July 12, 1861. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



M'nth 



Day 



of 



Week. 



JULY 12—18, 1864. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 37 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before 



Sun. 



Day of 

 Year. 











Day. 



Nirflt. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 





m. s, 





12 



Tv 



Buckwheat flowers. 





75.4 



50.7 



63.0 



12 



59af3 



12 af 8 



6 1 17 U 



3) 



5 20 



194 



13 



W 



Traveller's Joy flowers. 





75.S 



51.8 



63 K 



13 



4 



11 8 



14 2 ' 45 11 



9 



5 28 



195 



14 



Th 



Oat Grass ripe. 





761 



51.5 



63 8 



14 



1 4 



10 8 



22 3 morn. 



10 



5 34 



196 



15 



F 



Hedge Parsley flowers. 





75.8 



50.3 



63.1 



20 



2 4 



9 8 



28 4 | 23 



11 



5 40 



197 



l(i 



S 



White Poppy flowers. 





75.8 



50.1 



63.0 



15 



4 4 



8 8 



29 5 1 7 1 



12 



5 46 



198 



17 



Son 



8 Sunday after. Trinity. 





75.8 



52.0 



63.9 



13 



5 4 



7 8 



24 6 5 2 



13 



5 51 



199 



18 



M 



Eyebright flowers. 





74.7 



51.0 



62.9 



IS 



6 4 



6 8 



11 7 i 12 3 



14 



5 56 



200 



From observations taken near London 



during the last thirty-seven years, the average day temperature of the -week is 75.6 



\ and its night 



temperaturt 



] 51.0". The greatest heat was 93J° on the 14th, 1S1/ ; and the lowest cold, 41°, on the 13th, 1S40. The 



greatest 



fall of rain was 



1.60 inch. 



















FAST-GROWING CONIFERS. 



AM glad that tlie subject 

 of remarkable 

 --=. Pinuses lias at- 



sl - tracted attention 

 in your pages, 

 and I willingly 

 add my testi- 

 mony to all that 

 has been given 

 as to the beauty 

 of the Wellingtonia and its adaptability 

 to most, if not all, situations. For ra- 

 pidity of growth it is second only to 

 one or two species that I am acquainted 

 with, and possibly local circumstances may have given 

 them an advantage which they might not enjoy elsewhere. 

 Mr. Ridgway has given, at page 434 of the last volume, 

 very minute particulars respecting the growth of the fine 

 specimen at Pairlawn ; and I believe there is a similar 

 fine tree at Redleaf, near Tunbridge. Both of these spe- 

 cimens are two years or more in advance of the best 

 that we have here, and which was not planted out until 

 January, 1S59, when it was 1 foot 9 inches high. The 

 wet season of 1860, and the severe winter which followed, 

 did not affect it further than that it was a little browned 

 on its eastern side, and the growth of 1861 was less 

 than before or since. At Christmas, 1861, it was 6 feet 

 6 inches high. I have not its dimensions for the follow- 

 ing year, but last Christmas it was 12 feet 11 inches 

 in height, having made a growth of 6 feet 5 inches in two 

 years, and a corresponding increase in diameter of stem. 

 The growth of last year may be considered the more 

 remarkable when I mention that last summer, about the 

 beginning of June, a squirrel or some other animal nipped 

 off the leader, cutting off about 9 inches. Such a disaster, 

 I admit, alarmed me at the time ; but such is the accom- 

 modating character of the tree that it speedily formed 

 another, and now it is not easy to see that it had lost a 

 leader. "We may, however, justly conclude that but for this 

 accident the tree might have been a foot higher ; as it is, 

 the fact of the tree so quickly forming another leader, and 

 assuming its true conical outline again, is worth recording. 

 Rapid, sturdy, and symmetrical as the growth of the 

 Wellingtonia is, it is equalled if not excelled in these 

 respects by Cupressus macrocarpa or C. Lambertiana, for 

 I believe the two are identical. A plant of this, about 

 18 inches high, was planted out in April, 1854 ; and in De- 

 cember, 1861, it was 21 feet high and 13 'feet through at 

 bottom, dense and bushy to the ground, and of the deepest 

 green, on which the sharp winter of 1860-61 did not seem 

 to make the slightest change. It is now about 28 feet 

 high or more ; but at the end of the growing season I 

 will measure it. So rapid-growing a tree requires careful 

 handling when young. A tree that has been some time 

 in a pot, and has its roots so twisted that it is impossible 

 to lay them out perfectly straight in planting, will only 

 he a disappointment ; for the tree being much more 

 No. 172.— Vol,, YH., Netv Sebies. 



dense in its habit than the Wellingtonia, it is much 

 more exposed to the wind, and if it is not very carefully 

 planted in the first instance it will not be able to resist 

 the wind. I have known more than one tree 6 or 8 feet 

 high blown down in consequence of the roots at the collar 

 still retaining the coiled form which they took while they 

 were confined in the pot, and therefore offering little 

 resistance to the wind. The one above alluded to was 

 well attended to, and has hitherto maintained its upright 

 position. 



Differing very considerably from either of the above 

 in character, but I believe equal to them in rapidity of 

 growth, is Thuja Lobbi, a most graceful Fern-looking tree 

 of the Arbor Vitse class ; but it appears to have a greater 

 disposition to make a tree, sending up a long slender 

 leader several feet in advance of the side shoots, which 

 also have a tendency to point upwards. A young plant 

 of this species in a sheltered position has made a growth 

 of 9 feet in the last two years, the tree being now 13 feet 

 high. Thuja Lobbi promises to be second to none for 

 beauty, and being perfectly hardy, must prove a great 

 acquisition, Thujopsis gigantea and T. borealis also pro- 

 mise fairly, but have not the spiral form of T. Lobbi. 



Mr. Palmer asks for the dimensions of other Pinuses 

 as well as of the Wellingtonia. It would either be better 

 to give the heights during the past winter or wait until 

 the season's growth is completed ; but it may interest 

 him to know that Pinus excelsa is here considerably above 

 30 feet in height, and perhaps 35 feet, and about the same 

 in diameter, while P. insignis will by the autumn be fast 

 approaching 50 feet high, and upwards of 40 feet through ; 

 Cryptomeria japonica is 35 feet or more, beautifully 

 tapering ; Abies Smithiana about the same, and dense 

 and compact ; Picea pinsapo, the finest of all, is a perfect 

 cone, about 26 feet high or more, and densely clothed 

 to the ground. Our largest Deodar had to be taken 

 down for the benefit of another tree, and I hardly think 

 we have any exceeding 38 feet high. An Araucaria has, 

 however, attained the height of about 30 feet, and is a 

 finely-formed tree. My purpose, however, is not to go 

 into details, but to invite those interested in arboriculture 

 to report such particulars about their trees as cannot fail 

 to be useful to all concerned. As Pinuses sometimes ex- 

 hibit growth of more than ordinary dimensions in parti- 

 cular situations, an inquiry into the cause may throw 

 much light on their cultivation. As an example of rapid 

 growth in a species not generally supposed to be fast- 

 growing, I may instance a Picea nobilis which we have 

 here, that will by the end of the present growing, season 

 have increased its height 10 feet or more. 



Before closing these stray notes on Conifers I may 

 remark that I hope to hear of other instances of fast 

 growth, and of remarkably fine trees. The genial climate 

 of Devonshire doubtless favours the growth of trees of 

 many kinds which cannot be expected to become equally 

 fine in a cold bleak district, but we now and then meet 

 with fine specimens where they are least expected. Many 

 years ago I remarked one of the finest Araucarias that 

 I ever met with in an old garden in Northumberland. I 

 No. 824,— Vol. XXXII., Old Sehies. 



