300 ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA. 



timber-like size in the open ground in Great Britain. Its power of 

 endurance was severely tested in the memorable winter of 1860 1861, 

 when many fine trees were killed, but the casualties occurred under 

 such a variety of circumstances, that it is difficult, if not impossible, 

 to deduce any special law affecting the hardiness of the tree. The 

 following conditions are essential to securing fine free-growing specimens: 

 The soil must have a thorough drainage, either natural or artificial, to 

 prevent the stagnation of water at the roots ; the trees should be 

 planted in full exposure to sun and air, and if in an elevated situation 

 so much the better, a free open space being more conducive to their 

 progress and w r ell being than a confined and sheltered one. In very 

 dry soils the Araucaria lives, but it loses its lower branches at an 

 early age ; the branches are slender and frequently become flaccid, and 

 the plant has a thin starved appearance ; it also loses its lower branches 

 early when in a confined space or in contact with other trees or 

 shrubs, or when its roots penetrate an ungenial sub-soil; it languishes 

 if within the influence of the smoke of towns ; and the foliage takes 

 a yellowish sickly tint if the roots enter and remain in stagnant water 

 or water-logged soil for a lengthened period. On the western slopes 

 of the Chilian Andes, the native home of the Araucaria, the rainfall 

 is far more copious than in England, and the trees are also within 

 the influence of the southern region of prevalent westerly winds blowing 

 across the Pacific Ocean. Hence it is that in Great Britain they 

 thrive best where the rainfall is greatest, and the soil porous enough 

 to carry off the water freely. 



The aspect of Araucaria imbricata is dark and massive, and large 

 healthy specimens furnished with tiers of branches from the ground to 

 the summit are strangely impressive. Whether solitary or planted in 

 avenues it is the most effective of all Conifers for contrast. The 

 Araucaria avenue at Bicton belonging to the Hon. Mark Eolle 

 presents one of the most striking and remarkable arboricultural effects 

 that can be seen in this country. Isolated specimens, imposing as they 

 are, convey but a faint conception of the vista proclucecl by a double 

 row of these strangely wonderful trees with their dark plexus of 

 branches and rigid bristling foliage extending for a distance of 500 yards 

 in straight unbroken lines. The trees are fifty in number, twenty-five 

 on each side, those on the one side standing precisely opposite those 

 on the other, the interval between every two trees being 63 feet in 

 this direction, and 54 feet in the rows. The height of the trees 

 varies a little, the tallest being (at the present time, 1900) about 

 55 feet, and the shortest not less than 30 feet. A few have cast off 

 their lowest tiers of branches, and there are two or three whose trunks 

 are free of branches to nearly one-third of their height ; the uniformity 

 is thus slightly but not materially impaired. The circumference of 

 the trunks at three feet from the ground ranges from 5 to 7 feet; the 

 length of the lower branches of the most spreading tree is about 

 20 feet. 



A short avenue at Poltimore, near Exeter, is well marked by the 

 evenness of growth and the healthy appearance of the trees composing it; 

 and one of greater extent at Murthly in Perthshire forms a remarkable 

 feature amidst its surroundings. The enumeration of even a fractional 

 part of the number of fine Araucarias dispersed over Great Britain from 

 Sutherland to Cornwall and over Ireland would occupy more space than 



