BERBER1S DEODARA. 61 



hybrid varieties. They are becoming daily more 

 popular, not only from their beauty, but as affording 

 perhaps the best underwood covert for game yet 

 discovered. The experiments made in the woods of 

 Sudbury and elsewhere have completely succeeded ; 

 the plant being evergreen, very hardy, of easy 

 growth, standing the tree-drip, and affording in its 

 berry an excellent food for pheasants. Our nursery- 

 men are already anticipating the demand, and we 

 have no doubt that a few years' time will see this 

 the main undergrowth of our game-preserves. The 

 notice we took a few years ago (in an Article on the 

 Arboretum Britannicum) * of the Deodara pine 

 now classed among the cedars has unless the 

 dealers flatter us given a great impetus to the 

 cultivation of this valuable tree. Its timber qualities 

 as a British-grown tree have not of course been yet 

 tested ; but as an ornamental one in which cha- 



* Q. R., vol. Ixii. p. 359. The Chili pine (Araucaria imbricata) 

 is now treading upon the heels of the Deodara cedar as an ornamental 

 garden-tree ; but though announced as " the largest tree in the world,'' 

 it will ever want the elegance of the latter. Even yet another monster 

 is threatening us under the name of Pawlonia imperials: it was intro- 

 duced into France from Japan by Dr. Siebold, and promises to be one 

 of the most imposing plants in our gardens. We saw some young 

 plants this spring in Mr. Bollison's nursery, which were obtained 

 from the Royal Gardener at Versailles. The leaves of a specimen in 

 the Jardin des Plantes are said to measure from 18 to 24 inches 

 across. While speaking of trees, we would say one word on the acacia 

 Cobbett's famous locust-tree (Robinia pseudoacacid), now more than 

 necessarily depreciated. We are fully aware of its defects as a timber- 

 tree from the brittleness and splitting of its branches, and slowness in 

 making bulk ; but once get a bole large enough to cut a post out of 

 it, and ask your carpenter whether it will not last as long as the iron 

 fixed into it. It is more to our present purpose to say that it is by far 

 the best tree to be used for ornamental rustic-work, as its bark is as 

 tough as its timber, and never peels off. 



