A. WEBBIANA 83 



cold as intense as that of the historic winter in France, 

 1407, when, as it was solemnly declared, the frost 

 was so bitter that at every third word the ink froze 

 in the pens at the Court of Law, and arrested the 

 recording of judgments. 



There are times when late frosts injure particularly 

 the young trees, or perhaps what is worse, a perpetual 

 visitation of cold winds browns and scarifies the 

 senior members of the Pinetum with a cruelty that 

 is positively heartless. Men, we are told, may some- 

 times look on tempests and remain unshaken, but 

 trees, unfortunately, are hardly as stoical. 



In its ow^n country the A. Webbiana enjoys im- 

 munity from inconstancy. From a hibernating stage 

 of a winter spent under a deep snow, it emerges at a 

 fixed date with clockwork regularity, to find itself 

 warm and happy, under the promoting conditions of 

 a blue rejoicing sky. That it finds our climate to be 

 generally unaccommodating is unfortunate, since it is 

 a tree that is all-beautiful without and as all-glorious 

 wathin, as those king's daughters that we are told, 

 upon the Psalmist's authority, at a moment of time 

 when his heart was inditing of a good matter, were 

 fitted to enter king's palaces. Its cones in their 

 early stage are of a most attractive violet-purple 

 colour. Its leaves on the underneath surface display 

 the most vivid silvery whiteness of all well-known 

 Conifers, so far ; and in spirit of prophecy we venture 

 a statement that their proxime accessit, or even 

 conqueror, in colour scheme in years to come will 

 be the new and lately named Chinese Silver Fir, 

 A. Forrestii. 



Botanically and geographically the A. Webbiana 

 has been mentioned together with the A. Pindrow 

 If the Pindrow is an affinity of it, all we can say is 

 that, judging from outward appearances, it is a very 

 colourless edition of the A. Webbiana. As " light 

 7 



