ATHROTAXIS 207 



taken of them ? That is a question that, as futurists, 

 we may derive some little interest in conning over. 



Perhaps, then, their popularity will have mounted 

 to zenith, and owners of large groups of " Grisly 

 Giants " will, in the pangs of pride in their priceless 

 possessions, simply and quietly bow their acknow- 

 ledgments as proprietors, and we hope not altogether 

 gracelessly — 



Gather as their own 

 The harvest that the dead have sown — 

 The dead, forgotten and unknown, 



Athrotaxis. — " Better a wee buss than nae 

 bield," was reported to be a favourite expression of 

 the Scotch poet Burns. " Bield " in Scotland signifies 

 a shelter, and the words quoted, interpreted into a 

 more usual vernacular, would read : " Better a small 

 bush than no shelter at all." 



By indirectly hinting, from the use of these words, 

 at a comparison between the Athrotaxis and a wee 

 bush, it may be said that w^e have belittled the 

 pretensions of the Athrotaxis. 



In the reduced area of its only remaining natural 

 habitat, the island of Tasmania, we hear stories of 

 long-stemmed trees, with thick bushy heads, towering 

 to a height of 100 feet and producing useful timber. 

 The same tree here — that is to say, the A. Selagi- 

 noides, which is the big brother of the trio — breaks 

 the record in Great Britain at a considerable drop 

 from half that height. Whatever claims to greatness 

 they assume out there, in our more perfidious climate 

 they have assuredly — ^with the fewest possible 

 exceptions — fallen from their high estate, and de- 

 generated into the lesser and more humble com- 

 panionship of bush society. 



The Athrotaxis ranks among the unusuals and 

 curiosities of tree life domiciled in Great Britain. It 



