ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 207 



With their height and girth, at five feet from the ground, 

 they will be found to compare very favourably with 

 trees planted in other parts of Scotland, and, in some 

 cases, they would appear to surpass them. For purposes 

 of comparison I have taken Dunn's list, published in 

 the reports of the Conifer Conference in 1892, and 

 added 10 feet to the height there given. Mr Dunn's 

 list, though a very full one, is not exhaustive, consequently 

 theie may be finer specimens existing in the country 

 that were not reported to him. I will not weary you 

 by reading out all these details ; they will appear in 

 due course in our journal, as an Appendix to the few 

 remarks I have made to-day. 



An interesting question arises in connection with the 

 specimen of Amabilis, if a topless tree can be thus described. 

 Amabilis was first discovered by Douglas in 1825, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Columbia river ; but he did not 

 succeed till 1830 in sending a small consignment of seed 

 home. The seed was sown at the Horticultural Society's 

 Gardens in London, and subsequently plants were distribu- 

 ted among the Fellows. Onl}- two trees can be traced 

 as belonging to this batch, one at Dropmore, planted in 

 1835, and at Orton Hall, Peterborough. All attempts 

 to rediscover the tree failed. It was not till 1880, fifty 

 years later, that the tree was again found on the Fraser 

 river. Now, the Amabilis I have was planted in 1843 

 as a Grandis, under which name it stood till male flowers 

 were submitted to Mr MacNab, who writes under date 

 1886 : — " Your Grandis is the true Amabilis of Douglas, 

 one of the most beautiful flowering pines I ever saw. 

 It is the first time, to my knowledge, that it has flowered 

 in Scotland, and I have not heard of any in England 

 producing flowers. He adds: — The flower of Cephalonica, 

 as well as Cupressus Torulosa, is also new to me." As 

 Amabilis is associated in its native country with Grandis, 

 it would appear that a stray cone, at any rate, must 

 have been gathered of the former. Concolor, introduced 



