July 25, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
73 
of the following selection, which can be strongly recommended 
for the qualities and purposes we have referred to :— 
A. Bérsig.—Pure white ; medium size. Can be’ had in 
bloom by the end of October. 
Charles Leirens.—Very dark salmon, with crimson blotch 
on upper petals, Blooms in October. 
lag of Tiuce.—Spiendid, large, pure white ; vigorous habit. 
Excellent for February and March. 
Inbricata.—As double as a Balsam ; said to be the finest of 
its class, We can only speak of a small plant that bloomed 
in February—appeared not so pure a white as it has been 
described, 
Maria Waterougal.—Pure white, flowers small and neat, 
and valuable for bouquets. Can be flowered in winter. 
Nareissiflora.—White, and the earliest of all the double 
varieties, Can be bloomed easily in October. 
Souvenir de Prince Albert.—In every respect a charming 
variety, and.can be flowered in winter. A beautiful rosy peach, 
broadly margined with white. Lasts a very long time in bloom. 
These varieties are well worthy of special culture for winter 
and early spring decoration ; and for cutting at a season when 
white flowers are scarce the whites are invaluable. 
At no other season are Azaleas more enjoyable than in 
winter and early spring, when they last longer in bloom than 
later in the season. By growing a few of President Van der 
Hecke, a single variety, and Narcissiflora, to come into bloom 
early in October, there is no great difficulty in prolonging 
the Azalea season to eight months of the year.- Of course for 
this purpose it requires that a growth should be forced on 
different sets of plants in succession, so as to be easily got into 
bloom at their respective seasons.—D. T. (in The Gardener), 
BOXWOOD. 
_For some years past the supply of this important wood has 
diminished in quantity and risen in price. It is derived from 
the forests of the Caucasus, Armenia, and the Caspian shores, 
The wood of best quality comes from the: Black Sea forests, 
and is principally shipped from the port of Poti. The produce 
of the Caspian forests, known in the trade as “ Persian” wood, 
until last year was also exported through the Black Sea from 
Taganrog. This found its way after the commencement of 
the war vid the Volga Canal to St. Petersburg. The produce 
of the Caspian forests is softer and inferior in quality to that 
of the Black Sea, It is a matter of interest to see whether one 
result of the war will be to open those Black Sea forests which 
the Russian Government has hitherto kept rigorously closed. 
The falling-off of the supply has. led meanwhile to. various 
attempts to find substitutes for boxwood for many purposes. 
Messrs. Joseph Gardener & Sons of Liverpool have introduced 
with some success Cornel (Cornus florida) and Persimmon 
(Diospyros virginiana) for shuttle-making, for which purpose 
hitherto box has been in great demand. 
The diminished supply has also drawn attention to the 
Himalayas as a source of supply. Dr. Brandis, the Inspector- 
General of forests in India, has corresponded with Messrs. 
Gardener on the subject. I am informed, however, by Mr. 
Godfrey Saunders of this firm that “the difficulty of transit 
from the mountains to the seaboard appears to be the great 
obstacle, and in addition the possible supply appears to be 
much smaller than is furnished from existing sources.” 
Mr. Robson J. Scott has presented to our museums blocks 
prepared for wood engraving of Hawthorn, which he states 
“is by far the best wood, after box, that I have had the oppor- 
tunity of testing.”—(Kew Report.) 
THE INTRODUCTION OF FOREIGN TREES INTO 
GREAT BRITAIN, 
ALL the timber required in this country for building and 
fuel was of home growth till about the time of Henry VIII. 
Holinshed informs us that in the same reign plantations of 
trees began to be made for the purpose of keeping up the 
supply, and inquiries to be made respecting the productions 
of other countries. and as objects of curiosity, more than from 
any idea of cultivating them, for their commercial value, some 
specimens made their appearance in England. Before this 
date, in the early history of the country, when Britain was a 
Roman province, the conquerors had enriched the soil of 
England with many trees not indigenous to it. According to 
Whitaker, the Romans brought over the Plane, the Lime, the 
Box, the Elm, and the Poplar. The Apple is supposed to have 
been introduced into Britain by the first colonies of the natives ; 
and among fruit trees we owe to the Romans the addition of 
the Pear, the Damson, the Cherry, Peach, Apricot, Quince, 
Mulberry, Chestnut, and Fig. It is only to be expected that 
where there are such meagre historical records there should be 
some difference of opinion among the learned ; but the above: 
are generally accepted as facts, though secondary evidence has 
in some cases to be relied upon, none other being forthcoming. 
The monks were often laborious arborists, and if not to the 
Romans, we owe to them the Sweet Bay and the Arbutus. Dr. 
Walker thinks that the Elm was brought over from Palestine 
by the Crusaders. In the beginning of the thirteenth century 
the Apple appears to haye been cultivated to some extent in 
Norfolk, for in 1205 Robert de Evermere held his lordship in. 
that county by payment of two hundred Pearmains and four 
hogsheads of wine. Gerard’s catalogue of trees, dated 1596, 
contains the Laburnum, the Judas Tree, the Laurustinus, the 
White Mulberry, the Nettle Tree, the Pinaster, the Arbor-Vitz, 
the Yucca, &c., as being among the foreign trees in his garden. 
in Holborn. It is not known for certain whether Raleigh 
brought over any hardy trees from America, though it is pro- 
bable he did so, as he introduced the Cherry tree into Ireland, 
and his manor at Sherborne is said to have been magnificently 
embellished with woods and gardens. 
Sixteen foreign woody plants were introduced into England 
in 1548, but the names of the introducers or first cultivators. 
are almost entirely unknown. Among these trees were the 
Sweet Bay, Mulberry, Platanus, Stone Pine, common Spruce,. 
Fir, Cypress, and the Sayin Juniper. From 1551 to 1596, 
during the reign of Mary and the greater part of that of 
Elizabeth, twenty-four plants are recorded, among which were 
the Peach, the Nectarine, and the Walnut from Persia; also 
the Quince and the Quercus ilex, or Evergreen Oak. The 
names of the introducers, says Loudon, are not known, with 
few exceptions, such as that of Hugh Morgan, apothecary to- 
Queen Elizabeth; Gray, a London apothecary ; L’Obel, after- 
wards apothecary to James I.; and Dr. Grindal, then Bishop 
of London, According to the same authority, from 1596 to 
the end of the century forty-six different species were intro- 
duced, and upwards of thirty of these were first recorded by 
Gerard. Among these were the English and Scotch Laburnums,. 
the common Syringa, &e. The total number of foreign woody 
plants which are known to have been cultivated in Britain 
during the sixteenth century is only eighty-four, exclusive of 
two varieties of the Laurustinus and nine of the Phillyrea. 
Although it is impossible at this distance of time to ascertain 
the names of all the persons to whom we are indebted for the 
introduction of these plants—and probably many were masters: 
of ships, or even common seamen—it is certain that the merit 
of the first cultivation of the greater part of them belongs 
decidedly to Gerard, whose garden was situated between Ely 
Place and Field Lane, Holborn, London. 
The great intreducer of foreign trees in the seventeenth 
century was Dr. Compton, Bishop of London from 1675 to 
1713. Ray has a chapter on the rare trees and shrubs he saw 
in the bishop’s garden at Fulham. Among these are enume- 
rated the Tulip T'ree, the Magnolia, the Sassafras, the Hickory, 
the Box, Elder, &e. Evelyn, who lived in this century, had 
four large, round, and smoothly clipped plants of the Phillyrea 
on naked stems, and a hedge of Holly 400 feet long, 9 feet. 
high, and 5 feet wide, of which he was very proud, and 
mentions it more than once in his writings. This was at Says. 
Court, Deptford, and the hedge was ruined by Peter the Great 
when he resided there, the erratic Czar having caused himself 
to be wheeled through it in a wheelbarrow! But Eyelym 
cared more to promote the planting of valuable indigenous. 
trees than to introduce foreign ones. In this century botanic 
gardens began to be established, which were the means of 
introducing many valuable trees ; and there is a tradition that 
about 1670 Dr. Uvedale, the Master of Enfield Grammar 
School, commissioned one of his scholars who trayelled to 
bring a plant of the Cedar of Lebanon from Mount Lebanon, 
and that he brought the one which is either standing there 
now or was standing of late years. 
The Cedar of Lebanon was introduced into Scotland in 1683, 
the same year in which it was planted by Bishop Compton at 
Fulham and in the Chelsea Botanic Garden. The total number 
of woody plants introduced during the seventeenth century 
appears to have been upwards of 130. In the eighteenth 
century five hundred hardy trees and shrubs were introduced 
from abroad; 108 being from Europe, three hundred’ from 
North America, three from Chili, thirteen from China, six 
