Abies 



753 



Aralia, a Rhododendron, and a birch, some of which had stems as thick as my leg. 

 Plate 215 from photographs taken by my late friend, Mr. C. B. Clarke, at this spot, 

 very well represents the trees I saw. The largest trees which I have found of this 

 species were on the track from Lachoong to the Tunkra Pass, leading into the 

 Chumbi valley, some of which must have been nearly 200 feet high, with stems 

 clean up to 40 feet, and Sir Joseph Hooker measured a tree here no less than 35 feet 

 in girth. Higher up, however, it assumes a stunted form and grows mixed with 

 junipers. 



History and Cultivation 



Abies Webbiana was discovered early in the nineteenth century by Captain 

 Webb. Seeds were repeatedly sent to England by Dr. Wallich, which probably 

 came from Nepal, but none appear to have germinated till 1822, when some plants 

 were raised in the Fulham Nursery. It is remarkable that most of the trees of 

 A. Webbiana seen in this country resemble more nearly the Sikkim form, than the 

 short-leaved Western form. It is probable that none of the original trees now exist, 

 as they were planted in the vicinity of London, where the tree does not thrive, as it 

 is very liable to be cut by spring frosts. 



Though this tree is one of the most beautiful of its genus in the few parts of 

 England where it really succeeds ; and will resist severe winter frosts without injury 

 when on well-drained soil, yet its tendency to start into growth before the danger of 

 spring frosts has passed, has caused its death in very many places. If seeds could be 

 procured from the more alpine regions of Kashmir or the trans- Indus mountains, they 

 might endure our climate better, but most of the trees now growing in England 

 were probably raised from seed collected by Sir J. D. Hooker in Sikkim. 



It ripens seed, however, in some parts of England and Scotland, and I have 

 raised seedlings in 1901 from cones grown near Exeter, of which a few have 

 survived though now not more than a foot high. A shady, elevated, and yet 

 sheltered situation, is best for this species, and as regards soil a deep sandy loam. 



Remarkable Trees 



The largest specimen of A. Webbiana recorded at the Conifer Conference in 

 1 89 1 was at Howick Hall, Northumberland, the seat of Earl Grey, and was then 

 said to be 51 feet by 8 feet. I am informed by Mr. Lambert that it has lost its leader 

 several times since this date, and now measures about 50 feet by Z\ feet. 



The largest we have measured is a double-stemmed tree at Beauport, Sussex, 

 64 feet by 8^ feet in 1904; but Mr. A. B. Jackson found a tree at Tregothnan in 

 Cornwall which was 74 feet by 8J feet, and another tree at the same place 66 feet 

 by 9 feet. Both of these bore cones in 1908. 



At Menabilly, Cornwall, there is a healthy tree of no great size, which bore large 

 cones in 1907, and these remained in perfect condition on the tree in April 1908, 

 when I visited the place ; and at Pencarrow there is one 64 feet by 6|- feet. 



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