120 Arborlculiural Notices, supplementary to 



ation. I have cut clown larch above 6 ft. round, 2 ft. from the ground, not 

 40 years old ; beech of 4- ft. and 5 ft. round, about the same age ; and 

 many others of my own planting equally thriving. But I have here beech 

 trees of about 90 years' standing, above 1 1 ft. round ; and some silver firs, 

 about 80 years old, that measure near 12 ft. round, and above 90 ft. high, 

 which are in perfect health ; and there are two Portugal laurels, that I planted 

 close together, many years since, which now measure 180 ft. round, and are 

 24 ft. high. There is also a /Rhododendron of my planting, nearly 180 ft. round. 

 Our evergreens were not destroyed by last winter's frost. The laurels had 

 a few young shoots destroyed, but have quite recovered, as well as the laurus- 

 tinus. The two large Portugal laurels, mentioned above, had one side appa- 

 rently killed, being quite brown. I did not cut or meddle with them, and when 

 summer came, they threw out quite briskly, shoots and leaves, and the whole 

 plants have no signs of being injured. 1 am inclined to believe that, after 

 last winter, a great number of evergreens have been precipitately cut down, 

 that would, at least, have partially recovered. The thermometer at this 



Elace was last winter only 2 or 3 nights at 10° above zero of Fahrenheit, 

 ut about 8 miles south, and 9 or 10 west, of this, it fell 3° or 4° below zero ; 

 and, I believe, even more. — John C. Swinburne. Dec. 1. 1838. 



Effect of Lightning on Trees. — In the Annates (THort. Soc. de Paris, 

 vol. xxii. p. 120. to 134., an account is given of sixteen trees which have been 

 struck by lightning in different parts of France, at various periods, from 

 1813 to 1837. The effects appear to have been very different on different 

 trees. In some, the leaves only were entirely destroyed ; in others, the leaves 

 were but slightly injured, but strips of bark appeared to be torn off; in 

 some, the branches were broken, and no other injury done; in some, the 

 trunks were split; and, in others, no injury was done to the top of the tree, 

 but the roots were laid bare, and torn in pieces. In several cases, where the 

 trees were standing near houses, or hay or corn ricks, they seem to have 

 acted as conductors to the electric fluid, and saved the cottage, or the corn 

 stack, or hay rick, from being struck by the lightning. This was particularly 

 the case, where the Lombardy poplar or the silver fir had attained a great 

 height. The author of the article, Vicomte Hericart de Thury, concludes 

 with the following advice : — 



" 1. Travellers and country people, reapers, hay-makers, &c, during the 

 time of a thunder storm, should never take shelter under detached trees ; 

 more especially under a tree which stands at a distance from any other ; such 

 trees acting as conductors. 



" 2. To take shelter rather under a bush, than a tree, and the lower and 

 more spreading it is the better. 



" 3. Never to take shelter on that side of an object, from which the wind or 

 the storm comes, or, indeed, in the direction of the wind or the storm. Thus, 

 supposing the storm proceeding in the direction of east and west, then the 

 north and south sides of a bush, or other sheltering object, are to be chosen, 

 and not the east or west sides. 



" 4. In the moment of danger, the safest way is to recline at length on the 

 ground, choosing a furrow or a ditch, if any should be at hand ; but no time 

 should be lost in searching either for a furrow or ditch, or for a bush or 

 hedge, because the upright position, maintained during that search, is incom- 

 parably more dangerous than the horizontal one. 



" 5. Always to bear in mind, that the danger is great in proportion to 

 the shortness of the time which elapses between the appearance of the 

 lightning and the noise of the thunder. 



" 6. Those who cannot afford the expense of lightning conductors to their 

 houses, farm-buildings, and ricks, should plant near them tall-growing trees, 

 such as the pyramidal oak (Quercus pedunculata pyramidalis), the Lombardy 

 poplar (Populus fastigiata), the cypress, the larch, the silver fir, the spruce 

 fir," &c. (Annates cfHort. de Paris, vol. xxii. p. 134.) 



Planting an Arboretum. — I am now busy planting shrubs and trees. We 



