Tree Planting at "Woolwich. — Some thousands of young trees have been 

 received at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, from the Botanic Gardens at Kew, 

 and are being planted in rows by the sides of the avenues and workshops, and 

 grouped in plantations wherever there are plots of ground available. In a 

 few years the appearance of the Royal Arsenal will be much improved by 

 these trees. 



Magnolia Campbelli in Ireland. — We forget how long it is since this 

 magnolia, a mere stripling, was planted out at Lakelands, co. Cork, but little 

 more, we should think, than six or seven years. So rapid has been its 

 growth that when we saw it this autumn it was quite a tree, and in its noble 

 leafage and aspect one of the most imposing we have ever met with. Merely 

 regarded as a deciduous tree of fine proportions and faultless symmetry, and 

 in its summer clothing decked with foliage exceptionally large and fine, the 

 Lakelands specimen speaks forcibly of its value. But what if, in addition to 

 this beauty of form and leafage, we take into account that in spring, before 

 the leaves appear, it is the wont of the Magnolia Gamphelli to have its every 

 branchlet decked with glorious cupped flowers, measuring from 6 in. to 10 in. 

 across, varying in colour from white to deep rose or crimson, and exhaling an 

 agreeable fragrance ! The Lakelands specimen has not yet flowered, but it 

 will not be very long now, we apprehend, till it will afford the first opportunity 

 of recording its flowering in these islands. We have heard doubts expressed, 

 and read of them too, from time to time, as to this magnolia being sufficiently 

 hardy for our climate, and this may in some measure account for its being yet 

 so rare in our grounds. Is there any valid ground for the supposition ? We 

 rather think not, taking into account that its home is among the outer ranges 

 of the Sikkim Himalayas, where it is found, according to Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 in abundance as a great forest tree at an elevation of from 8,000 to 10,000 ft.; 

 and further, that more than twenty years ago Sir Joseph did not hesitate to 

 express his undoubted conviction that it would prove " hardy in England." 

 Our own experience of its behaviour out of doors in this country goes a good 

 way to show he was right in forming that opinion. With regard to soil and 

 situation, it must be remembered that, unlike some of its American congeners, 

 its home is the mountain side, not the oozy river bank or lagoon islet. We 

 throw out the hint merely to suggest the probability of a somewhat open and 

 elevated situation, and a lively soil, rich withal in vegetable matter, being 

 more favourable to its wood ripening and early flowering than if planted in 

 low and closely sheltered quarters, with a peaty or heavy soil to grow in. 

 Those who have facilities for doing so would do well to put this matter to the 

 test by planting one or more in these different situations. The Lakelands 

 specimen is admittedly growing in a rather close and sheltered spot in com- 

 panionship with an almost equally large example of Idesia polycarpa.— Irish 

 Farmer s Gazette. 



