COMPARATIVE VALUE OF EXOTIC CONIFER.E 1^S^ BRITAIN. 271 



tion we have been most successful by using peat largely in the 

 composition in which they are planted. As ornamental trees, 

 these, particularly the variegated form, are worthy of extended 

 culture. Introduced from the United States in 1736. 



55. C. torulosa (Tufted Cypress). — Few trees are better adapted 

 for planting where space is rather confined than this, and being 

 in every sense highly ornamental, it is of great value for lawn or 

 garden decoration ; indeed, in the whole group of cypresses there 

 is none more beautiful — the easy columnar habit, slender branch- 

 lets, and bright glaucous foliage being perhaps not so niicely 

 blended iii any other member of the family. This cypress is 

 usually classed as a semi-hardy tree, and although a few specimens 

 did succumb to the intense frost of the winters of 1860-61 and 

 1866-67, yet many remained uninjui-ed. In nearly every instance 

 where trees wei'e killed outright, the cause might be traced to the 

 unsuitable positions in which they were placed, low-lying and 

 well-sheltered places being chosen in which to plant this lover 

 of high and dry ground, and a cool breezy situation. The 

 branches, which are thickly produced, have a decided upward 

 tendency, but tufted branchlets, with theii- graceful foliage, 

 deprive it entirely of the fastigiate appearance that characterises 

 not a few of our conifers. It is a tree of fairly rapid growth, — 

 one specimen, which with great reluctance we had to remove 

 recently, had attained a height of 43 feet in thirty-five years. 

 The timber of this specimen, which we had cut up and converted 

 into boarding, was hard, close-grained, and fibrous, of a purplish- 

 yellow colour, and fragrant. It is a native of the North- Western 

 Himalayas, and was introduced to this country in 1824. 



56. Fitzroya patagonica (Patagonian Cypress). — This tree has 

 a decidedly ornamental appearance, the branches, which are 

 irregularly placed and rather slender, being bent downwards 

 at the tips, which is, however, more decided in healthy, fast- 

 growing specimens than in those unfavourably placed and 

 unhealthy. Contrary to the usually expressed opinion regarding 

 the tender nature of this interesting tree, we feel justified, from 

 the results of experiments both in England and Ireland, in recom- 

 mending it as a valuable addition to the pinetum, more parti- 

 cularly in the warmer maritime portions of southern and western 

 Britain. As an ornamental conifer, the Patagonian cypress is well 

 worthy of culture wherever a suitable situation can be provided. 

 It is a native of Westeni Patagonia, and was introduced in 1849. 



