2S8 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ AprU 22, 1869. 



though there may be periods when it falls to 55°, or even lower, 

 yet such are of short continuance. The minimum tempera- 

 ture of the house is not attained until October or November, 

 leaving but two or three months out of the twelve in which the 

 temperature is not that of a cool stove, and for sis months 

 warm enough for the majority of stove plants ; and we see 

 auoh vineries employed for them in most establishments during 

 tlia summer months, or until the Grapes begin to ripen and 

 raquire an atmosphere injurious to many plants. In a house 

 of, this kind a great many Orchids will, of course, succeed ; 

 ladeed, in the last and second, all the Mexican species succeed, 

 for it is a remarkable feature of such vineries that they may 

 ba kept at a higher temperature in winter than the first, 

 because the growth of the Vines is perfected earlier, and they 

 are not bo much affected by heat in autumn or early in winter 

 aa in February or even January : hence a temperature of 15° 

 or 50° in November would not be so detrimental as if it were 

 given in January or February to Vines that start naturally in 

 March, and are not assisted with lire beat, except a Uttle in 

 cold periods. 



; X think it necessary to make those statements, for many 

 ate under an idea that cool-house Orchids mean those for cool 

 greenhouses, which I have not found a fact, and I should be 

 sorry to find anyone commence Orchid culture under so erro- 

 neous an impression. They must have a moist warm atmo- 

 sphere and a continuance of it, such as is necessary to the 

 formation and perfection of a good growth, also a season of 

 rest proportionate thereto, and the temperature at that time 

 niust not be that of a cool greenhouse, but be warm (from 40° 

 to. 46' at the lowest), and dry. — G. Aude ;. 

 (To be cODtiQued.) 



BELSTANE— CONIFERS IN SCOTLAND. 



HiviKG been present at the sale of hardy trees and shrubs, 

 chiefly Cunifeiffi, which took place at Belstane in the county of 

 Edinburgh on the 25th and Sfith of last month, I send you the 

 following jottings made on that occasion, in the hope that they 

 may interest your arboricultural readers, and show southern 

 residents that our Scottish uplands are not less suitable for the 

 growth of many raic and valuable ornamental as well as useful 

 trees, than are the rich plains and meadows of England. 



Belstane, it may be premised, is situated about twelve miles 

 westward of Edinburgh, adjoining the north slopes cf the Pent- 

 land Hills ; and the different plantations throughout the estate 

 vary in altitude from about 700 to 900 feet, so that the average 

 may be deemed about the same height as the summit of the 

 well-known and universally admired Arthur's Seat. The pre- 

 vailing soil of the district is of a heavy tenacious n.iture, sup- 

 !>oj:ting wherever undraiucd a profuse natural growth of Rushes, 

 Marsh Thistles, &c., but where well improved yielding good 

 crops of pasture Grass and Oats, as well as moderate returns 

 of Barley, Turnips, and Potatoes. Not being sheltered from 

 the here-prevalent westerly winds by higher grounds, the estate 

 has been jadiciou.'ily intersected with shelter belts of thriving 

 plantations, in one or other of which most of the plants exposed 

 for sale were grown. Mr. Humphrey Graham, the late pro- 

 prietor, whose lamented death has led to the dispersion of a 

 large portion of the far-famed Belstane collection, was for the 

 last quarter of a century one of the most enthusiastic culti- 

 vators of hardy trees in Britain ; and although 020 lots, with 

 f^om one to a buudred plants in each, were disposed of in the 

 two days of sale, many fine specimens still remain to hand 

 down the name and fame of their planter through, in all like- 

 lihood, many generations. 



Starting from the Edinburgh station on the clear bracing 

 morning of the 26th in a goodly company of arborists, and 

 proceeding from that of Mid-Calder by omnibus, I observed 

 that notwitbstaiidiug snow still lay deep in many gorges and 

 hollows of the Pentland Hills, grain-sowing was far advanced 

 in the arable districts, the farmers having had an almost un- 

 precedentedly favourable state of friableness and dryness in the 

 soil for facihtming their spring operations. Driving through 

 the estate of Meadowbank, which adjoins that of Belstane, 

 strangers were struck with the great extent of hedgerow, road- 

 side, and plrtiitatiuu-margin lines of old Silver Firs, many of 

 which seemed more than 70 feet high, and all appeared as 

 straight and erect, as if growing in some sheltered place. 



Vt^ithout fcllowlog the auction party through the windings 

 and wanderings of the two days, I will only notice the leading 

 features of Hitractiou which presented themselves, and cer- 

 tainly the must prominent were the immense varieties of fine 



specimens of Pioea cephalonica and P. Pinsapo, some of the 

 former approaching 20 feet in height, and a considerable number 

 of the latter ranging from 12 to 15 feet, most of these last being 

 as dense and regular in their outline as if they had been clipped 

 or trained into symmetrical cones. Few present had ever seen 

 these healthful Silver Firs in such perfection ; and although 

 the sale for the 12 to 15-feet specimens was by no means brisk, 

 individual plants bringing only from 10s. to 21s., their beauty 

 tolel favourably in the competition for smaller plants growing 

 in the home nursery. Pinus Cembra of all sizes under 20 feet 

 were scarcely less admired than the beforementioned, and the 

 larger specimens brought about the same range of prices. Two 

 noble plants of Abies Donglasii, " the Prince and the Princess 

 of Wales," planted in 1814 in a belt of Norway Spruce and 

 other common forest trees, which was then twenty years old, 

 now surpass all the others in size, and their appearance induced 

 a brisk demand for a large number of smaller plants, more 

 especially for a considerable quantity in nursery lines, which 

 had been reared from seed collected in Vancouver's Island. 

 Picea nobilis and P. Nordmanniana were numerous, and many 

 of both were remarkably fine, a few exceeding 12 feet in height, 

 the last ranging from 40,';. to Ms. A 16-feet-high P. Pindrow 

 was sold for S'Js., another 8 feet high 48s., and a 14-feet P. Pichta 

 for 47s. Two twoyear-old plants of P. Craigiana, a seemingly 

 distinct North-west American species, named in compliment 

 to Sir W. Gibson Craig, Bart., were knocked down for 24s. ; 

 and the gem of the Silver Fir tribe, a P. lasiocarpa, 81 feet 

 high, fetched iJ6s. A 3J-feet Abies Pattoniana, or Lord Glen- 

 almond's Spruce, was sold for 25.;., and twenty small nursery 

 plants of the same sort, but catalogued A. Purrjana, for 80s. 

 A new tree Juniper (discovered by Mr. B. Brown, late collector 

 in British Columbia and neighbouring regions for an Edinburgh 

 association), which attains a height of 70 feet, and is named 

 Juniperus lilenryana in compliment to I. Anderson-Henry, Esq., 

 had a number of competitors, and one lot of nine two-year-old 

 plants was sold for 45s., and another of eight plants for 44s. 

 But the smartest opposition among bidders was for a pair of 

 healthy small plants of the new Mahonia Balfouriana discovered 

 by the same collector, and named by him in compliment to 

 Dr. J. H. Balfour, Professor of Botany at Edinburgh ; this 

 species is reported as growing to the size of a small tree with a 

 stem G inches in diameter, aud the couple brouglit l)2s. One 

 plant of Prince Albert Spruce, Abies Albertiana, C.! feet high, 

 brought 17s. ; and it was generally remarked that not only this, 

 but all belonging to the Spruce family, not even excepting the 

 Himalayan weeping one, A. Morinda, displayed an appearance 

 of healthy vigorous growth, which they seldom retain for any 

 length of time when grown in the lower and drier parts of the 

 county. 



In the ever-to-be-remembered disastrous winter of lSCO-61 

 the thermometer never fell at Belstane under about 10° above 

 the Edinburgh Botanic Garden minimum, consequently many 

 plants are still thriving in the former which were then entirely 

 killed in the latter cuheclion. such as Cupressus MoNabiana, 

 C. torulosa, C. macrocarpa, C. Lambertiana, Araucaria imbri- 

 cata, &c. And another peculiarity was remarked in the Picea 

 Pindrow, P. Webbiana, P. cephalonica, Abies Morinda, and 

 some others growing here unchecked, while in lower and 

 warmer parts of the country they are almost annually disfigured 

 by being excited into growth before the cutting late spring 

 frosts are past. 



The Norway Maple was a great favourite with the late Mr. 

 Graham, and early in spring as well as through the summer, 

 but especially in the autumnal tints of its foliage, it is a con- 

 spicuous object in the Belstane plantation ; and 1 was surprised 

 to observe several more free-growing plants of the Planera 

 Eiohardii than are ever seen in what might be deemed more 

 favourable situations for the ripening of its somewhat late-ma- 

 turing shoots. Some plants of the Gaultheria Sballon, or Salal 

 berry, which were growing under a thiekish shade of Fir trees, 

 attracted considerable notice by their seeming adaptation for 

 game cover and the rapid extension of their running roots and 

 offshoots among the grass, moss, and decaying tree leaves ; 

 consequently some lots of it sold at fully four times the prices 

 which are occasionally attached to them in nurserymen's cata- 

 logues. Upright-growing Spiiwas of many kinds, some of 

 which have recently been introduced from British Columbia, 

 planted as deciduous cover throughout the woods, showed by 

 their thickness of growth and dry-like appearance how well 

 they are adapted for shelteriug game, more especially in wet 

 weather, when the dripping leaves of evergreens are off<;nsive. 

 But among this class of cover plants none came up to thai 



