88 



01 about 7 ft. At the bottom end, for a height of about 2 ft.,^ 

 more than half the sectional area had been completely destroyed. 

 Yet nothing of this was apparent at the surface, which was well 



yovered with a film of tar. 



The original spar which was spliced into the new butt was 

 found to have suffered severely from ^' wet rot." This extended 

 from the bottom of the splice to a height of some 30 ft. up the 

 spar. The outer varnished surface appeared generally sound. 

 But the rains which had beaten against the spar had entered 

 the ever-active shakes, and travelled down shakes and tissue to 

 the splice which was quite sodden* There was no way of escape 

 for this enclosed water, and so wet rot resulted. There remains 

 about 110 ft. of the original spar in a fairly sound condition, 

 and this may be considered worthy of re-erection. 



It is to be hoped, however, that in course of time a new spar 

 may be forthcoming from Vancouver, which, like its predecessor, 

 would serve as an object lesson and give some' idea of the 

 grandeur of the great Douglas Tir trees of the Island. 



Presentation of Conifer Cones by Sir Harry J. Veitch.— Sir 



Harry J. Veitch has generously presented to the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, the important collection of Conifer cones which 

 for many years has formed so interesting a feature of the Yeitchian 

 establishment at Chelsea. It consists of 170 species, including 

 upwards of 60 Pines, 26 Firs, and a similar 

 The collection is of historical as well as of botanical interest for, 

 in the main, it comprises the specimens contributed by Messrs. 

 Veitch's collectors in North and South America, China, Japan 

 and other countries between 1840 and the present date. Between 



number 



Mr. W 



W 



viously noted by Douglas, and it was owing largely to his energy 

 that such species as Pinus Sahiniana, P. Coulteri^ P. muricata, 



rnon 



Abies magnifica, A. nohilis, and .4. Lowiana became widely distri- 

 buted. _ During the latter half of the nineteenth century the 

 collection was added to by many collectors, including Mr. John 

 Gould Veitch, who, amongst other countries, visited Japan and 

 Australia between the years 1860 and 1870. In recent years a 

 number of Chinese species have been added by Messrs. E. H. 

 Wilson and W. Purdom, a few of the newer species being Abies 

 recurvata, Picea asperata, P. complanata, P. purpurea, P. monti- 

 gena and P. Wilsoni. Cones of European species and of various 

 kinds ripened in this country were added from time to time by 

 the late Mr. A. H. Eent, and it was from the cones in this 

 collection that Mr. Kent drew up his descriptions for " Veitch 's 

 Manual of Coniferae," a book which has long been looked upon 

 as a standard work on the subject. The first edition appeared in 

 1881 and the second in 1900. 



A few of the most striking looking cones in the collection are 

 Pinus Coulteri, weighing 3 lbs. 14| ozs., P. Ayacahuite, 15 inches 



erttana 



o 



3 lbs. 4 ozs. in weight. "W. D. 



