324 TREES. 



ment in the United States. The only reason why this grandest and 

 most interesting of all evergreen trees, which may be grown in this 

 country as easily as the hemlock, wherever the peach bears well, has 

 not already been extensively planted, is owing to two causes. First : 

 that its merits and its adaptation to our soil and climate, are not 

 generally known ; and, second, that it has as yet, without any suf- 

 ficient reason, been difficult to procure it, even in our largest nurse- 

 ies. We trust that our remarks may have the effect of inspiring 

 many with an appreciation of its great charms, and that our ener- 

 getic nurserymen, well knowing that there are thousands of young 

 trees to be had in England, which may be imported in autumn, 

 from one to three feet high, and in pots, in perfect condition, will be 

 able in future to supply all orders for Cedars of Lebanon. 



While we are upon the subject of evergreen trees, we will briefly 

 call the attention of our readers to another rare coniferous species, 

 which is likely to prove a very interesting addition to our hardy ar- 

 boretums. This is the CHILI PINE, Araucaria imbricate, a singu- 

 lar and noble evergreen from the Cordilleras mountains, in South 

 America, where it attains the height of 150 feet. 



This pine, commonly known as the Araucaria (from Araucanos, 

 the name of the Chilian tribe in whose country it grows), is distin- 

 guished by its scale-like foliage, closely overlaid or imbricated, its 

 horizontal branches springing out from the trunk in whorls or circles, 

 and its immense globular cone, or fruit, as large as a man"s head, 

 containing numerous nutritious and excellent nuts. A single fruit 

 contains between two hundred and three hundred of these kernels, 

 which Dr. Pceppig informs us, supply the place of both the palm 

 and corn to the Indians of the Chilian Andes. "As there are fre- 

 quently twenty or thirty fruits on a stem, and as even a hearty eater 

 among the Indians, except he should be wholly deprived of every 

 other kind of sustenance, cannot consume more than two hundred 

 nuts in a day, it is obvious that eighteen Araucaria trees will main- 

 tain a single person for a whole year." The kernel is of the shape 

 of an almond, but twice as large, and is eaten either fresh, boiled, 

 or roasted ; and for winter's use, the women prepare a kind of pastry 

 from them.* 



* Arboretum Britannicwn, p. 24E8. 



