wherever they are wanted ; aud to his trieuds he is even too liberal iu giving th* 

 best varieties of his trees. 



Tlu' spirits of "Van Mons" and of "Esi'EUKN," the friends and instructors of 

 our IViiuologist, nuiy readily be iuiauiined as waLcliiiig over his eflorts in their science 

 •with pride and delight J and those who have opportunity of knowing him, and of 

 seeing his estate, will not fail to regard his coming to this country as a national 

 blessing. As one of these T may, at least, honestly pray that the useful life of our 

 excellent host be prolonged to a good old age, in the continued enjoyment of hi' 

 trees — his music — aud his happy home. 



[We can heartily join in every thing here said of the "Happy Pomologist," who 

 unites in his own person the accomplished gentleman and the happy enthusiast ; a 

 day passed with him will long be remembered, and we may add with some feeling 

 of pride that he will give every aid iu his power to " TIlc Ilurticullurist. " — Ed.] 



WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA.* 



Gigantic Wellingtonia. 



Of late, says Curtis^ Botanical Magazine, the curiosity of the public, as well as of 

 the Botanist, has been excited by a discovery of Mr. William Lobb, of a coniferous 

 tree in the interior of California of a most gigantic size, measuring three hundred 

 feet and more in height, aud from ten to twenty feet in the diameter (thirty or 

 sixty feet in circumference) of its tnink. Douglass' Pinus Lamhcrtiana of the 

 Oregon measured two-thirds of that height, and he described a species of Taxodium 

 two hundred and seventy feet long, and thirty-two feet round at three feet above the 

 ground. Some few he saw three hundred feet hio;h. 



Happily Mr. Lobb sent home branches of his gigantic Conifer, bearing foliage 

 and cones, together with the following account of it, which appeared in the Gar- 

 deners' Chroniclr and Cwtia' Majazine; a drawing forms the subject of the present 

 illustration of the Horticxdturist. 



Mr. Lobb says, " This magnificent tree, from its extraordinary height and large 

 dimensions, may be termed the monarch of the California forest. It inhabits a 

 solitary district on the elevated slopes of the Sierra Nevada, near the head-waters of 

 the Stanislau and San Antonio rivers, in latitude 38° N., longitude 129° W., at an 

 elevation of five thousand feet from the level of the sea. From eighty to ninety 

 trees exist, all within the circuit of a mile ; and these varying from two hundred 

 and fifty to three hundred and twenty feet in height, and from ten to twenty feet in 

 the diameter of the trunk. Their manner of growth is much like that of the Se- 

 quoih (Taxodium) Semjin-vireiis ; some are solitary, some are in pairs, and not 

 unfrequently stand three or four together. A tree recently felled measured about 

 three hundred feet in length, with a diameter, including bark, twenty-nine feet 



♦See Frontispiece. 



