SEQUOIA WELLINGTONS. 279 



The Wellingtonia has proved hardy in Great Britain and Ireland; it 

 grows in all ordinary soils in which water does not stagnate, but prefers 

 a retentive loam with a porous subsoil, in open airy places but not 

 exposed to piercing winds ; in dry and shallow soils its progress is much 

 slower and it soon loses its ornamental qualities. The average annual 

 rate of increase in height of the " leader shoot " varies with the locality 

 and its environment from 15 to 25 inches and even more in young 

 vigorous trees planted in good soil. But the older trees growing under 

 the most favourable circumstances are beginning to show a slow but 

 steady diminution of the annual increase in height of the trunk, so that 

 there is no probability of the Wellingtonia ever attaining in Great Britain 

 more than one-half the size and age of its gigantic Californian progenitors. 

 The trunk increases in thickness in proportion to its height faster than 

 in most other large coniferous trees, the circumference near the base being 

 often as much as one-fifth or one-sixth of the height; in Abietia Douglasii 

 the circumference of the trunk at the base is generally not more than 

 one-eighth or one-tenth of the height, and this proportion is not much 

 exceeded in other tall Conifers as Abies grandis, A. nobilis, Cedrus 

 Deodara, Pinus Lambertiana, etc. 



The formality of the Wellingtonia as a landscape tree is well known; 

 as such it offers a strong contrast to the irregular contour of many 

 deciduous trees, and is of itself a striking object when standing alone and 

 feathered with branches from the base to the summit. One of the most 

 remarkable arboriculture! effects produced by it is the Wellingtonia 

 Avenue at Orton Hall, near Peterborough; this avenue extends 700 yards 

 in an east west direction and is composed of two rows of trees standing 

 30 feet apart with an interval of 36 feet between the rows; the trees are 

 fairly uniform and range from 60 to 70 feet in height.* Viewed from the 

 west end, the avenue appears like two enormous walls of green foliage ; 

 the impression caused by the vista is not easily forgotten. There 

 is also a fine avenue of Wellingtoiiias at Linton Park, near Maidstone, 

 planted in 1866 ; the trees have now attained an average height 

 of over 60 feet with three exceptions which are about 20 feet 

 less ; the length of the avenue is about 400 yards and the breadth 

 20 yards; the trees stand 30 feet apart in the rows, the lowermost 

 branches of each tree on each side of it in the direction of the avenue 

 in most cases meeting those of the trees standing next to it.f One of 

 the three shorter trees differs in habit and foliage from all the others ; 

 the trunk is thicker in proportion to the height, the branchlets more 

 elongated and quite pendulous and the leaves longer and of a deeper 

 green. J 



* Communicated by Mr. Harding, the Gardener. 



t Communicated by Mr. Mackenzie, the Gardener. 



Space admits of the enumeration of only a few of the finest Wellingtoiiias in Great Britain. 

 In England : The Royal Domain, Windsor ; Poltimore, and Powderham Castle near Exeter ; 

 Penrhyn Castle, Bangor ; Pampesford, Cambridge ; Eastnor Castle, Ledbury ; Tortworth 

 Court and Highnam Court, Gloucestershire ; Kenfield Hall, Canterbury ; Bicton, Devon- 

 shire ; Fonthill Abbey and Bowood Park. Wilts ; Revesby Abbey, Lincolnshire ; Studley 

 Royal, Yorkshire ; Chetwynd Park, Shropshire ; Ruxley Lodge, Esher ; Thoresby Park, 

 Notts. In Scotland: Murthly Castle, Castle Menzies and Scone Palace, in Perthshire; 

 Whittinghame, East Lothian ; Castle Leod, Ross-shire, remarkable for so high a latitude. 

 In Ireland : Castlewellaii, Co. Down ; Woodstock, Kilkenny ; Fota Island, Cork ; Powerscourt 

 and Coollattin, Wicklow ; Carton, Kildare. Upwards of ninety Wellingtonias are included in 

 Dunn's Census in the Conifer Conference Report, scattered over the country from Sutherlandshire 

 southwards, most of them described as "tine specimens/' 



