534 TltANSACTIOXS AND PKOCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. Lvir. 



Although the Conifer Conference Statistics prove beyond 

 doubt the occasional very rapid growth of many species of 

 new conifers in this country in early youth, yet their 

 capacity to grow to a great size is in general still un- 

 ascertained. Indeed, it is the common belief among 

 practical foresters that most of the species cease to ilourisli 

 before they attain even a moderate size, and this seems 

 borne out by the condition of the celebrated Pinetum 

 at Castle-Kennedy, Wigtownshire, which some years ago 

 was perhaps the most beautiful and promising collection in 

 Britain, but which, -on revisiting it last year, I was sorry to 

 find apparently in a declining state. Even the ])ouglas 

 fir, although promising well, has not yet established its 

 position as a profitable tree. ])ut whatever the commercial 

 value of these conifers may turn out to be, they will always 

 be prized for ornamental purposes. 



HISTOKIC TREES. 



The Boscojjel Oak. — One of the necessary but thankless 

 occasional duties of science is to dispel pleasing illusions. 

 This duty generally falls most heavily on the archicologist, 

 or historian, but the forester cannot altogether escape it. 

 it may be asked, why disturb alluring beliefs, although 

 they may be false ? To this, science replies that they 

 ought to be contradicted because they are false, and 

 because there is no knowing how far-reaching the con- 

 sequences of falsehoods may be. 



It is chiefiy the oak, among trees, that has been 

 associated with heroic names or historic deeds, and perhaps 

 none has acquired so \iniversal fame and credit as the 

 lioscobel Oak, reputed to have concealed King Charles 11. 

 aft(;r the l)attle of Worcester in IGill. An inscription 

 ])laced against the present tree l)y Miss Evans in 1875 

 certifies: "This tree, under the blessing of Almighty God, 

 had the honour of sheltering from his foes King Charles 

 II." But Mr. Bobert E. Collins ('JVans. N. Staffordshire 

 Eield Club, 1890) shows that this tree, being only 11 

 feet 10 inches in girth, could not have been the pollard 

 oak of nearly two and a half centuries ago, and that a 

 previous inscription in 1817 testified that "the present 



