Abies 757 



Remarkable Trees 



The finest trees in Britain are probably two, which I saw in 1906, growing in 

 the grounds of Mr. Victor Marshall at Monk Coniston, the largest of which is now 

 69 feet high and 4 feet 9 inches in girth. The climate here is mild and damp, 

 but the soil dry and slaty. Mr. S. A. Marshall wrote to Kew that one of these trees 

 coned for the first time in 1902, and in 1904 produced many cones. 1 



There is a well-shaped tree at The Coppice, Henley, the seat of Sir Walter 

 Phillimore, Bart. It came from Dropmore as a young plant in 1858, and grew very 

 slowly at first, sustaining some damage from the frost of May 1867. It is now 

 healthy and thriving, and measured, in 1907, 62 feet high by 3 feet 8 inches in girth. 

 At Bury Hill, Dorking, the seat of R. Barclay, Esq., there is a well-grown specimen, 

 which he informed me had been raised from a tree at Denbies in the same 

 neighbourhood, and which in 1908 measured 58 feet by 3 feet 2 inches. It 

 grows, like so many of the best conifers in this country, on greensand. At 

 Dropmore, a tree 48 feet by 3 feet 10 inches in 1905, coned for the first time 

 in 1907. At High Canons, Herts, Mr. H. Clinton Baker measured a tree, which 

 was bearing cones in February 1908, as 48 feet high by 2 feet 8 inches in girth ; 

 and in a wood, on his own property at Bayfordbury, there is a thriving young tree, 

 32 feet high and 1 foot 5 inches in girth. At Cuffnells, near Lyndhurst, a good-sized 

 but badly-grown tree was bearing cones in 1907. At Leighton Hall, near Welsh- 

 pool, the seat of Mrs. Naylor, there are three, at a considerable elevation, the best 

 of which in 1908 was about 50 feet high. In the pinetum at Lyndon Hall, Oakham, 

 Rutland, Henry measured in 1908 a fine specimen, 58 feet by 3 feet 3 inches, which 

 was planted, according to Mr. E. L. P. Conant, by his father in 1 864. 



In Scotland I measured a tree at Conon House in Ross-shire, in 1907, which 

 was about 50 feet by only 3 feet 4 inches. At Smeaton-Hepburn, East Lothian, a 

 tree planted in 1844, according to Sir Archibald Buchan- Hepburn, Bart., was, in 

 1908, 56 feet high by 4 feet 1 inch in girth. Seedlings have been raised from it. 

 At Durris, Mr. Crozier says that it suffers from the same causes as A. Webbiana. 

 In Wigtownshire, this species is tender, and a tree at Galloway House, 48 feet by 

 3 feet 10 inches, as measured by Henry in 1908, has been much injured by frost. 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell reports a good specimen at Stonefield, Loch Fyne ; and another, 

 in the Quarry garden at Gordon Castle, which measures 69 feet by 4 feet 9 inches. 



In Ireland, the tallest tree is at Charleville, Co. Wicklow, the seat of Viscount 

 Monck. In 1904 it was 60 feet by 5 feet 1 inch. It produced cones in 1903, and 

 since then has been in an unhealthy state. This tree has sent forth from the stem 

 epicormic branches. At Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, the seat of Mr. Thomas 

 Acton, there is a healthy tree, which, in 1904, was 51 feet high by 5 feet 5 inches. 

 At Powerscourt, there are two good trees, one 55 feet by 5 feet in 1904, which bore 

 cones in 1902, 1903, and 1904; the other is 42 feet by 6 feet 3 inches in girth. At 

 Brockley Park, Queen's County, a tree, planted thirty-five years ago, measured in 

 1907, 51 feet by 5 feet 6 inches. (H. J. E.) 



1 A tree at Kenfield Hall, near Canterbury, produced cones in 1886. Cf. Gard. Chron. xxvi. 85 (1886). 



