greater or less number of stomata 

 to be found on the surface of the leaves, when the tree is ni a 

 more or less luxuriant flush of growth, and placed m a site and 

 locality peculiarly suitable for its requirements and healthy 

 development. 



It may perhaps be as w^ell to observe here, — before passing to 

 a consideration of the present progress and condition of the P. 

 nohilis in this country, and its suitability for various soils and 

 altitudes, as evidenced by our Statistical Appendices, — that 

 specimens raised from home-grown seeds have neither proved so 

 strong and healthy as those raised from seeds procured from its 



