2o8 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bend of the river long ago, has a deep rich soil, and is sheltered 

 and protected from the early winter sun by a wooded ridge 

 extending in a semicircle round the southern half. But the 

 thorough work and capable management of years have com- 

 bined with nature in producing first-class conditions for the 

 propagation of forest trees. Drill rollers and transplanting 

 laths are not countenanced here, all the sowing being broadcast 

 and the lining-out done by hand. The impression one carries 

 away from Ladywell is of skilful management resulting in the 

 production of the healthiest stock, and the nursery reflects great 

 credit on Mr Keir, head forester, and his foreman, Mr Chas. 

 M'Intyre. Scots pine, spruce, European larch, and Douglas fir 

 are grown on a considerable scale, but what interest the visitor 

 most are the breaks of the " Dunkeld Hybrid" larch. This 

 new hybrid is conspicuous for its vigorous growth even in 

 the nursery. The history of the " Hybrid " may be briefly 

 summarised. When the spread of canker had made the further 

 use of European larch inadvisable, it was decided to propagate 

 the Japanese species, and cones were collected from a few trees 

 in the policies of Dunkeld House, and the seed sown. When 

 the plants appeared, Mr Keir, father and predecessor in office 

 of the present forester, noticed that there were marked differ- 

 ences in appearance and rate of growth amongst them, and 

 careful examination showed that they were not all of the same 

 type, some resembling their Japanese parents, some ordinary 

 European, and some neither one nor other, occupying an inter- 

 mediate position. This suggested that the case was one of 

 hybridisation, and that the other parents were the European 

 larches on the bank behind the Japs. Further investigations 

 seem to confirm the belief that the specially vigorous seedlings 

 were true hybrids following out Mendel's " Law of Segregation." 

 The hybrids were separated, and when these coned the seed 

 was sown and the second generation obtained. A small 

 plot of these, 6 years old, was seen on the hillside above the 

 nursery, and they too appear to be following out the usual law 

 for hybrids. The European is the male and the Japanese the 

 female parent. This new tree, known as Larix eurolepis (A. 

 Henry), has so far proved immune to stem canker, but its most 

 remarkable feature is its extraordinary rapidity of growth. In 

 one plantation visited, where Douglas fir and hybrid larch had 

 been planted together at the old close-spacing in vogue in 1909, 



