3-3(3 



CASSELL'S POPUIiAB GARDENING. 



latitude. The cones are about tlie size of a child's 

 head, each enclosing between 200 and 300 nuts, and 

 not unfrequently twenty or thirty cones are home 

 on a single tree, so that eighteen Araucaiias are 

 reckoned to maintain a single person a whole year. 

 The nuts, in form like an Almond, but twice the 

 size, are eaten by the Indians, either fresh, boiled, or 

 roasted, the latter mode of cooking giving them a 

 flavour something like a Chestnut. On one of the 

 lawns at Kew (near the Succulent House) one of the 

 few original plants still remains, and the following 

 interesting extract concerning it is contained in the 

 " Official Guide to the Eoyal Botanic Gardens and 

 Arboretum": — ''This specimen, one of the first 

 introduced, was brought to England by the late 

 Archibald Menzies, Esq., surgeon and naturalist 

 to Vancouver's Voyage to North-west America in 

 1798. . . . Mr. Menzies, when dinin g at the table of 

 the Governor of Valdivia, had the seeds offered him 

 at dessert. On being told that they were the seeds 

 of a great Eine of the Andes, he took some away in 

 his pocket and sowed them in a pot on board ship. 

 He tended the young plants carefully during the 

 remainder of the voyage, giving them a share of his 

 allowance of water when that was reduced to little 

 more than a pint a day. On arriving in England, 

 Mr. Menzies presented the young plants to Kew, 

 whence four were distributed and one remains." 

 For a long time the Araucaiias were supposed to be 

 dioecious, but trees in various parts of the country 

 have produced both male and female catkins : an 

 illustration of a branch (showing this monoecious 

 character) taken from a tree in the famous Bicton 

 Arboretum, is given in Messrs. Veitch's " Manual of 

 the Conifera?."" Araucaiias thrive best in a moist, 

 but thoroughly drained soil, free from stagnant 

 moisture. In the peaty woods in the South of 

 England they grow rapidly, but fine specimens exist 

 in many parts of the country on soils which contain 

 no peat. 



Biota. — This genus contains but a single spe aes, 

 which, however, is a very variable one. A host of 

 forms have originated in this country, and a number 

 which have been found in a wild state, or have 

 developed under cultivation in Japan and China — the 

 home of the species — have been imported into 

 Britain. B. orientalis, the common Chinese Arbor- 

 vita?, is perfectly hardy, and is one of the most use- 

 ful of garden evergreens. The following are among 

 *he most remarkable of the varieties : aurea, or as it 

 is sometimes called, compacta aurea, is the Golden 

 Chinese Arborvitas : it forms a round-headed bush five 

 or six feet high, whilst the ordinary green- leaved 

 type attains a height of from eighteen to twenty- five 

 feet ; in early spring the young growths are a rich 



golden- yellow, but as the season advances the colour 

 gradually changes to the bright green characteristic 

 of the typical species. EUffantissima is a dwarf- 

 growing form of fastigiate habit, the somewhat 

 rigid branchlets retaining their fine golden-yellow 

 tints throughout the summer. Meldensis originated 

 in France about 1S53, and at one time was supposed 

 — so different is it in general aspect from the 

 common Chinese Aborvitae — to be a hybrid between 

 that and the Virginian Red Cedar. As, however, 

 similar f orms have been raised from seed, both in this 

 and in allied genera, it is now regarded as nothing 

 more than a seminal sport : the principal character- 

 istics of this strange plant are the light bluish 

 glaucous green of the branchlets during summer, 

 and their reddish-brown tint in winter. Pendula 

 has curious elongated, pendulous, cord-like branches 

 with few ramifications, and for a long time was 

 believed to be a distinct species : seedlings, however, 

 raised from it have reverted to the type. 



Semperaurescens is somewhat like aurea in habit, 

 but differs from that in retaining the golden hue of 

 the foliage throughout the season. 



Cultivation. — The Chinese Arborvitae is most 

 readily raised from seeds, which are freely enough 

 produced in Britain, and the varieties may be propa- 

 gated from cuttings inserted in sandy soil in a cold 

 frame in August or September, and carefully shaded 

 from bright sunshine, or they may be grafted on the 

 common type. All are nearly indifferent as to soil, 

 and thrive well under very varied conditions. 



Cedrus. — There are three species of Cedar — 

 unless it be held, with some authorities, that these are 

 but geographical forms of one. The distribution of 

 the genus is somewhat peculiar. 



One, C. Libani, the Cedar of Lebanon, occurs in 

 Syria, with a distinct and very interesting form, on 

 the mountains of Cyprus ; the second. C. Atlantlca. is 

 restricted to the Atlas range in Xorth Africa ; and 

 the third, C. Deodara, is confined to the Himalayan 

 region. The first two are probably the most pic- 

 turesque and magnificent of all the Conifers which 

 are hardy in Britain. The Deodar principally differs 

 in the drooping extremities of the branches : in some 

 places it makes a beautiful tree, but in most it is 

 much inferior in grandeur and beauty to its two 

 allies. As a rule the Cedars will thrive wherever 

 the Larch will succeed, and noble specimens exist in 

 the neighbourhood of London in deep sandy or 

 gravelly soil. 



C. Atlantica. — A large tree of broadly pyramidal 

 habit, scarcely distinguishable in its maturity- from 

 the Cedar of Lebanon, except that the branches are 

 shorter and less tabuliform; the leaves also are 

 shorter, thicker, and more prickly. A variety with 



