Queries and Answers. 437 



Having at the time no intention of giving any report of my visit, I made but 

 few notes, and cannot, therefore, do the justice to Mr. Mearns that he de- 

 serves. He will, however, I trust, pardon the liberty which I have thus 

 taken, and, as a friend, excuse me for saying that he is liberal-minded and un- 

 reserved even to a fault ; and, so far as the coiling system is concerned, the 

 pains which he has taken to diifuse as widely as possible the result of many 

 years' experience, is certainly the cause of its being made a point. Had Mr. 

 Mearns acted as is but too commonly the case with men at his time of life, 

 and withstood repeated invitations to give the public the benefit of his expe- 

 rience by publishing, through the medium of garden periodicals, whatever 

 might be valuable as a garden practice, his coiling system would have then 

 been looked upon, as it ought, to be a highly useful discovery. As Mr. Mearns, 

 however, has nothing to fear from investigation, I will venture to add that 

 those persons who are still disposed to doubt would do well to take an early 

 opportunity to visit Welbeck, and judge for themselves : they will then, I 

 think, find sufficient to convince even the most sceptical, that the system is 

 both advantageous and practical. I shall feel obliged by your giving this in- 

 sertion in the next Number of the Gardener's Magazine. — R. Marnock. Shef- 

 Jield JBotanic Garden, July 10. 1833. 



Art. IV. Queries and Ansivers. 



The Groivth of the Oak Tree. — Has there anything been published that 

 would enable me to determine with accuracy the proper age at which to cut 

 down old oak trees ? There must be a period in the growth of every timber 

 tree at which its increase becomes so small, as that it would not pay the annual 

 interest of the sum which the tree would sell for. Is there any approved, 

 definite, and practicable plan by which this can be ascertained ? It occurs 

 to me that the point might be determined with sufficient accuracy by taking 

 the girt of the tree at a certain distance from the ground. Whether the tree 

 had a long clean trunk, or a short thick trunk with a branchy head, might, 

 perhaps, affect this test ; in which case, perhaps, it would be necessary to make 

 the height of the trunk, as well as its circumference, an element in the cal- 

 culation desired. I wish much that you would direct the attention of some of 

 your correspondents to this subject. It would afford me much pleasure to see 

 it taken up by some one, or by several, of the various writers who contribute 

 to the Magazine on arboricultural subjects. — A Proprietor of Timber Trees in 

 Kent and in Hampshire. July 7. 1835. 



[We hope such of our readers as have any positive information on this sub- 

 ject, or as know where it is to be procured, will let us hear from them. Every 

 contribution, however small, will be useful towards the solving of such an im- 

 portant problem. We hope such contributions will be made soon, not only 

 for the sake of our esteemed correspondent the querist, who is a great patron 

 of gardening, and a lover of trees and of picturesque beauty, but because the 

 information will be most acceptable for our Arboretum Britanmciim>. Something 

 on the subject, by Marsham and others, will be found in the Royal, and in the 

 Bath Society's Transactions, and in the Transactions of the Society of Arts, and 

 something, also, in Hunter's Evelyn, and in the works of Marshal, Sang, and 

 Monteath ; but nothing, we believe, sufficiently definite for practical use. — 

 Cond.] 



American Magnolias in China. — In reply to the query p. 325., I am 

 able to say that Mr. Beale has, in his garden at Macao, a tree of Magnoha 

 grandiflora, which, when I saw it last, in 1830, must have been 20 ft. high. 

 From this tree Mr. Beale has struck off several branches by the Chinese 

 mode of abscission, and distributed the young plants to some of the Chinese 

 merchants at Canton, and to some of the inhabitants of Macao. He has done 

 the same, also, with a smaller tree, which, from the very ferruginous appear- 



