r 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



TiiK Salisbubia, or Gikko Tree. — We find the following notice of this beautiful tree 

 in a Into niiiubcr of the Gardeners'' Chronu-le. It is i)erfect]y at homo in the climate of 

 liocliester: — 



" In the scniniblo after novelties there is n risk tliat one of the most valimhlc of the exotic 

 Coniferous trees grown in Europe may bo forgotten. It would be interesting to know what 

 proportion the sale of the Ginko Tree, or Salinbinia aJiantifolia, bears to that of such plants 

 a* Taxodium snnpcri'irens. "We suspect that the demand for it is almost notiiing, judging from 

 the very few places in which it was ever seen. And j'ct it is a noble tree, of singular as well 

 as beautiful aspect, as hardy as a Poplar, and, when old, of gigantic stature. Its only fntilt is 

 being deciduous. Here and there large trees may be met with, looking in mid-winter like vig- 

 orous Pear trees. But to growers in general the plant is scarcely known. 



An interesting account of the tree as it now exists near Montpellier, for which we are indebt- 

 ed to iL Charles Martins, has drawn attention once more to the peculiarities of Salisburia, and 

 we hasten to avail ourselves of some of his facts. 



In Japan, of wliich it is a native, as well as of some of the coldest parts of China, it is looked 

 upon as a kind of Walnut, and acquires very considerable dimensions. A specimen, growing 

 by a Pagoda in the neigliborhood of IVkin, is recorded by the Russian traveler Bc.vge to measure 

 thirteen yards in circumference, and to have a prodigious stature. In the Botanic Garden of 

 Pisa is one about twenty-five yards high, and a yard in diameter at its base; and near Mont- 

 pellier grows another, of which the following is the history, abridged from M. Martins report. 



In tiie year 1788 Broussonkt, who was then in London, Be:it to Prof Govan, of Montpellier, a 

 plant of this species, for which he was indebted to Sir Joseph Banks. In 1812, twenty-four 

 years after being planted, the tree flowered. At that time it was nine and a half yards hitjh. 

 In June, 1835, it was rather more than seventeen and a half yards high. On the 7th December, 

 1853, its stature was determined by careful measurement to be nineteen and three-quarter yards, 

 or a trifle more. From this it appears that it lengthened on an average not quite a foot annual- 

 ly ; but it in reality grew nearly three times as fast in the first forty-seven years as in the last 

 eighteen. 



The spread of the branches was rather more than seven and three-quarter yards in 1812, llj 

 in 1835, and 14J in 1853. 



The diameter just above the roots increased at the following rate: — In 1788 it was 3 milli- 

 metres (1 year old); in 1812 it was 239 millimetres (29 years old); in 1835 it -was 605 milli- 

 metres (47 years old); in 1853 it was 887 millimetres (05 j-ears old). 



In another case, in the Garden of Plants at Montpellier, a Salisburia gained in 58 j'cars a 

 diameter of 672 millimetres. 



The annual growth of the first in diameter is thus seen to have been about 13.64 millimetres; 

 that of the second to have been about 11.6. 



In comparing this rate of growth with what has been observed in other Conifers, M. Martins 

 records some very interesting facts. In the Botanic Garden of Montpellier, witliin a hundred 

 yards of the last named Salisburia, grew a noble Spruce, which had been planted in 1688. Cir- 

 cumstances led to the removal of the tree when 160 j-ears old. A round of the butt having 

 been preserved, showed that its diameter had increased thus: — When 24 years old its diameter 

 •was 152 millcmetres ; when 47, it was 272; when 58, it was 316; when 05, it was 350. It 

 therefore had not grown half so fast as the first Salisburia mentioned above. 



The-Scotch Pine {Finns sylvestris) affords similar means of comparison. We here translate 

 M. Martins literally : — 'In every latitude comprehended between 49° and 70° X., that is to say, 

 from Ilaguenau on the lower Rhine, as far as Kaafiord in Lapland, the annual lajers of the 

 Scotch Fir diminish in thickness from the center to the circumference. This decrease is lapid, 

 in proportion as the trees are more and more noithern. As a term of compari.-on, I give be- 

 low, in millimetres, the mean thickness of the layers, up to 100 years, of a large number of Pines 

 observed at Kaafiord, in Finmark, (lat. 70°); at Pello, in Lapland (lat. 67"); Geffle, in Sweden 

 (lat. 61°); llallc, in Germany (lat. 51°); and Haguenau, in France (lat. 49°). At Kaafiord the 

 mean annual thickness of the layers of wood is 0.0009m. ; at Pel!o, 0.0011 ; at GeflSe, 0.0018 ; 



