148 REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1897 



The branchlet received with Sir Arthur Middleton's letter, 

 I forwarded, together with the particulars of the Belsay tree, 

 to Mr Adolphus H. Kent, of the E-oyal Exotic Nursery, 

 Chelsea, and in acknowledging them he says "I know of no 

 single specimen which has attained a similar height. In 

 the drier climate of the south and middle of England, Fitzroya 

 always takes the form of a straggling unshapely bush, (I 

 know of no exception,) and it is usually loaded with abortive 

 female cones." A few months later however Mr Kent 

 obligingly wrote to tell me that, during a recent visit to 

 Devonshire, he had been able to examine some equally large 

 examples. Under date 7th September, 1897, he writes: — 

 " It may interest you to know that I came upon some unusually 

 fine specimens of Fitzroija patagonica, which have remained 

 intact since first planted. One is at Upcott, near Barnstaple, 

 the seat of Sir W. E. Williams, Bart. This is over 20 feet 

 high, fairly symmetrical in habit, and the finest I have yet seen. 

 Another is at Killerton, near Exeter, (Sir Thomas Dyke 

 Acland's place) and is quite 25 feet high, but less symmetrical 

 than the Upcott tree. Both are bearing female cones pro- 

 fusely." 



It is interesting to recollect that this genus is named 

 in compliment to Captain Fitzroy, by whom it was first 

 discovered, when in command of H.M. Ship "Beagle," engaged 

 in surveying the southernmost points of South America — 1831- 

 '36 — a voyage which Charles Darwin has rendered for ever 

 memorable. fVeitcJi's ^Manual.' J 



I 



