Postscript xvii 



unsuited to their surroundings, and we have seen numerous instances in all parts of 

 Great Britain which prove how little man can do where nature does not favour 

 his efforts. 



Another point which has been insufificiently realised by most planters, but which 

 my own experience has repeatedly proved, is the remarkable variation in the indi- 

 vidual constitution of trees of the same species, even when raised from seeds of the 

 same tree under precisely similar conditions. In a state of nature there is a continual 

 struggle for existence among individuals under which only a few of the strongest 

 survive, and these are the seed-bearers from which future generations arise ; but 

 when we sow a number of seeds under the most favourable conditions which we 

 can devise, and protect them artificially in their youth against their natural enemies, 

 or when we propagate trees by other means, which are often adopted not because 

 they are the fittest but because they are the quickest and cheapest means of re- 

 producing them, we obtain a variable percentage of weaklings which thrive only 

 under the best conditions, and which when transplanted to less favourable environ- 

 ment are sure sooner or later to succumb. For this reason I have always advocated 

 the raising of forest trees when possible from seed of known healthy parents growing 

 in the same or a similar locality to that where they are to be planted, and rejecting 

 in the nursery all but the most vigorous. This may prove a slower and more costly 

 method than that of buying the trees from a nursery, but I believe it to be the most 

 economical in the end wherever conditions are not very favourable for their growth. 

 With regard to exotic trees which only ripen their seed in this climate in very 

 favourable seasons, I have often found that the seedlings raised from imported 

 seed are more vigorous than those raised from home-grown seed, but my observa- 

 tions, though they have been carried on since 1900, are insufficient to enable me to 

 express a decided opinion on this subject. 



When we consider how remarkably variable our climate is, it is clear that a 

 great deal of the success of planting any trees which are more exacting as regards 

 heat, sunshine, or moisture ' than indigenous species, must depend on a good series 

 of seasons in their youth ; for if trees are severely checked by drought, or by late 

 spring or early autumn frosts when young, they suffer much more than when older 

 and better established. Therefore in planting exotic trees it is wise not to depend 

 on one or two individuals, but to plant several of the same species in a group, with 

 the object of selecting the most vigorous and well-shaped when they begin to crowd 

 each other. 



Another point which is often forgotten by planters of ornamental trees is the 

 fact that in nature these grow gregariously or mixed with other trees, in more or less 

 thick or shady woods, and not isolated in grass. To use a gardener's expression, 

 "a well-furnished tree" such as a cedar, a Sequoia, or a beech with spreading 

 branches resting on the ground, may be a very beautiful object on a lawn or in a 

 park ; but it is not the usual natural shape of these trees ; and if the trunk is always 



As an instance I may say that at Colesborne the rainfall of June, July, and August, during which months most of the 

 growth of the majority of trees is made, was, in 1911, 3.39 inches, with only 21 days on which rain fell, and in 1912, 22.30 

 inches, with only 21 days without rain. 



VIII '^ 



