AND ITS VALUE FOR PLANTING IN SCOTLAND. 175 



many other of tlie n(>,wer conifera^ thrive well in li^ht loam on 

 sand, and Uu'ie are thie plants of the various s])ecies from 12 to 

 40 feet in heij^ht. ' At r.uckden, Skipt(tn, Yorkshire, at an 

 altitude of 890 feet, on a thin li,i;ht soil on mountain freestone, 

 it is in perfect health and very symmetrical. In all these high 

 situations, however, it should be mentioned that the A. Albert 'miia 

 and other conil'ene are not exposed to much wind. At Xiinuel 

 Park, near Abergele, the A. Alhcrtiana was planted in 1870, 

 and has flourished well, gi'owing at the rate of a foot annually, 

 after the first year. It succeeds there much better tlian A. 

 Canadcuds in a strong loam soil, on a clay subsoil, and adjoining 

 the limestone formation. At Strathfieldsay, Ham])s]iire, there 

 are numerous plants which have been planted in 1861, and are 

 in ])erfect health and growing rapidly. The soil is a red clay, 

 and is gravelly, on gravel subsoil. Altliough in that district the 

 A. Alhcrtiaua is thriving in such soil, yet it is observed there to 

 do better in a sheltered site, and on deep moist loamy patches 

 it nudvcs more wood in a shorter space of time. It is found to 

 thrive also in the stiff clay overlying the Bagshot sands, at an 

 altitude of ijOO feet. There is no comparison Ijetween the growth 

 and habit of the A. Albertiana and A. Canadensis, and numerous 

 places afibrd examples of the better suitability of the former, 

 and its su])erior tree form, for this country. For example, at 

 Wygfair, near St Asaph, at an altitude of about 500 feet, the A. 

 Albertiana are now fully six feet in height, and are succeeding 

 very well, making fine annual shoots, of graceful pendulous form, 

 which afterwards ripen into leaders as straight as an arrow, and 

 as flexible as a piece of whalebone, while its prototype the A. 

 Catiadensis is a mere dense shrubljy bush, and like the Crypto- 

 nieria in this situation is constantly affected by the frosty winds ; 

 but the other less hardy species of coniferte, such as Cupressus 

 macrocarpa, seems to like the situation, and even at so high an 

 altitude are succeeding very well. It should be stated that this 

 site is exceptionally well-sheltered from winds, though the ranges 

 of temperature are sometimes extreme. At Milton Abbey, in 

 Dorsetshire, the A. Albertiana has, in common with various 

 other coniferse, been planted without success. It will not live 

 in the chalk and flint soil, there. Indeed, this soil is very un- 

 favourable for the pine trilje generally. Even Finns sylvcstris 

 does not thrive. Although planted from home-nurseries there, 

 one out of three dies ; and 1\ Austriaca, Cedras deodara, and 

 others, will gro^v for twenty years luxuriantly, and to all appear- 

 ance quite healthily, when they suddenly die off. In this district, 

 and on this peculiar soil, the common yew, and the Araucaria 

 imbrieata. both thrive amazingly. At Garnstone, Weobly, Here- 

 fordsliire, there are some fine healthy specimens of this pine 

 planted close under the north side of a steep hill, in a very cold 



