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Tlic Country Gentleman s Magazine 



shelter this plantation is now at its best, and 

 from the hitherto neglect of thinning, and the 

 absence of suitable hardwoods, its rapid de- 

 terioration may be looked for, unless remedial 

 measures are shortly adopted. The first of 

 which should be the erection of a stone dyke, 

 at least two yards outside of the present existing 

 rabbit-riddled turf one, which should then be 

 levelled down, and the space between the new 

 dyke and the old trees filled in with thorns, beech, 

 and mountain ash, together with a few common 

 planes, oaks, and ash trees ; taking care, before 

 planting them, that the rabbits are thoroughly 

 extirpated, and a slight thinning made among 

 the old trees. 



On the sides of the public road between 

 WoUrig and Woll we examined a station, 

 formerly discovered by us, for that interesting 

 and excellent grass, the Festuca loliacea, and 

 found it thickly interspered among other grasses 

 over a considerable space, between altitudes of 

 760 and 780 feet, the highest recorded for it 

 in Britain. We failed, however, to discover a 

 single fertile seed in any of its matured spikes, 

 nor did we observe any of the other grasses to 

 which the parentage of this supposed hybridal 

 species is attributed. The altitude of Woll 

 entrance gate, as marked in the Ordnance maps, 

 is 714 feet, and from it the carriage road rises 

 by a gentle ascent to the residence of the pro- 

 prietor, George C. Ainslie, Esq., near which we 

 measured a fine old specimen of the willow, fern, 

 or variable-leaved beech (Fagus sylvaticahetero- 

 phylla of Loudon), and found its stem to be 3 

 feet I inch in circumference, at 2 feet above the 

 ground ; the spread of its branches 25 feet, and 

 its height 22 feet. Near to it is a fine specimen 

 of the common red-fruited spindle tree (Euony- 

 mus europ^Eus), loaded with its ripening berries, 

 shewing how well adapted this singularly hand- 

 some small tree, and its varieties, are suited for 

 growing at high altitudes, either in the open or 

 as underwood ; the circumference of its stem at 

 I foot up was 3 feet 4 inches ; diameter of 

 branches, 20 feet ; and its height, 21 feet. On 

 the lawn in front of the house, stands a healthy 

 old walnut tree, the stem of which, at 3 feet 

 up is 8 feet i inch round, while the greatest 

 spread of its branches is 63 feet, and height 

 about 42 feet. Not far from the last, on a steep 

 sloping bank, stands a vigorous plant of the 

 sugar maple (Acer saccharinum), many terminal 

 shoots on which, of the past season's growth, 

 are from 12 to 18 inches in length ; at a foot 

 from the ground it is 3 feet 9>^ inches in circum- 

 ference ; and just above this it divides into two 



limbs, the larger of which, at 3 feet from the 

 surface, is 2 feet tYz inches, and the smaller 2 feet 

 and K an inch in girth ; while its spread of 

 branches is 32>< feet, and its height is 30 feet — a 

 standing proof that this valuable sugar-producing 

 American tree, from which the bird-eye maple 

 wood is also derived, is more suitable for the 

 climate of Britain than is generally believed. 

 The last of these old trees which we will now notice 

 is a fine park specimen of the English maple 

 (Acer campestre), the height of which is 42 feet, 

 while its thickly-branched regularly-spread head 

 has a diameter of 69 feet, and its trunk, which is 



7 feet in height to the lowest branches, measures 



8 feet 4 inches in circumference at 3 feet from 

 the ground — dimensions rarely exceeded by this 

 species, even when growing in the most fertile 

 districts of England. Mr Ainslie, who purchased 

 the estate of Woll some years since, has planted 

 a very extensive collection of conifers, compris- 

 ing most of the newest introductions from Japan 

 and elsewhere — those kinds likely to be most 

 useful as forest trees, being planted in consider- 

 able numbers, and that in different soils and ex- 

 posures, so as fully to test their properties. And 

 he is introducing throughout his plantations large 

 quantities of woodland herbaceous flowers, rhodo- 

 dendrons, and numerous other ornamental and 

 useful plants suitable for underwood and game- 

 cover, among which are a number sent from 

 N.-W. America by Mr Robert Brown, when col- 

 lector there for the Edinburgh British Columbia 

 Botanical Association ; and we particularly re- 

 marked the small blackish-fruited Canadian 

 gooseberry (Ribes oxyacanthoides of Linnseus), 

 some young plants of which were thickly covered 

 with berries about the size of black currants, . 

 which, being fully ripe, were very juicy, and of 

 an agreeable flavour, somewhat resembling that 

 of the common blaeberry, but more acidulated, 

 and seemingly well suited for either dessert, pre- 

 serving, or cooking. In the garden are two 

 hedges, each 84 yards in length, of the purple- 

 leaved Barberry, separating between the culinary 

 crops and the flower borders of a central 

 walk, and surpassing by the finer form and 

 livelier purple colour of their foliage both the 

 best purple-leaved beet, and Perilla Nankin- 

 ensis ; while they have the advantage of requir- 

 ing no winter protection, and by pruning they 

 may be retained of any size between 18 inches 

 and 6 or 8 feet of height and width. The 

 American Mother apple succeeds remarkably 

 well in the orchard-house here, and some fruit 

 of it, which we tasted, resembled in texture and 

 flavour a fine wall-grown specimen of that old 



