500 General Notices. 



sembles, in general appearance, the larger growing kinds, and more elegant 

 species of the genus Cupressus. Our principal object, in drawing the atten- 

 tion of our readers to this tree, arises from a desire to set at rest, as far as 

 the experience of gardeners permits, the question as to its being hardy, or 

 not hardy enough to bear the severe frosts of our English climate. 



Comparatively few of the trees of recent introduction, deserve a special 

 notice of this kind, and, if we except Araucaria imbricata, and the Cedrus 

 Deodara, the Abies Douglassii, and a iew other trees, the Cryptomeria has 

 at present no rival as a hardy evergreen tree, of equally rapid growth, and 

 attaining the same magnitude. 



The Cryptomeria grows, in the north of China, to 100 feet in height, 

 with a particularly straight stem, throwing out numerous side branches, 

 which form a dense tree, very handsome, and resembles the Araucarias, of 

 Australia and Brazil. The wood is said to be very hard, and elastic, and 

 withstands the most terrific winds or monsoons, which sometimes devastate 

 that country. It is employed in the north of China, for the high poles 

 which are every where placed at the front of the dwellings of mandarins, to 

 denote their rank, where it often lasts for ages. 



It grows well in any soil, but most rapidly in peaty or sandy ground. 

 Two Cryptomerias were planted in the Horticultural Society's garden, at 

 Chiswick, in a clay soil ; these are now seven feet high, and have grown 

 three feet during the present season. Others planted out in a peaty soil, 

 are now nine feet six inches in height, and have grown four feet during the 

 present summer: those, however, planted out in the clay soil, are the most 

 handsome and robust plants. 



The Japan Cedar, or Cryptomeria, was first described by Professor Thun- 

 berg, in 1784, under the name of Cupressus japonica, and in Japan it is 

 known by the name " San" or " Sugi." Nothing was known of the living 

 plants of this tree in England or in Europe, until introduced from China, 

 by Mr. Fortune, seeds of which were received in May, 1844, and plants 

 raised by the Horticultural Society, immediately afterwards. Mr. Fortune 

 collected the seeds about Shanghai, in the north of China, where it is very 

 plentiful, in the form of avenues and groves; it furnishes the principal shel- 

 ter for birds, during extreme cold, when the thermometer sometimes falls 

 as low as within five degrees of zero. It is also found growing plentifully 

 on the three great Islands of Japan, and forms a tenth part of the forests 

 which cover the skirts of the mountains betwixt the altitude of 500 and 

 1,200 feet. 



A tree of this beauty, and rapid growth, and beyond all doubt, hardy, is 

 therefore an immense acquisition, and will add greatly to the ornament of 

 our pleasure-grounds ; but what is most of all important in this particular, 

 is its rapid growth, by which, if we calculate its annual progres.s at three 

 feet, which is not much more than half what it frequently attains, we have 

 a tree of thirty feet in height within ten years. We have taken some pains 

 to procure information, and we think it will be admitted, that the hardiness 

 of this tree is fully, and beyond all question, established. 



