1S69. ] PROTECTING- YOUNG CONIFERS. 1G1 



PROTECTING YOUNG CONIFER2E. 



fN his important communication, at p. 130 of the Florist and Pomologist, 

 Mr. Barnes shows the great advantage of protecting choice young specimen 

 W^ trees of all kinds, even in the fine climate of Bicton. If due attention had 

 "fy been paid to the protection of the young trees of some of the newer and 

 choicer varieties of Coniferous plants, when they were first introduced from 

 Mexico, California, and other countries, many fine specimens would have sur- 

 vived, and have now graced the parks of our nobility and gentry. The oppor- 

 tunity has been lost by a great many planters. The late Earls of Grenville and of 

 Shannon had, however, the foresight and knowledge to act differently, and have 

 left to their successors a handsome legacy in the fine specimen trees now to be 

 seen in their grounds. When I was lately at Dropmore, my friend, Mr. Frost, on 

 showing me the large and fine specimens of coniferous trees growing there, 

 pointed out the great care which the late Lord and Lady Grenville took when 

 they first planted out the trees, both as regarded protection and soil. Many 

 of the half-hardy Mexican Pines would have flourished if suitable sites, under 

 the shelter of other trees in plantations, had been selected for them, and 

 where the severe winters of the last thirty years would have not injured them 

 very much. 



In the spring of 1837, I found here a few young Deodar Cedars growing in 

 pots in one of the greenhouses. Two of them were selected to be planted out in 

 a Spruce plantation, and were sheltered with branches until of some size. They 

 are now fine trees above 30 ft. in height, while all the others planted in open 

 and exposed situations have succumbed to severe winters. The seeds from which 

 these Deodars were raised, were sent from the Himalayas by Lord William 

 Bentinck while Governor-General of India, and were amongst the first sent 

 to England. Some other Pines of rather tender habit were planted in the 

 same plantation, and are now fine trees, especially Pinus excelsa and Abies 

 Smithiana. 



We often see the Wellingtonia gigantea planted in windy and exposed 

 situations, where the foliage gets browned, and where, consequently, fine speci- 

 mens are out of the question. The severest of our frosts will not injure this 

 tree, but it requires shelter from the wind, being a native of the valleys of the 

 Sierra Nevada. 



Perhaps one of the greatest evils in connection with the death or the slow 

 growth of the newer Coniferse, was the keeping them too long in pots before 

 they were planted out. The roots got so matted in the pots, that unless care 

 was taken to spread them out, they never got sufficient hold of the ground to 

 prevent the wind from blowing the trees over, while sometimes strangulation 

 occurred from the roots being confined so closely together. 



Welbeck. William Tillery. 



