TREES BEST ADAPTED FOB VARIOUS SOILS. 



Pinus Pinaster, the cluster pine, is, perhaps, one of the 

 most valuable conifers for planting either in gravelly 0r 

 sandy soils. The great value of the tree in reclaiming sandy 

 tracts, both at home and abroad, has been so often described 

 that further reference here is not required. The Aleppo pine 

 is a good companion to the Pinaster, and grows with great 

 freedom in a sandy or gravelly soil, within the influence of 

 the sea. Gravelly soil also suits the Weymouth pine, e>n 

 which it produces a fair quantity of very resinous timber, 

 Both the beech and oak produce a large quantity of timber 

 on poor gravelly and sandy soils. 



(4.) Clay Soils- The soil here referred to is genuine clay, 

 devoid of stones, and without a particle of sand or loam in 

 it. 



It occurred on the slopes, and for some considerable 

 distance along the sides of one of the park roads on an estate 

 in England. 



This is recorded simply to show what species of trees are 

 best able to succeed when planted in pure clay. The pits, 

 in this case, it may be well to mention, were dug and the 

 soil thrown loosely up for a month previous to planting, but 

 no soil was added to the stiff clay. Nearly one hundred 

 kinds of trees and shrubs were used, but out of all these not 

 mere than eight are doing well, the others having gradually 

 died out, or become so rusty and miserable looking that their 

 removal was compulsory. First among the trees that have 

 succeeded is the giant arborvitae (Thuia gigantea), which 

 seems to revel in what is generally considered the most 

 unkindly of soils. Cryptomeria japonica has also done well, 

 but the trees of this kind, though bushy and well furnished, 

 have grown at a comparatively slow rate. 



Cupressus macrocarpa also has done fairly well : the growth 

 certainly has not been rapid, but for all that the general 

 appearance of the trees is the reverse of what one might 

 expect from the unfavourable nature of the soil. The Indian 

 Cedar (Cedrus Deodara) we have found to be peculiarly weli 

 suited for planting in clayey soils, the bright silvery tint that 

 is so characteristic of this cedar when well grown being 

 discernible in the clay-grown specimens. Pinus austriaca 



51 



