ACCLIMATATION, 33 
the formation of his most extensive larch plantations in Bel- 
gium, he specially ordered the plants from Forres nurseries, 
the produce of the north of Scotland, as detailed under the 
article LARCH. 
The influence of acclimatation is very perceptible on the 
Portugal laurel. In favourable seasons this tree ripens its 
berries in the north of Scotland, and plants grown from these 
are far more hardy than those produced from the seeds of a 
warmer climate. The severity of winter and spring 1867 gave 
very clear evidence of this being the case. I have trees. of the 
Portugal laurel ranging from four to upwards of twenty feet 
high, raised from seed which ripened in Morayshire. Some of 
these trees occupy unfavourable situations, the soil being too 
moist, and only a little above the rise of water. Notwithstand- 
ing the wet weather of autumn 1866, so unsuitable for ripen- 
ing the wood, the young shoots are not only safe, but the 
severity of the weather did not even discolour the foliage, 
although the thermometer stood about zero ; while other trees 
of Portugal laurel raised from imported seed, like many 
of the exotic evergreens, are cut down to some extent, or ren- 
dered very unsightly. 
T had lately a consultation with the owner of one of the 
largest and longest established nurseries in the west of Scot- 
land, respecting the tender nature of the larch of late years, 
both in the nursery and in the forest: He said that so far as 
the nursery was concerned he was well aware of the fact, from 
dear-bought experience ; that for several years his crops, 
grown altogether from imported seed, had been so severely 
damaged by frost, that on an average of years only about 
a fourth part of the seedlings had escaped with their tops. 
continued the sagacious monarch, it is not necessary to ransack the whole 
world: China and Japan are the most important countries for us in this par- 
ticular. In them is to be found a very ancient civilisation and skilful cul- 
ture, carried on in a climate like our own. It is more advantageous to seek 
what we want under such circumstances than to begin anew with wild nature. 
We shall find in those countries plants adapted for cultivation and for our 
requirements, offering less resistance to our proceedings than those that we 
procure direct from their native wilds. Centuries are required to acclima- 
tize plants.” —Gardener’s Chronicle, 1865, p. 1178. 
Cc 
