58 THE PINUS INSIGNIS, AND ITS \^ALUE. 



it has become established in a site, and acquired some height 

 above the dew-line, it will prov^e more hardy and robust. Still 

 in many localities it has proved a failure under a sharp and con- 

 tinuous frost of ten degrees, such as we have experienced in many 

 places during the last two winters. 



During the severe winter of 1860-61 the losses sustained from 

 the effects of the frost were so numerous that pine fanciers in 

 many parts of Scotland were so discouraged that they did not 

 again replace the blanks caused by the failures of Finus insignis, 

 and even at the present day numerous correspondents WTite 

 bewailing their losses at that time of many most promising 

 specimens of this pine, and which, until then, they had con- 

 sidered to be quite hardy. Thus at Glamis Castle (Forfarshire), 

 even in sheltered situations, and in good, black loam soil, on a 

 moist gravelly subsoil, it will not stand the winter's frost, and all 

 that have been tried have now died out; yet in this locality 

 F. graiidis, A. douglasii, menziesii, and other Coniferte succeed 

 well. The altitude of this site is 200 feet above sea-level. At 

 Murthly, Perthshire, wliich may be styled the home of the Coni- 

 ferse, for they luxuriate there as they do in their native habitats, 

 and seldom result in failures, we find that the only specimens of 

 Finus insig7iis which Mr. Mackenzie, the able and experienced 

 forester, has under his care, are yet small trees, but he finds they 

 are doing no good. The soil is a sandy loam resting on a gravelly 

 subsoil, with red sandstone rock at a depth of from four to five 

 feet below the surface, with a northern exposure, and at an alti- 

 tude of 200 feet above the sea. Most of the other newer Coni- 

 ferse thrive there in beautiful luxuriance. Coming still further 

 south, and crossing both the Tay and Forth, w^e learn that at 

 Hopetoun, Linlithgowshire, the best specimen of Finus insignis 

 w^as killed in the winter of 1860-61, and a surviving tree was cut 

 down on 27th July of the present year, being in a very weakly 

 and dilapidated condition, and very sickly, from the effects of the 

 severe frost of last winter (1879-80). It grew in a good, rich, 

 rather clayey soil, with retentive subsoil, and at about 250 feet 

 altitude above sea-level, in a northern exposure. Mr. M'Laren, 

 whose experience as forester at Hopetoun extends over a quarter 

 ■of a century, and whose knowledge of all the newer Coniferse is 

 large, reports that he can " say nothing in favour of F. insignis, 

 and indeed does not think it suited for our climate, but probably 

 in some particular sites may be found thriving, and proving a 

 beautiful variety as a specimen tree for the Aboretum, but quite 

 beyond the possibility of ever being successfully cultivated in 

 Scotland as a timber-producing tree for planting in quantity as a 

 crop." 



At Lambton Park, co. Durham, F. insignis has been re- 

 peatedly tried, and failed. It will not stand the frost in this 



