Report of Meetings for 1881. By Jas. Hardy. 435 



it has been fabricated is similar to that used in the construction 

 of the Norman doorway of the old church there. 



A survey was next made of the trees and shrubs growing 

 from the bridge upwards, and along the base of the bank on 

 which the house is situated. It may be first premised that the 

 winter of 1880-81 has not departed without distributing some of 

 its significant marks. The Laurestinuses have been sore dam- 

 aged ; Arbutus Unedo was not only defoliated, but the stems and 

 even the branches have been split. Many sweet bays and laurels 

 would have to be cut down. A Garrya elUptica was killed, and 

 an old Quercus Ilex (which has a bulbous base) above the house 

 was stripped of its old leaves. 



Entering the haugh at the lower end, a few notices may be 

 taken of the condition of the Coniferse, in this collection. The 

 Deodars are growing well. Picea nolilis is very fine, but the top 

 is gone ; the squirrels are blamed for this and corresponding de- 

 predations on other specimens. There are several "Wellingtonias, 

 mostly young. Here they have a tendency to grow off the per- 

 pendicular by swaying to the north side whence the most 

 vigorous shoots proceed. Sequoia (Taxodium) sempervirens has 

 lost its main shoot several times, but always renovates it. Cu- 

 pressus macrocarpa occurs next ; and C. Lawsoniana is also 

 represented ; and we have the first of two fair grown Atlas cedars, 

 Cedrus Atlantica. Picea Nordmanniana is very bushy, being hurt 

 at the top. Cupressus Nuthaensis (horealisj is well thriven ; 

 Abies Bouglassi is hurt at the top and forms a great bush ; Taxus 

 fastigiata, of which there are several distributed throughout, is 

 fine ; Pinus Cembra, a compact grower, is also worthy of remark. 

 The largest Cedrus Atlantica is of great beauty. It measures 

 14 feet in girth at the ground, and has many large limbs, at least 

 fourteen in number. Then we reach the great Cedar of Lebanon, 

 the patriarch of all the others. It has a short stock which separ- 

 ates into a multitude of individual trees, some of which again 

 coalesce, and it forms a grand object when it spreads at the 

 summit. It was probably injured by over great attention in its 

 youth. From its bulk the amount of timber in it must be very 

 large. According to Mr Loney's estimate and measurement of 

 this venerable tree, it is at present 82 feet high ; its giith at one 

 foot from the ground is 17 feet 4 inches ; it then increases to 17 

 feet 9 inches ; and at the height of five feet its circumference is 

 19 feet. " It was brought in a flower-pot from London, by the 



