274 Chronicles of Science. [April, 



troduced by the late Mr. David Douglas, the botanical collector ; some 

 from seedlings introduced from North-west America during the last ten 

 years ; and some from plants (eighteen in number) raised from seed 

 ripened in different districts of Scotland, and now growing in the Botanic 

 Garden. The original trees in the Botanic Garden (introduced by 

 Douglas), as well as those recently raised from seed direct from the 

 American continent, are of a rich dark-green colour, having straight clean 

 stems, while the majority of those raised from British ripened seeds have 

 their ieaves somewhat shortened, and of a yellowish green tint, with bare 

 undulated stems, and brauches more or less covered with resinous warts. 

 Many of the plants raised from home-ripened seeds have a sickly look and 

 a stinted appearance, notwithstanding that many of them had reached the 

 age of from fourteen to fifteen years. The soil of the Botanic Garden is 

 naturally of a light sandy description, and it may seem curious that the 

 trees of the Douglas pine of foreign introduction should do so well, while 

 the British seedlings should in so many instances dwindle away. In 

 several counties in Scotland we are informed that fine trees of the Douglas 

 pine are to be seen reared from home-saved seed. Soil, in connection 

 with a more vigorous state of health of the seed-producing trees, may 

 account for the present apparent luxuriance of the offspring. In several 

 instances it has been found that specimen trees (not the original ones in- 

 troduced by Douglas) are set down as British seedlings, and said to be as 

 vigorous in growth as trees raised from imported seeds. Those who state 

 this are probably not aware that, previous to British seedlings being pro- 

 duced, the Douglas pine was extensively propagated by layers and cut- 

 tings, and these layers and cuttings must now be noble trees. After 

 British seedlings came to be produced freely, no more plants from cut- 

 tings were ever heard of. If a degeneracy exists, as I firmly believe it 

 does, it would be well for cultivators to return to the original method of 

 propagation by layers and cuttings, instead of trusting so much to home- 

 saved seed. Several of those trees which produce cones freely are fre- 

 quently stinted, and at a comparatively early age yield abundance of cones. 

 It is universally acknowledged that in the case of the Scotch fir and larch, 

 the healthiest seedlings are those produced by large vigorous trees ; and that- 

 stinted trees, which often produce cones in great profusion, give rise to 

 an unhealthy offspring. Such must also have been the case with some of 

 the original Douglas pines, which had been placed in situations not alto- 

 gether suitable for them, and at an early age became weak. The result 

 is, that cones are freely produced ; but the offspring, if any, cannot be 

 relied upon. Plants, three or four years old, raised from home-saved 

 seeds of the Douglas pine, as well as" those of the Scotch fir and larch, look 

 as healthy as those young plants of the same age raised from imported 

 seeds. The constitutional weakness in the plants raised from British- 

 saved seeds does not show at once, but at various periods from three to 

 fifteen years after germination. Seeds of the Douglas pine are now being 

 sent home freely, and ought to be eagerly sought after by cultivators. It 

 does not always happen that foreign seeds will produce healthy vigor- 

 ous trees. Some of those originally sent home by Douglas produced 

 trees which do not assume the gigantic growth, and have not the fine 

 green tints of vigorous trees. One variety, which was called the Abies 

 Douglasii taxifolia, is of a yellowish green colour, with branches some- 

 what pendulous, having the stem and brauches thickly covered with 

 resinous warts. Although this tree is diminutive when compared with 

 most of those introduced by Douglas, still it has an amount of vigour very 

 different from seedlings raised from British-saved seed. We have in the 

 Botanic Garden one of these pendulous trees, reared from a cutting, 



