74 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. iv 



should think Larch could be grown. Also in parts of western Tasmania 

 where on the Button-grass plains the American Larix (L. laricina K. 

 Koch) might possibly prove the most accommodating species. Elsewhere 

 in Australia and in the whole of South Africa the growing of Larch is out 

 of the question. The Chinese Golden Larch (Pseudolarix amabilis Rehd.) 

 I did not see in Australasia nor South Africa, yet it is a tree which would 

 probably thrive in the strictly temperate regions where the rainfall is 

 evenly distributed through the year or is a summer one. 



There seems little chance that Spruce can thrive in South Africa or in 

 Australasia. Many species have been tried but only the Himalayan 

 Picea Smithiana Boiss. gives any promise of growing freely. In several 

 places notably the Botanic Gardens at Hobart and on a private estate near 

 Christchurch in New Zealand, I saw fine individual trees of this species. 

 In the Botanic Garden at Grahamstown in South Africa also it does fairly 

 well while in the Botanic Garden in Maritzburg it may be said to flourish. 

 It is possible that places may be found where this Spruce will be a success 

 for forest planting. The Sitka Spruce (P. sitchensis Carr.) is the species 

 that the foresters in the antipodes would most like to succeed w r ith. I 

 saw large trees near Ballarat and at Macedon in Victoria and likewise 

 on a private estate near Nelson in New Zealand but they were planted 

 far apart and heavily branched. Red spider seems particularly fond of 

 this tree in southern lands and it is doubtful if it will ever be of importance 

 there. In New Zealand expecially many other species of Picea have been 

 planted but none promise to be of value except an odd tree here and there 

 as ornamentals. Yet one would think that on the cold sub-alpine moun- 

 tain slopes of southern New r Zealand and on the Button-grass plains of 

 northwest Tasmania either the Red Spruce (P. rubra Link) or the Norway 

 Spruce (P. Abies Karst.) or both would be found to thrive. At any rate 

 in these places they are worth a proper trial. In South Africa and Australia, 

 however, I do not think any of the Spruces will be of any considerable 

 value for forest planting. 



What is said of Picea applies equally to Abies. The only species I saw 

 doing well in many places in Australasia was Abies pinsapo Boiss. Fine 

 trees of the Spanish Fir are to be seen, notably in Hobart, and if the wood 

 has any value plantations might be made in a number of places. Another 

 species of which I saw good specimens is A. Nordmanniana Spach. On 

 Mt. Lofty near Adelaide at Ballarat and Macedon in Victoria at Wellington 

 and near Christchurch in New Zealand there are fine specimens of this 

 Fir. At Hobart there are healthy young trees of A. pindrow Spach. In a 

 fine old garden, the Mason Garden at Taita just outside Wellington, 

 New Zealand, now neglected and doomed, there is a fine collection of 

 plants including thickets of hugeHimalayan Rhododendrons, a magnificent 

 Magnolia Campbellii Hook, f . and many notable conifers, including the 

 Firs named above and also A. nobilis Lindl., A. alba Mill. {A. pectinata 

 DC), A. speciabilis Spach {A. Webbiana Lindl.) and A. venusta C. Koch 



