CHAP. cxii. taxa'ce^. salisbu'r/^;. 2097 



and, when employed in forming the gardens at Bagatelle and Monceau in 

 1783 (see Encyc. of Gard., edit. 18.35, p. 88.), I always sent to M. Gaussen 

 some of all the new plants I got ; and these were numerous, as I was then 

 forming a collection of trees and plants at Monceau for the late Duke of 

 Orleans. The last packet of trees that I sent to M. Gaussen was in 1790; 

 and amongst them was a plant of Ginkgo biloba, which I had reared at 

 Monceau. I have M. Gaussen's letter, wherein he writes me, from Geneva, 

 * I have received a parcel of plants (29 species) by M. Merlin, for which I 

 beg your acceptance of my sincere thanks,' &c. ; dated Geneva, Dec. 1 1. 1790 ; 

 and signed * Gaussen de Chapeauroiige.' " {Blakie in Gard. Mag.,\o\. xii. 

 p. 266.) Mr. Blakie, whose interesting communication on this subject will 

 be found in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. xii. p. 266., was not, and, indeed, 

 could not be, aware whether the plants brought by him from England, and 

 propagated at Monceau, were male or female ; but, as those originally intro- 

 duced from Japan were raised from imported nuts, there can be very little 

 doubt that both sexes exist in various parts of Britain, as well as of the 

 Continent. After the discovery made by M. De CandoUe of the female plant, 

 cuttings were distributed by him, from the Botanic Garden at Geneva, to the 

 diiferent Botanic Gardens of Europe, and, among others, to that of Mont- 

 pelier. The first sent perished; but, in 1830, M. Delille, director of the gar- 

 den, received, through his colleague, M. Vialars, two cuttings from M. De Can- 

 doUe, which he grafted on two young male stocks, and which produced vigorous 

 shoots. From some of these shoots, in 1832, M. Delille covered a male 

 tree, 50 ft. high, with grafts ; and the year following the tree produced one 

 imperfect fruit ; which was followed in, 1835, by other perfect ones, from 

 which young plants have been raised. We saw a female tree raised from 

 one of the cuttings distributed by M. De CandoUe, in the Botanic Garden at 

 Strasburg, in 1828: there is another at Kew, raised from a cutting received 

 there in 1818; and there are some young plants at Messrs. Loddiges's, raised 

 from cuttings received by them from M. De CandoUe, in 1835 ; we, also, possess 

 one obtained from Kew, which we had grafted on the summit of a male 

 tree in 1831. M. Loiseleur Deslongchamps, in his Note Historiqite sur le 

 Ginkgo {Annales de la Soc. Hort., torn. xv. p. 93.), expresses regret, that 

 neither the directors of the Jardin des Plantes, nor the proprietors of any 

 of the private gardens of Paris, have, as far as he knows, availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity of obtaining plants of the female salisburia ; and 

 we may make the same remark with reference to the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Garden, and all the London nurserymen except Messrs. Loddiges. 

 He ingeniously conjectures, however, that some of the large trees in 

 France, that have not yet shown flowers, may be females ; because many 

 males, not quite so large as they are, have flowered ; and because it is well 

 known that, in dioecious trees generaUy, the females are some years later 

 in producing their blossoms than the males. In Great Britain, the ginkgo, 

 or, as it is here called, the salisburia, has been most extensively propagated 

 and distributed ; but chiefly from the stool in the Mile End Nursery, which 

 we know with certainty to be a male plant, as a tree propagated from it, 

 and now standing in an adjoining garden, was discovered by us in flower in 

 1835, and producing only male blossoms. (See Gard. Mag., vol. xi, p. 380.) 

 Some female plants may, however, exist in the country ; because it is un- 

 certain how many were originally raised from nuts by Gordon. Messrs. 

 Loddiges inform us that, about 1804, they raised one plant of Salisbun« 

 from the nut ; but they are uncertain to whom they sold it. In a garden near 

 MUan, Signor Manetti informs us, there is a female salisburia, which flowers 

 every year. The singularity and beauty of the foliage of this tree insure it 

 a place in every good collection ; and there are accordingly many fine speci- 

 mens both in England and on the Continent ; the dimensions of some of the 

 most remarkable of which will be found in our Statistics. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the ginkgo is said by Kaempfer to be 

 light, soft, and weak ; but Loiseleur Deslongchamps describes it as of a yel- 



6 u 2 



