102 THE FLORIST. 



dressy than when allowed to grow into a bush, and they are not so 

 stiff and formal as plants trained to a flat surface. 



We purposely avoid mentioning the immense length of walls in 

 the kitchen-garden, which Mr. Fleming has faced with glass, in the 

 hope that he will himself furnish our readers with some account of 

 his own invention ; it must suffice to say they excited our admira- 

 tion, and appeared to fully substantiate the remarks lately made in 

 the Florist on their great value to the British gardener, as they 

 place him in a position to combat successfully the disadvantages of 

 climate under which he labours in producing the finer varieties of 

 fruits. 



Trentham Gardens are, in fact, a great school of horticulture, 

 where every thing relating to the art is put to the test of practical 

 experience ; the results of which show how carefully every detail of 

 management is carried out by Mr. Fleming. 



WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA. 



(lindley.) 



This newly-introduced tree having been advertised for sale in the 

 Florist by the Messrs. Veitch of Exeter and the Exotic Nurseries, 

 Chelsea, we beg to append a few particulars respecting it, for the 

 information of our readers. 



From time to time reports of a tree of vast dimensions had 

 reached this country, communicated by the few travellers who had 

 penetrated to the forests in the interior of California ; and when 

 Taxodium sempervirens was first introduced, it was taken for the 

 marvellous tree in question ; and impressed with this idea, Endlicher 

 changed the name to " Sequoia," with the specific distinction " gigan- 

 tea," to designate its immense size. This has been extensively planted 

 as an ornamental tree ; and though really a Conifer of great size, it is 

 far eclipsed by this king of the Californian forests. Mr. Wm. Lobb, 

 the Messrs. Veitch's collector, and the fortunate discoverer of Wel- 

 lingtonia, examined a number of living trees, which ranged from 

 250 feet to 320 feet in height, with trunks from 10 to 20 feet in 

 diameter : one, he states, recently felled, measured 300 feet in height, 

 with a diameter of trunk, at five feet from the ground, of 29 feet 2 

 inches 1 This is a height fully double that of the loftiest of European 

 trees — the Spruce and Silver Firs ; and we can form but a feeble idea 

 of the immense size of the trunk, by comparing it with the largest of 

 our Oaks or Elms. Only imagine a tree carrying a trunk 14 feet 

 diameter at 100 feet from the ground, and comparison sinks into 

 insignificance. 



The tree has small pointed leaves, similar to those of some Juni- 

 pers, and is evergreen. Mr. Lobb found it only in one district on the 

 Sierra Nevada, near the head waters of the Stanislau and San An- 



