N.iW ^^o 

 BOTANIC. 



PREFACE 



Although, since Loudon wrote his "Arboretum Britan- 

 nicum " in 1838, most writers upon Conifers, following 

 his example, have included occasional references to dwarf 

 and other abnormal forms which came under their notice, 

 hitherto no attempt has been made to collect together in 

 one book the many forms recorded both in works upon 

 Conifers and in the Gardening Press, and to disentangle 

 them from one another. 



In the present work I have attempted to deal with, as 

 exhaustively as possible, all the dwarf and slow-growing 

 forms of which records can be found, or which are in 

 cultivation, and, in the case of forms already recorded, 

 supplementing such descriptions as exist by a fuller 

 description, based upon a personal examination of the 

 living plant, or of a portion of it. I trust that, as a result, 

 the identification of a good many interesting forms will, 

 in future, be assured. At present, on account of their 

 inadequate descriptions, many of them are in danger of 

 losing their identity. 



For reasons which are fully dealt with in the General 

 Introduction, the work of disentanglement has been 

 particularly arduous ; but if, as I hope, the results of my 

 labours prove of assistance to the many nurserymen and 

 owners of private collections who have supplied me with 



j 'materials for examination, they will not have been in vain. 



) In nomenclature, I have generally followed Elwes and 

 Henry, and Beissner, and I have avoided technical terms 

 as far as possible. 



O M. H. 



LJ-) Knapton, 



Cn Abbbyleix, 



' Queen's Co. 



LO V 



