January 31, 1867. ] 



JOUENAL OF BOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER, 



having stems from 21 to 30 feet in cir«umferenoe. Few plants 

 were introduced at first, and these primary or original trees are 

 now noble specimens of their kind. 



As cuttings of the Deodar are very freely produced under 

 certain circumstances, a large proportion of secondary trees 

 were soon obtained. Afterwards the Honourable East India 

 Company gave liberal encouragement to their introduction, 

 and through their instrumentality a large quantity of seed was 

 annually imported. About fifteen years ago it was the wish of 

 our Government to have them introduced on a much larger 

 scale for forest planting, when upwards of a ton weight of seed 

 was sent home, raised in various nursery establishments in 

 the three kingdoms, and afterwards planted out tor this de- 

 sirable end.* A great drawback, however, to the forest exten- 

 sion of the Deodar was the loss sustained during the unpre- 

 cedented winter of 1860-61, which injured a large proportion 

 of trees in various soils, but chiefly in damp situations. The 

 state in which certain trees were at the. time, caused by late 

 growths, brought on by a warm, moist autumn, and succeeded 

 by a frost, the severity of which was almost unknown in 

 Britain — viz., 'S° below zero, was considered by many as the 

 cause of their destruction ; but from a careful investigation of 

 thp'afi'ected trees, I came to the conclusion that many of the 

 Deodars during the above winter were injured by the heavy fall 

 of snow we then experienced, forcibly bending their long pro- 

 jecting branches towards the ground, thus rupturing the vessels ; 

 and while in this condition the injured vessels along the upper 

 surface of tiie branches became exposed to the severe tempe- 

 rature, while other trees growing side by side sustained no 

 damage whatever. This observation was found peculiarly ap- 

 plicable when examining pruned and unpruned trees. In 

 almost all cases the former were saved, while the latter, parti- 

 cularly those with long horizontal branches, were more or less 

 destroyed, although several were more than 15 feet in height. 



The pruning of the Deodar, although practised in some large 

 establishments, is, perhaps, not so generally adopted as it 

 ought to be. For the information of inexperienced cultivators 

 I beg to offer the following remarks. For many years past, 

 and even at the present time, it has been considered vandalism 

 to touch a Deodar, or even any species of Conifer, with a knife. 

 This common but false notion has been the cause of so many 

 of them getting out of shape by taking breadth instead of 

 height, and many assuming numerous leaders. In its native 

 state the Deodar is found growing in large forest groups, where 

 the lower branches are rarely seen, being all decayed from close 

 confinement, which causes them to grow upright. When 

 planted singly, as is generally done in this country, they 

 naturally branch to the sui-face of the ground. 



From long experience and practice in the pruning of the 

 Deodar, and judging from the beauty which many of the trees 

 so treated have assumed, I am decidedly of opinion that prun- 

 ing should be done at a very early stage of the plant's growth, 

 and continued in a limited degree for a few years afterwards, 

 for if once put into proper shape it is likely to retain it. 

 Several millions of Deodars have been planted over the country, 

 and little has been done to improve them. It is now high 

 time that many of them should be operated on, seeing that it 

 can be done with safety. I never saw a plant injured from 

 judicious pruning, whether 3 or 30 feet in height, provided it 

 was done at a proper season. The best time for pruning the 

 Deodar is after the summer growths are matured, which is 

 generally the case after the second week of August. Any time 

 after this period pruning may be done with perfect safety, and 

 continued throughout the autumn and early winter months, Sep- 

 tember and October being, however, preferable for the purpose. 

 The Deodar always looks best when it has a pyramidal shape ; 

 and the most unsightly, if carefully operated on, can sooner or 

 later be made to assume this form. Supposing a plant, 6 or 

 10 feet high, having several leading tops, fix on one for a leader 

 as near the centre of the plant as possible ; all others must be 

 cut out, and the plant afterwards freely trimmed-in all round, 



* The seeds alluded to were divided between the nurserj- establish 

 ments of Messrs. Glendinning, of the Chiswick Nursery, London ; Messrs. 

 Skirvlag, of the Walton Nursery, Livei*pool ; and Messrs. P. Lawson and 

 Son, Nurserymen, Edinburgh, to raise them for the Government planta- 

 tlons. The quantity reared in the Edinburgh nursery was very large in 

 proportion to those raised in the other establishments, no doubt owing 

 to their being sown broadcast in open-air beds, for the first time in Europe. 

 instead of employing pits and frames, as was adopted in London and 

 Liverpool. Those individuals who witnessed the extensive beds of 

 Deodar seedlings in the Golden Acre Nursery, sown and reared under the 

 able management of Mr. P. S. Robertson (now of the Trinity Nursery), 

 will not soon forget the sight. The beds were prepared and sown as if 

 tor Scotch Fir or Larck. 



beginning at the bottom and working upwards. The lower 

 branches, no matter what their thickness, should be all equally 

 shortened by introducing a sharp knife below, and cutting 

 them off upwards and outwards, as well as all the branches 

 below the level of the eye. All the upper branches should be 

 cut from above, outwards and downwards. By a rigid ad- 

 herence to this treatment no cut portions are exposed to view. 

 The secondary or side branches should also be cut in the same 

 way, and so on till the whole plant is made to assume a pyra- 

 midal shape, which is, indeed, its natural form of growth. 

 Care must be taken to have any stray shoots removed from the 

 side of the leader, which, in its natural and perfect state, is 

 always bent downwards. In no instance attempt to tie the 

 leading shoot upright, as it will be found that it will erect itself 

 during the following season. Some ill-shaped plants may he 

 disfigured for a time from excessive pruning, but this, from the 

 distorted state of some of them, is absolutely necessary. The 

 next year's growth, however, will soon bring such trees into 

 proper training. 



One large plant known to me was 30 feet in diameter of 

 branches on the surface of the ground, and iO feet in height, 

 and had all its lower branches, although li inch in diameter, 

 cut so that the tree was reduced to a diameter of 20 feet at the 

 bottom. All the other branches were shortened-in as above 

 described till the tree was cut into a pyramidal shape. Previous 

 to pruning the terminal shoot of this tree was barely making 

 way. A year or two after the pruning was accomplished it 

 began to grow freely, and the numerous pendant growths an- 

 nually made have given to this tree a very graceful habit, and 

 justly entitle it to the name of the Fotmtain Tree, now generally 

 given to the Deodar. 



After being once properly cut into shape it is seldom neces- 

 sary to give the Deodar any after-pruning, unless to remove 

 dupUcate leaders that may be forming. If in after years it 

 should be found that one side of a tree is bulging out more 

 than the other, a free use of the knife will soon put all right. 

 After pruning some ill-formed trees it is not an uncommon 

 practice, in order to give gracefulness to the tree, to have the 

 centre or leading stem tied upright. This ought to be avoided, 

 as the pressure caused by the tie will very soon indent the bark 

 and gradually work into it, causing the upper portion above 

 the cord to become yellow, and ultimately decay. 



It is a remarkable fact that those trees which stood best the 

 severe winter of 1860-61 are those cuttings and seedlings 

 which had been freely pruned at an early period. The growths 

 on these were numerous and short, and resisted bending with 

 the heavy snow, which was found to be so fatal to those trees 

 where pruning had not been resorted to. 



For many years, as before stated, cuttings of Deodars were 

 freely made and distributed, and at the present time it is easy 

 to tell trees produced from cuttings from those reared from 

 seed. The branches of aU the cutting-made trees generally 

 come out horizontally all round the stem, composed of irre- 

 gular whorls having intervening spaces, with points and side 

 branches all pendulous. If such specimens are left to them- 

 selves they never will assume the compact form of seedling 

 plants. Although the cutting-made trees with horizontsj 

 branches suffered most during the heavy snow and frost of 

 1860-01, such trees, when freely lopped in, can soon be made 

 to assume a very diiierent habit, so as to resist a heavy fall of 

 snow, becoming thus not Uable to have their vessels ruptured, 

 and thus become a prey to frost. 



Several of those most injured in the Botanic Gardens were 

 reared from cuttings taken from one of the original trees in- 

 troduced by the Hon. William Leslie Melville, and now growing 

 in the garden. This original tree had its lower branches much 

 bent down and injured with the weight of snow. A free prun- 

 ing during the following autumn put this fine tree all right 

 again. About the year 1856 the large tree was much out in to 

 keep the branches from interfering with two walks, which 

 operation greatly assisted to protect it. If the trees totally or 

 partially killed (at least all above the snow-Une 2i feetj, had 

 not been produced from the large tree, it might have been in- 

 ferred that they were cuttings taken from a tender variety. 

 Unpruned plants from cuttings taken from the original tree, 

 standing both on high and low situations, suffered equally. 



For the pxirpose of pruning large Deodars, I find the best 

 method is to have a large tress, 6 feet high and 5 feet long, 

 having no spars on one side, bo as to stand close against the 

 tree, while the other side has cross-rails arranged in the form 

 of a ladder, having the upper step 6 inches broad, so as to 

 enable the operators to stand on it. By means of this tress 



