22 



several years, but attempts to produce any thing from tlieffi; 

 have as yet proved unsuccessful." 



March 26- To day I have measured the Pine as best I 

 Could, and make it about fifty-six feet. Mr. Dabney said that 

 somebody, who was here and seemed to know, (but he had for- 

 gotten who), pronounced it the tallest specimen north of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. It is perfectly regular and is one of the 

 most beautiful trees I have ever seen. There is no sign at the 

 top of its being yet warped or stunted by the sea breezes to 

 which it is beginning to be greatly exposed ; the average 

 distance between the w^horls of branches being about the same 

 at top as farther down, averaging about two and a half feet. 

 When the tree was young, it was exposed to several mishaps, 

 trampled down, cut off, &c ; but shows no trace of these. Two 

 others were sent at the same time — one died, the other is at a 

 suburban garden of Mr. D's but smaller than this one. On© 

 other was afterward sent (by the late Prof. John W. Webster) 

 to St. Michaels, where it has prospered, but is still smaller 

 than this, Avhich I have measured." 



Mr. Kussell having been instrumental in procuring the 

 young seedling plants from Messrs. Stephen and George 

 Driver, of this city, whose brother brought them home, called 

 upon these gentlemen, for any information they might possess. 

 By furnishing his present address, Mr. R. procured from Capt. 

 William Driver a letter from which the following extracts are 

 selected. 



"Nashville, Tennessee, May 25, 1856. Dear Sir, — Yours 

 of the 12th, requesting information respecting the Norfolk 

 Island Pines, I will cheerfully answer. In April, 1834, 

 (while a resident at Sydney, New South Wales,) I procured 

 the seeds from the mate of a schooner, which was direct from 

 Norfolk Island. I planted them on the same month in a box fil- 

 led with the light, rich, (natural) sandy soil. They made their 

 appearance in four weeks, but they grew slowly, not over five 

 inches in height that year, which was probably owing to their 

 want of room, there being some fifty plants in a small box. 

 I returned to Salem, Mass., in the Black Warrior, by the way 

 of Cape Horn, October, 1835, and brought the seedlings with 

 me. They seemed to enjoy the sea air, and some of them 

 reached nine or ten inches in height, and were of a fine color. 

 Spending but a few days at home, I was obliged to hand them 

 over to my brother Stephen, who seemed incredulous of my 

 accounts of their majestic growth and beauty. 



