FLORA 



AND SYLVA. 



Vol. II. No. 11.] 



FEBRUARY, 190 4. 



[Monthly. 



THE FAILURE OF THE CALI- 



FORNIAN CONIFERS. 

 In talking with Mr. Anthony Waterer 

 the other day about the great change 

 in the once prevalent taste for planting 

 theCalifornian conifers, and of the fail- 

 ure of some kinds like the Wellingtonia 

 and Araucaria, I regretted to hear him 

 deploring the failure of others such as 

 Abies nobilis. It is not only that we have 

 to contend with the tenderness of some 

 of the trees so stricken by frost in our 

 valleys, but there are other and more 

 subtle troubles of which it is not always 

 easy to see the cause, in trees of whose 

 hardiness there is no doubt. I planted a 

 thousand White Pine, which is hardier 

 than most Californian trees, and they 

 throve for some years, but are now dy- 

 ing off in a way for which no insect or 

 other cause can be seen. As regards 

 California,we have to compare our dull 

 watery climate with one of the finest 

 in the world : the long gentle summer 

 and the winter rest on mountains deep- 

 ly covered with snows which dissolve 

 gradually in spring, so that the trees 

 get a sufficient rainfall with a thorough 

 ripening of their wood. Anyone who 

 has seen the Pacific mountain trees in 

 their own country can hardly wonder 



that some of them should fail in ours. 

 In all the changes of fashion among 

 trees there never was one in which peo- 

 ple were so carried away as by these 

 giant conifers, nor one in which failure 

 has been so complete. And we have 

 not only to suffer the loss of these trees 

 but there is the penalty of our neglect 

 of the trees of the forest plain, from 

 Oaks to Maples — far more suited as 

 they are for a lowland country, than 

 the conifers of those lovely mountains 

 fanned by Pacific Ocean breezes. Si- 

 milarity of climate is a condition we 

 should always remember, and the more 

 like the climate of our own country, the 

 more certain success will be. The re- 

 gion of the Corsican Pine, for example, 

 and that of the Cedars of North Africa, 

 rises so high that it has somewhat the 

 same conditions of climate as our own 

 country, the proof being that we see 

 our own hardy wild flowers and shrubs 

 growing about them. It is not all failure 

 with the Pacific coast trees, because we 

 have still some trees like the Western 

 Hemlock and the Sitka Spruce, which 

 are of proved value, and we must be con- 

 tent with such. Our aim should be not 

 the increase of species, but making good 

 and artistic use of those that not only 



