58 THE NUT CULTUEIST. 



itive is known as to whether it will succeed here or not. 

 In its northernmost range it thrives in forests among 

 many kinds of trees and shrubs that are already common 

 in our gardens, and this leads me to think that speci- 

 mens or seeds of this tree procured from the mountains 

 of northern Oregon will withstand the rigors of our 

 climate. 



Mr. S. B. Parsons writes me that he first saw Cas- 

 tanopsis chrysophylla in Kew Gardens (Bug.) thirty-five 

 years ago, and procured specimens, which were planted 

 in his gardens at Flushing, N. Y., but they failed, pre- 

 sumably because not hardy. It may be that his speci- 

 mens were raised from nuts procured in the warmer part 

 of California, and, as with many other Pacific coast 

 plants, proved to be tender, while later introductions of 

 the same species collected in colder localities have proved 

 hardy here. In my experience I have found a great dif- 

 ference in the hardiness of trees and plants obtained 

 from tlie higher and lower levels of the mountains from 

 Colorado westward to the Coast range, for in those re- 

 gions acclimation extending over thousands of years has 

 developed and fixed certain physiological attributes, 

 which enables them to readily adapt themselves to simi- 

 lar conditions elsewhere, especially in the line of tem- 

 perature. It may make no difference to those who want 

 plants for warm climates, whether they are obtained 

 from mountain or valley, but it certainly does to those 

 who value hardiness above all other merits. 



In horticultural matters we are supposed to confine 

 ourselves within certain natural lines in making experi- 

 ments, but if we fail in one, or one hundred, it proves 

 little beyond the bare fact that we have not been suc- 

 cessful. I have experimented enough to have become 

 somewhat wary of deciding that a thing cannot be done, 

 or is impossible, because of my own and others' failures. 

 Every practical horticulturist can call to mind many 



