1865.] Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 275 



standing side by side with the green upright form, proving in this in- 

 stance that soil has not so much to do with the change as original consti- 

 tutional weakness. I have also seen specimens taken from twelve seed- 

 ling plants of Abies Menziesii, being part of the offspring of the noble tree 

 now growing in the Keillour Muir Pinetuni, Perthshire, the property of 

 William Thomson, Esq., of Balgowan, and which is without exception 

 one of the healthiest and finest trees of the kind in Europe. It was 

 planted by the late Mr. Thomas Bishop, forester, Methven, about the year 

 1831. The tree grows in a deep, spongy peat soil, where it tillers freely, 

 and cuttings stuck into the peat soon take root. The plants produced are 

 very various, as seen by the specimens now exhibited. The seedlings 

 were raised from seed presented to the Botanic Garden by Mr. Thomson 

 during the year 1858, being from the first cones produced by the tree, 

 and it may have happened that the male flowers were not perfected simul- 

 taneously with the female ones. In the neighbourhood various species of 

 the Abies tribe exist in large quantities, particularly the Abies nigra, 

 A. alba, A. rubra, and A. excelsa. As some of them stand within 50 yards 

 of the Abies Menziesii, judging from the diversity of seedlings, I am in- 

 clined to think that some of the young female cones must have been fer- 

 tilized with the pollen of some of the above-mentioned trees, particularly 

 with that of the Abies nigra ; as it is a remarkable fact that the nearer the 

 seedlings approach to the Abies nigra, the more healthy and compact 

 they become. Specimens of Abies Menziesii raised from home-saved seed, 

 just received from Balgowan, exhibit much the same appearance as those 

 raised in the Botanic Garden. Although healthy, none of them possess 

 the vigour of a specimen taken from a young tree struck from a cutting 

 eight years ago. The seedlings of Picea nobihs, raised from British-saved 

 seed, vary very much, but none of them possess the vigour of foliage as 

 exhibited by the large tree now growing in the Botanic Garden, raised 

 from seed originally sent home by Mr. Douglas, or even the plants reared 

 from layers and cuttings taken from the original trees. The British seed- 

 lings look well till they get about one foot high, at which size they begin 

 to assume a yellowish tint, and finally decay. Many of the seedlings are 

 now dead, the largest having attained the height of three . feet. These 

 circumstances prove that early decay is not altogether depending on soil, 

 as layers and cuttings from the originally imported seedlings are as 

 healthy as the original trees. Precisely the same remarks apply to the 

 British seedlings of the Pinus monticola — all assuming a yellowish tint 

 after they reach four or five years of age. These remarks may not be 

 applicable to British seedlings planted in a peaty soil where the monticola 

 seems to grow best. Such, however, is the case with the plants raised 

 from home-ripened seeds now growing in the Botanic Garden, but not 

 with those from imported seed. It may be said that layers and cuttings 

 of coniferous trees, particularly of the Picea and Abies tribes, are not so 

 very easily produced. With layers 1 would recommend the twisting of a 

 small piece of very fine copper wire round the branch, sufficiently tight to 

 compress the bark without bruising it, previous to being pegged into the 

 soil. When so treated, the majority of them will be found rooted twelve 

 or eighteen months after being laid, according to the nature of the wood. 

 Young points not more than two years old should be used. Cuttings take 

 a much longer time. They have been successfully rooted under hand- 

 glasses at the base of a north-exposed wall, where no sun can reach 

 them ; also in pots well drained and filled with sand and placed in a cold 

 frame." 



At a meeting of the Microscopical Society of Edinburgh, Dr. Dickson 

 lately gave the results of his observations upon the development of 



