276 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [December, 



the only fault it has is, that the beauty of the golden, crimson-blotched flowers is 

 fleeting, when compared with that of its congener, D. nohilc. Like all other 

 Dendrobes, it requires liberal encouragement to make strong growths, and in this 

 species they bloom the same year, often bearing four or five spikes each. It is 

 also found in Assam, from which locality it has boon largely imported hy Mr. 

 Day, a well-known amateur orchid-grower. — F. W. Burbidge, 



PICEA PINSAPO AT COMBP: ABBEY. 



jOUE readers may be surprised to hear me complain of a difficulty we have 

 here with this, in my opinion, most beautiful of the Fir tribe. Judging 

 from the beauty, perfect symmetry, and health of a couple of trees which 

 had been planted several years ago, and which have now reached the height 

 of about 35 ft. each, I concluded that the Pinsapo was a tree well adapted for the 

 climate and grounds of this place. Of young plants I bought largely, and planted 

 freely. A double avenue was formed of Wellingtonia and Pinsapo ; the outer 

 rows l)oing Wellingtonias and the inner Pinsapos. The Wellingtonias went 

 well away, and are thriving amazingly ; but with the progress of the Pinsapos 

 I am much disappointed. The whole difficulty lies in the fact of the Pinsapo 

 making an early spring growth, and which is too frequently followed by a late 

 spring frost, which nips all the forward terminal buds. Those buds which have 

 been fortunate enough to escape, break with an over-balanced amount of vigour, 

 and the sap being concentrated so powerfully in the shoots produced, leaves them 

 at the end of the season in an unripened, immature, watery condition, the top 

 being sure to perish during the first visit of severe frost. 



As this is the first instance, to my knowledge, of Pinsapo taking harm from 

 having made a premature growth, and of having been injured by a late frost, I 

 have felt desirous to draw attention to the mishap. The two beautiful specimens 

 above alluded to are situate on a sheltered bank, and had the benefit of other 

 trees planted at the same time, and growing thickly around them. On reflection, 

 it need not be surprising to find the Pinsapo not quite at home on our low humid 

 level and inconstant climate, when we know the tree to be perfectly at home 

 on the mountains of Spain, at an elevation, according to Gordon, of from 4,000 ft. 

 to G,000 ft. There the trees grow in a forest, and by their shelter collectively 

 take care of themselves. But in this country they are generally found dotted 

 about on the lawns like so many sentinels or soldiers at skirmish ; and all this 

 because it has become fashionable to follow the dictum of Cockney landscape 

 gardeners, who'advise " the undulating glade, with a plant stuck upon this knoll 

 and another upon that." Whence came those magnificent specimens of Oak 

 which so plentifully adorn the landscape of the Midland Counties ? Not, certainly, 

 from our modern system of dotting a tree here and another there, but they were 

 nursed up and are left to us as living monuments of such noble forests as Sherwood 

 and Arden. 



I am, however, pleased to say, that we have got many very nice thriving 



