JANUARY. 25 



The Araucaria is " diaecious,'"' tlie male and female organs being 

 produced on different plants. According to Pavon, the female tree 

 attains the height of 150 feet on its native soil; while Humboldt* 

 stat€!S that it reaches the immense height of 260 English feet, thus 

 rivalUng the giant Conifers of California and Mexico. The trunk 

 of the tree is stated to be straight, free from knots, and covered with 

 a rough cork-like bark of great thickness, producing a wood of con- 

 siderable beauty and utility. The male tree is comparatively in- 

 significant, seldom exceeding 50 or 60 feet in height. 



From Mr. Frost"s description of the Dropmore Araucaria, and 

 our own knowledge of its growth in Britain, we may sujDpose the 

 average annual growth to be from 18 to 22 inches, when once the 

 plant is fairly established. Mr. Barron states, in his notice of the 

 Chili Pine in the Winter Garde ti, that a plant at Elvaston grew 26 

 inches in one year. 



We cannot conclude our remarks on the Araucaria without no- 

 ticing the manner in which this tree has been employed in ornament- 

 ing garden scenery, particularly as an avenue plant, for which pur- 

 pose, according to our ideas, few are more inappropriate; the formal 

 appearance the tree will present as it grows up, with its stiff, rigid 

 foUage and candelabra-like branches, issuing from a perfectly straight 

 trunk, will have, we imagine, a singular rather than a pleasing ap- 

 pearance ; and as such, we question how far the above character ■will 

 harmonise with flat surfaces or the general features of park scenery. 

 On the contrary, the peculiar and striking character of the tree es- 

 pecially adapt it for rocky situations and broken-up ground ; on steep 

 head-lands jutting into water, or the precipitous banks of rivers; or 

 on elevated spots, where its singular outline can be seen against the 

 sky, are situations, to our mind, better calculated to show the Arau- 

 caria to advantage than when planted in long continuous lines on flat 

 surfaces. We, however, by no means object to seeing it planted as 

 single specimens on the la^\^l or pleasure-gromid, nor yet as an archi- 

 tectural tree in some, situations near buildings, for which its formal 

 growth would in some cases be appropriate. The plant is now to be 

 procured so cheap that we hope to see much of our woodland scenery 

 enriched by the addition of this strikingly grand tree, as well as its 

 more general use as a lawn-plant. 



GOSSIP. 



The decision to which the council of the Horticultural Society came 

 to some months back, to award medals during the autumn and win- 

 ter months, at their meetings in Eegent Street, to meritorious col- 

 lections of hardy fruits and vegetables, both forced and from the 

 open ground, in addition to a fresh class of plants and flowers, is al- 

 ready effecting much good. The collections of vegetables last spring 



* Aspects of Nature, Sabine's Translation, p. 167. 



