CHAl'. CXI I. TAXA'CEIE. SAl.KSBU'ji/y/. 20i>7 



and, when employed in tbrniing tlie gardens at Bagatelle and Monceau in 

 1783 (see Em-i/c. of Gnrd., edit. 1835, p. 88.), I alvva}s sent to M. (Janssen 

 some of all the new plants I got ; and these were numerous, as I was tiien 

 forming a collection of trees and plants at Monceau for the late Duke of 

 Orleans. The last packet of trees that I sent to M. (Jaussen was in 1790; 

 and amongst them was a plant of Ginkgo biloba, which I had reared at 

 Monceau. I have M. Gaussen's letter, wherein he writes me, from Geneva, 

 ' I have received a parcel of plants ("29 species) by M. Merlin, for which 1 

 beg your acceptance of my sincere thanks,' &c. ; dated Geneva, Dec. 1 1. 1790 ; 

 and signed ' Gausscn de Chapeauronge.' " (Blakic in Gard. Mag., vol. xii. 

 p. 260.) Mr. Blakie, whose interesting communication on this subject will 

 he found in the Gardcncr\s Magazine, vol. xii. p. 2G6., was not, and, indeed, 

 could not be, aware whether the plants brought by him from England, and 

 propagated at Monceau, were male or female ; but, as those originally intro- 

 duced from Japan were raised from imported nuts, there can be very little 

 doubt that both sexes exist in various parts of Britain, as well as of the 

 Continent. After tl1e discovery made by M. De CandoUe of the female plant, 

 cuttings were distributed by him, from the Botanic Garden at Geneva, to the 

 different Botanic Gardens of Europe, and, among others, to that of Mont- 

 pelier. The first sent perished; but, in 1830, M. Dclille, director of the gar- 

 den, received, through his colleague, M. Vialars, two cuttings from M. De Can- 

 doUe, which he grafted on two young male stocks, and which produced vigorous 

 shoots. From some of these shoots, in 1832, M. Delille covered a male 

 tree, 50ft. high, with grafts; and the year following the tree produced one 

 imperfect fruit ; which was followed in, 1835, by other perfect ones, from 

 which young plants have been raised. We saw a female tree raised from 

 one of the cuttings distributed by M. De Candolle, in the Botanic Garden at 

 Strasburg, in 1828: there is another at Kew, raised from a cutting received 

 there in 1818; and there are some young plants at Messrs. Loddiges's, raised 

 from cuttings received by them from M. De Candolle, in 1835; we, also, possess 

 one obtained from Kew, which we had grafted on the sunnnit of a male 

 tree in 1831. M. Loiseleur Deslongchamps, in his Note Histoj-iqiie sur le 

 Ginkgo ( Annalcs de la Sac. Hurt., tom. xv. p. 93.), expresses regret, that 

 neither the directors of the Jardin des Plantes, nor the proprietors of any 

 of the private gardens of Paris, have, as far as he knows, availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity of obtaining plants of the female salisburia ; and 

 wc may make the same remark with reference to the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Garden, and all the London nurserymen except Messrs. Loddiges. 

 He ingeniously conjectures, however, that some of the large trees in 

 France, that have not yet shown flowers, may be females ; because many 

 males, not quite so large as they are, have flowered ; and because it is well 

 known that, in dioecious trees generally, the females are some years later 

 in producing their blossoms than the males. In Great Britain, the ginkgo, 

 or, as it is here called, the salisburia, has been most extensively propagated 

 and distributed ; but chiefly from the stool in the Mile End Nursery, which 

 we know with certainty to be a male plant, as a tree propagated from it, 

 and now standing in an adjoining garden, was discovered by us in flower in 

 1835, and producing only male blossoms. (See Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 380.) 

 Some female plants may, however, exist in the country ; because it is un- 

 certain how many were originally raised from nuts by (lordon. Messrs. 

 Loddiges inform us that, about 180-1-, they raised one plant of SalisbunV/ 

 from the nut ; but they are uncertain to whom they sold it. In a garden near 

 Milan, Signor Manetti informs us, there is a female salisburia, which flowers 

 every year. The singularity and beauty of the foliage of this tree insure it 

 a place in every good collection ; and there are accordingly many fine speci- 

 mens both in England and on the Continent; the dimensions of some of the 

 most remarkable of wiiich will be found in our SlaHslics. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the ginkgo is said by Ka;nipfer to be- 

 light, soft, and weak ; but Loiseleur Deslonjichamps describes it as of a \ el- 



6 u 2 ^ 



