266 GENERAL REVIEW. 



strike, and the best plan is to place the cut roots in pots or 

 pans, and set them in a cool place for a month or six weeks, 

 keeping the soil moist meanwhile, so that they lose not sub- 

 stance by evaporation, and at the end of that time place them 

 on a genial bottom-heat of 60 to 75. 



Miscellaneous Sports. The descendants of the " Grisly 

 Giant" of the Mariposa Grove (Wdlingtonia gigantea] are 

 readily propagated by seeds, which are sometimes produced on 

 specimens in English gardens, but more generally they are 

 imported from California. 



W. gigantea aurea is a beautiful golden-variegated seedling 

 form which appears to have originated in the gardens at Car- 

 raghmore, Ireland. It is a constant and beautiful addition to 

 golden Conifers. At Chatsworth, near the Great Conservatory, 

 a distinct weeping variety of a soft glaucous colour may be seen, 

 and is so ornamental that it deserves propagating either by 

 cuttings or grafts. 



A very fine form of Abies Douglasii originated at Castle 

 Kennedy about 1872. It is a silver-variegated form of the 

 Douglas Fir, and has been named and exhibited under the 

 name of A. Douglasii Stairii. It is said to be one of the 

 brightest and most distinct of all variegated Conifers, and may 

 be grafted on the green type. There are numerous golden- 

 variegated forms of the common Yew ( Taxus baccata\ nearly 

 all having originated from bud-sports. The original tree of the 

 "Golden Yew" is in the Dublin Botanic Garden. The fasti- 

 giate kinds are supposed to be seminal varieties selected from 

 the seed-beds for their distinct habit. 



A correspondent writing to the ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' (see 

 1872, p. 606) states that the Irish Yew is represented only by 

 female plants, and that he had raised five hundred plants from 

 seed of it fertilised by pollen from the common Yew, the seed- 

 lings being intermediate, but none were really so upright and 

 fastigiate as in the type. T. fastigiata cheshuntensis is said to 

 be a seedling from the common Irish Yew ; and there are also 

 silvery and golden leaved varieties. The Irish Yew is doubtless 

 a chance seedling from the common Yew, and was found in 

 1 780 on a mountain near Benoughlin, whence it was introduced 

 to the gardens at Florence Court, the residence of Lord Ennis- 

 killen ; and from this solitary example all those now grown 

 have originated. 



Mr J. Standish, of Bagshot, exhibited a very beautiful form 

 at one of the South Kensington meetings in 1870, under the 

 name of Taxus fastigiata aurea, the foliage of which may be 



