1480 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Rhododendron. The tree is very brittle, and has lost many branches, and is 

 somewhat ragged in look although it is in a very sheltered position. It produced 

 cones on four or five occasions ; but in no case did they contain fertile seed. 



The Rev. Hon. W. Ellis informs me that at Bothelhaugh, near Morpeth, 

 Northumberland, a tree planted over thirty years ago is under 6 ft. high. At 

 Coombe Wood, the largest specimen measured 35 ft. by 3 ft. 8 in. in 19 10. At 

 Scorrier, near Truro, a healthy tree was 30 ft. by 3 ft. in 191 1. 



We have seen no trees in either Scotland or Ireland. 



The finest specimen in Europe is growing in Rovelli's nursery at Pallanza ; 

 and measured 64 ft. by 6 ft. 10 in. in 1909. This tree produced staminate flowers 

 in 1884; and since then has coned regularly every two or three years. Large 

 numbers of natural seedlings appear in prepared soil under the tree ; and the 

 seed is said to germinate better where it falls, than when collected and sown in 

 pans under glass. As the seeds and scales fall together and close to the parent tree, 

 young seedlings probably succeed best with considerable shade. 



In Belgium it is said ^ to have attained no less than 46 ft. in height by 

 3 ft. in girth at the nursery of the Horticultural Society of Calmpthout, near 

 Antwerp, where seedlings grew as fast as those of the common larch ; and Dr. 

 Masters mentioned,^ in 1883, a fine tree in Linden's nursery at Ghent. 



At Verrieres, near Paris, one of the original trees ^ is about 35 ft. high and 3 ft. 

 in girth. It produces fruit and fertile seed, but in no great quantity. There is a 

 good specimen* at Karlsruhe, about 35 ft. high, which bore cones for the first time 

 in 1896; the seed, however, was unfertile. 



In the United States this tree thrives well, as it delights in hot summers ; 

 and Sargent states that he never saw a plant which appeared to suffer from heat or 

 cold, fungoid diseases, or the attacks of insects. The largest specimen ^ is growing in 

 Parson's nursery at Flushing, Long Island, which was imported from London in 

 1859 when it was 3 ft. high. It measured in 1895 55 ft. high, with a stem 2 ft. in 

 diameter, and branches 50 ft. across, and has borne seed frequently. Another 

 specimen in Mr. Hunnewell's pinetum at Wellesley, Mass., measured^ in 1905 35 ft. 

 in height and 4 ft. in girth, with a spread of branches of 37 ft. This tree has borne 

 seed since 1887, and many seedlings have been raised from it. Sargent reports^ 

 another large specimen on Mr, Probasco's estate at Cincinnati. (H. J. E.) 



1 Bull. Soc. Dendr. France, No. i8, p. 162 (1910). 2 In Card. Chron. xix. 88 (1883). 



' Cf. P. L. de Vilmorin, Horius Vilmoriniantis, 66, fig. ix. (1906). 

 * Cf. Mitt. Dent. Dend. Ges. 1896, pp. 71, fig., and 113. 

 ' Garden and Forest, 1895, p. 415. 

 s Sargent, Pinetum at Wellesley in 1905, p. 10, and in Garden and Forest, 1897, p. 317. 



