ARAl'CARIA 



ARBORETUM 



347 



valuable. The seeds constitute the chief food of the 



aborigines in some sections of S. Amer. Var. platifolia, 



Hort., is a form with very broad Ivs. 



A albospica, Hort.=A. excelsa. A. Dumbeyi, A. Rich.=A. 



imbricata A. intermedia, R. Br. Tall and cruet, sparingly 



branched, nearly de- 

 nuded of foliage: Ivs. 

 sessile, imbricated, 

 cordiform, obtuse, 

 green and shining- 

 New Caledonia. .-1. 

 Lindleydna, Van 

 Houtte = A. brazil- 

 iana. 'A. montatia, 

 Brongn. & Grin. 

 Tall: Ivs. scale-like, 

 curved, ovate, ob- 



307. Araucaria imbricata. ( X ) 2' 



[) spots m series, .New Laiecionia. A, jrwpnMcnjvn, > 

 mann Branches wide-spreading with long drooping side branches: 

 ivrlmps a form of A. Rulei. R. B. 31: p. 132. A. subulate, Vicill. 

 Like A. intermedia, but trunk less naked, and Ivs. linear-subulate. 

 New Caledonia. L JJ JJ 



C. P. RAFFILL. 



ARBORETUM. A living collection of trees and 

 other, woody plants. 



Collections of trees have found a place in the botanic 

 Hardens of all countries since the physic garden at 

 Tokyo was founded eight hundred years ago; and for 

 more than three centuries individuals have made such 

 collections for the decoration of estates or for purposes 

 of study. In Europe the largest collection of the woody 

 plants of temperate regions is found in the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew; and in the Dutch Colonial Garden at 

 Buitenzorg on the island of Java is the most important 

 collection of the trees of the tropics. Small experimental 

 arboreta composed chiefly of timber trees of supposed 

 value have been planted in conection with most of the 

 forest schools or forest institutes of Europe. 



Historical sketch. 



As early as the middle of the sixteenth century, a 

 collection of trees was made at Touvoye in France by 

 Ren6 du Bellay, Bishop of Mans, who received the 

 seeds of a number of exotic trees from Pierre Belon, 

 physician and traveler, who first brought to Europe 

 some of the trees of western Asia. In its day, the gar- 

 den a,t Touvoye was pronounced by the botanist Gesner 

 the richest and most beautiful in France, Germany and 

 Italy. Like most of the early collections of trees made 

 by individuals, all traces of the trees planted by Ren6 

 du Bellay have disappeared. 



Nearly two centuries later, the head of the French 

 Marine, Duhamel du Monccau, a man of scientific 

 attainments, wealth and social influence, gathered 

 from Europe and North America large collections of 

 trees on his two estates of de Veigny and du Moncoau 

 and formed what must be considered the first arboretum 

 made with scientific purpose. Du Monceau undertook 

 a critical study of his collections and published in 1 "">"> 

 his "Traite des arbres et arbustes qui se cultivent en 

 France." His arboretum is said to have contained a 

 thousand species of woody plants belonging to one 

 hundred and ninety-one genera. Duhamel's publica- 

 tions and example had much influence and led to the 

 introduction of many exotic trees into French parks 

 and plantations. Noble specimens of the cedar of 

 Lebanon, the deciduous cypress of the southern United 

 States and other trees planted by him, are still living. 



The arboretum established in 1825 in France at Les 

 Barres near the village of Xogent-sur-Vernisson (Loiret) 

 by Pierre Philippe Andre de Vilmorin is still one of the 

 most important dendrological stations in Europe. Vil- 

 morin was especially interested in the different geo- 

 graphical forms or varieties of the principal timber 

 trees of Europe and made large plantations of these and 

 of a number of exotic trees. In 1866, after the death of 

 the founder, the arboretum at Les Barres was purchased 

 by the French Government and now, greatly improved 



and enlarged by new plantations, is known as the 

 Arboretum National des Barres and is used as a school 

 of sylviculture. In 1906 a critical catalogue of this 

 collection, prepared by Monsieur L. Parde', Inspector 

 des Forets, and accompanied by an atlas of plans of the 

 arboretum and pictures of many of its principal trees, 

 was published in Paris. The value of the arboretum at 

 Les Barres has been increased by the formation in its 

 immediate neighborhood of the Fruticetum Vilmorin- 

 ianum. This collection of shrubs, which is the most 

 complete in Europe, was established in 1894 by the 

 grandson of the founder of the arboretum at Les Barres, 

 Monsieur Maurice L. de Vilmorin, who has been suc- 

 cessful in introducing many interesting plants into 

 gardens through his relations with French missionaries 

 in China. A catalogue of the Fruticetum Vilmorinianum 

 was published in 1894. 



In 1857 Monsieur Alfonse Lavall6e began to plant 

 an arboretum at Segrez in the Department of Siene- 

 et-Oise. This was a scientific enterprise and the value 

 of the living collections was increased by the establish- 

 ment at Segrez of a botanical library and herbarium. 

 Aided by the professors of the Mus6urn d' Histoire 

 Naturelle in Paris, it had become in 1875, when the 

 "Enumeration des Arbres et Arbrisseaux Cultive's a 

 Segrez" was published, one of the largest collec- 

 tions of woody plants that had been made up to that 

 time. This catalogue was followed in 1880 by the 

 "Arboretum Segrezianum" in which appear critical 

 descriptions and figures of some of the rare plants culti- 

 vated at Segrez. Six parts with thirty-six plates of this 

 work appeared. M. Lavaltee died suddenly in 1884 

 and his publications and a few trees in the park at 

 Segrez are the only monuments left of his zeal and 

 industry in the study of trees. In 1858 Monsieur G. 

 Allard began the ar- 

 boretum at la Maul- 

 eVrie, near Angers in 

 France, which he still 

 maintains, and which 

 contains one of the 

 largest and most in- 

 teresting collections of 

 the oaks of Europe and 

 southwestern Asia in 

 the world, and is par- 

 ticularly rich in coni- 

 fers. 



At Muskau in the 

 valley of the Neisse in 

 Silesia, on the estate 

 made famous by the 

 beauty of arrangement 

 given to it by Hein- 

 rich Hermann von 

 Puckler, an important 

 arboretum was estab- 

 lished by Prince Fred- 

 erick of the Nether- 

 lands, who purchase* 1 

 the Muskau estate in 

 1845. The critical 

 catalogue of the plants 

 in the Muskau Arbo- 

 retum by Petzold & 

 Kirchner, published in 

 1864, and entitled "Ar- 

 boretum Muscavien- 

 sis," is a standard work on cultivated trees and shrubs. 

 Many of the trees planted by von Puckler are still 

 living, but the arboretum is now conducted as a com- 

 mercial nursery. 



In Great Britain, no important scientifically managed 

 collection of trees and shrubs, with the exception of 

 those connected with general botanic gardens, has been 

 attempted. The arboreta, however, connected with the 



308. Old Deciduous Cypress ia 

 Bartram's Garden. This tree still 

 stands, although dead. 



