THE 



AKD 





Apml, 1861. 



IjS'TEE, is over at last ; the bluster of March is 

 over ; spring flowers are rather late, but they are 

 as bright as ever, and, of coiu'se, as welcome. AYe 

 may now take stock of gains and losses : the gains 

 ■will be in kno\vledge, the losses in plants ; some of 

 them such as we have long considered the hardiest of 

 the hardy. Tired as we are ef talking about the 

 " extraordinary weather," we must not let the occa- 

 sion pass without an endeavour to determine what, 

 among the special subjects of horticultural care, are 

 able to endure the severest winters known in this 

 climate, and what are to be regarded as likely to 

 succumb when the weather reverts to old-fashioned 

 types, and puts our plans to an ultimate trial. Gardening is too expen- 

 sive a hobby, and surrounded with too many anxieties, for any of its acci- 

 dents to be treated lightlj^, so there need be no apology for our again 

 calling attention to the rigours of the past season, and endeavouring there- 

 from to deduce a few conclusions of real utility. 



Taking the ornamental trees in their several degrees of importance, 

 conifers will doubtless stand first. On wet soils the losses have been more 

 numerous, and more to be deplored as to the value of the trees destroyed, 

 than on dry soils ; and from these we learn the old lesson of the import- 

 ance of effectual drainage. Pinus insignis has been almost everywhere 

 kiUed. Pinus Montezumtc, muricata, Ayacahuitc, Llaveana, Eoylei, and 

 cembrioides, eleven years planted, quite killed at Aldeuham Abbey, 

 Herts. Among various other conifers that have been extensively planted 

 of late years we regret to add that Araucaria imbricata has everywhere 

 suiFered, and in some places has been killed as completely as if passed 

 through fire. The oldest specimens have endured the trial with the least 

 harm, but the mortality among young trees has been general. In a piece of 

 seedling Araucarias in Mr. Glendinning's nursery about one-third are killed 

 outright, and the remainder are untouched. Many Araucarias that have 



VOL. IV, — XO. IV. E 



