Pinetum Woburnense. 265 



this country," he says " are the Abies Douglasii, nobilis, cephalonica, Men- 

 ziesii, Smithiana, and Pinus excelsa, monticola, Lambertiana, Coulterii, Sabi- 

 niana, ponderosa. The Cedrus Deodara and Araucaria imbricata are evidently 

 quite hardy, and capable of standing our frosts without protection." The 

 Abies Webbiana, though it has been injured in various places, yet has stood 

 out at Woburn Abbey during the last winter, unprotected, and not the least 

 injured. After noticing the pinetum at Dropmore and that at Woburn Abbey, 

 Mr. Lambert's Genus Pinus, the Memoir on the Coniferce of M. Richard, and 

 our Arboretum Britannicum, he makes the following observation, with which it 

 is needless to say we entirely agree : — 



" Surely, the Piceae, or silver fir tribe, with their linear flat leaves, and 

 erect-growing cones with deciduous scales, are sufficiently distinct to be 

 separated from the spruces, where they are now denominated Abies, and united 

 to that genus ; although the cones of spruces are always pendent, and the 

 scales persistent, and not deciduous, as they are in the Picece tribe : the leaves 

 of the Abies are likewise more densely placed on the branches, generally 

 needle-shaped, and angular, and very different, both in form and mode of 

 growth, from the silver fir section." (Pref., p. xiv.) 



" The pinetum at Woburn Abbey is formed in the pleasure-ground, and no 

 species or variety is described in this catalogue of which there are not plants 

 there ; and there are, besides, several plants which have been received under 

 various other names, but from their small size and close proximity they have been 

 omitted, until they have grown of such a size as to admit of ascertaining whether 

 or not they are new and distinct, or mere varieties of well known species." 



" In the Woburn evergreen plantation, formed in 1743, and which consists 

 principally of the Coniferae tribe, many beautiful feathered specimens, with 

 majestic stems, may be seen ; they may be pronounced as unequalled by any 

 other plantation in the kingdom ; particularly the Pinus Pinaster, Strobus, syl- 

 vestris, rigida, Cembra, Abies, pectinata ; and the Cedrus Libani ; which may be 

 chiefly attributed to the judicious thinning applied to that plantation when in 

 a young state. The soil and site are particularly favourable for the pine tribe 

 as they delight in a dry sandy loam, where their roots can penetrate freely : 

 this circumstance has induced His Grace the Duke of Bedford to form a 

 second pinetum, under Mr. Ireland, his forest planter, adjoining the evergreens, 

 consisting of a similar soil, more congenial to their growth than that of the 

 pinetum in the pleasure-ground; where it, however, forms an interesting 

 feature in connexion with the Arboretum." (Pre/., p. xv.) 



In the introduction His Grace has kindly noticed the Arboretum Britannicum 

 as a valuable and interesting work ; but we must quote the passage, as well to 

 evince our gratitude, as for the sake of the very interesting note which the 

 duke has subjoined to it. 



" Anxious to communicate to Mr. Loudon, for his valuable and interesting 

 work, the Arboretum Britannicum, all the information in my power respecting 

 the various trees in Woburn Park, I related to him an anecdote of my grand- 

 father, respecting the thinning of the Evergreens plantation ; which, as charac- 

 teristic of the planter, may be here repeated." 



" In the year 1743, my grandfather planted the large plantation in Woburn 

 Park, known by the name of the ' Evergreens,' to commemorate the birth of 

 his daughter, afterwards, Caroline, Duchess of Marlborough : it was some- 

 thing more than one hundred acres ; and was, before that time, a rabbit warren 

 producing nothing but a few blades of grass, with the heath or ling indigenous 

 to the soil, and without a single tree upon it. 



" In the course of a few years, the duke perceived that the plantation 

 required thinning, in order to admit a free circulation of air, and give health 

 and vigour to the young trees. He accordingly gave instructions to his 

 gardener, and directed him as to the mode and extent of the thinning required. 

 The gardener paused, and hesitated, and at length said, ' Your Grace must 

 pardon me, if I humbly remonstrate against your orders, but I cannot possibly 

 do what you desire; it would at once destroy the young plantation, and, 

 moreover, it would be seriously injurious to my reputation as a planter.' 



