Coniferous Trees at Beernem, near Bruges. 325 



the members of the Society, and the public generally, and more 

 especially the public press, ought to be invited to send their 

 criticisms on it. After a sufficient period had elapsed, it would 

 then be for the competent authorities to determine how far the 

 plan was to be carried into execution. 



Art.VII. List of Coniferous Trees in the Pinetum of Baron de Serret, 

 at Beernem, near Bruges. Communicated by Baron de Serret. 



I herewith send you a list of my collection of coniferous and 

 resinous trees [referred to in the Arboretum Britannicam, vol. iv. 

 p. 2452.], where, as you will observe, the species and varieties 

 are given in the order in which they are described in the Arbore- 

 tum Britannicum. 



The collection which stands on my estate and country resi- 

 dence at Beernem (a village distant about two leagues to the 

 south of Bruges) was commenced in the year 1802, with the sole 

 object in view at the time, to provide the means of ascertaining 

 whether some at least of the many trees which botanists have 

 classed amongst the varieties of the Pinus sylvestris do not, in 

 fact, afford such differences, either in their habits or the quality 

 of their timber, as to entitle them to be ranged amongst the 

 species. The plantation was, in consequence, limited, for the 

 first and second years, to such species and varieties; seeds or 

 plants being procured from every quarter (the north of Europe 

 in particular) where they were known to grow ; and these were 

 planted on a spot of ground exclusively adapted for the pur- 

 pose, either apart or in groups or masses, according to the 

 quantity of plants obtained. Without in the least abandoning 

 this plan (in which I still persevere), I soon determined to col- 

 lect all the species of the genus actually known and obtainable. 

 Where these were sufficiently hardy to endure the open ground 

 in our climate, they were planted in sucession and on the same 

 spot as the former, in masses or groups, if the species were not 

 a rare one, and single, if for the moment it happened to be so. 

 The tender sorts are kept in pots or boxes, and removed to the 

 green-house during winter. 



By the successive additions which in this manner have been 

 made to the original plantation, it now occupies a surface of 

 about seven English acres ; and many of the exotic species, such 

 as the American spruces, larches, hemlock, and balsam firs ; 

 Pinus Strobus, Thuya, Cupressus ^huyoides, &c, are so far 

 acclimatised, that they multiply to a considerable extent by self- 

 sowing. This circumstance may, indeed, be partly attributed 

 to the nature of the soil, as the same here occurs with the Rho- 

 dodendron maximum, Rh. ponticum, and lih. punctatum, the 



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