72 



its her arboretum, will admit that she has realized 

 that ambition to the full. 



Let the most scientific and enthusiastic American 

 arboriculturist travel from the Rio Grande to the 

 St. Lawrence, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 sea-board, and he will find here at Bicton more va- 

 rieties of American trees and shrubs than he named 

 and noted on the Western Continent. 



When he has seen the Pines of California, of the 

 Rocky Mountains, of Michigan, Canada and Maine, 

 and heard the solemn song and murmur of their 

 branches in the forest breeze, he will indulge in the 

 self complacent sentiment that no one can tell or 

 show him any thing new in the race of conifers. He 

 may boast that he has seen twenty, — perhaps even 

 fifty kinds of that tree in his explorations. Let such 

 a man visit Bicton, and run down its tree roll, and 

 read its record after this rate : 

 Pine, 200 varieties. Maple, 20 varieties. 

 Oak, 200 nearly. Hickory, 15 " 



Willow, 300 varieties. Thorn, 160 " 

 Elm, 120 " Bramble, 46 



Ash, 60 " Holly, 26 



Poplar, 30 " 



The whole number of varieties of trees and shrubs 

 in this wonderful collection is nearly three thousand. 



Now take any one country or continent, and select 

 a specimen of every distinct variety of tree and shrub 

 to be found within its area, and then place the whole 

 side by side with the Bicton arboretum, and the dis- 

 parity will indicate the unparalleled assiduity, effort, 

 taste, genius and pecuniary means brought to bear 

 upon this British Museum, of nearly every wooded 

 trunk, branch and bush that fans its foliage in the 

 breath of heaven. 



To make climates and soils, and genial surround- 

 ings for these productions of all the zones, so that 

 they shall be at home and thrive as in their native 

 lands, requires an insight into their habits and wants, 

 and a genius to cater to them, which must rank 

 with the inspiration of the artist as well as the sci- 

 ence of the savant. 



The Park is very extensive, most pleasantly undu- 

 lated, and presenting the happiest variety of surface 

 for picturesque embellishments and views. It is 

 well studded with fine old English Oaks, Beech, Elm, 

 Chestnut, Sycamore and Thorn. 



One striking feature is a long avenue of Auracaria 

 imbricata,{to use the ugly latin name given to a South 

 American Pine,) which would lose all its comeliness 

 and value if it were as common as White Birch is 

 with us. Here it is esteemed among the rarest of 

 the Pine tribe, so that an avenue lined with it for a 

 long distance, is a sight peculiar to Bicton. It is a 



very porcupine among trees : the trunk and branches 

 being tiled with ear-.shaped scales, pushing out their 

 outer ends as a hen ruffles her feathers, and looking 

 very rough and shabby. 



North of the park is a great Pine plantation, with 

 carriage drives diverging in different directions, and 

 lined and over-arched with foliage and flowers that 

 were never seen in Enghind when Thompson wrote 

 his 'Seasons.' I mean the aerial blossoms and the 

 leaves of glistening green, which the American Rho- 

 dodendron gives to the shrubberies of this country. 

 I doubt if ever Thompson saw this garden queen of 

 beauty, or dreamed of such tinting as suffuses the 

 cheek of its summer glory. JSline miles of this 

 June shrub among flowering plants, line the drives 

 through this great plantation ; and, when in bloom, 

 they both perfume and illumine the quiet path- 

 ways among the tall Pines, whose protecting shade 

 and shield prolong the blossoming, holding out their 

 broad palms against the unfriendly winds." 



HARD PRESSED SOIL. 



BY J. STOUGH. 



I think it is in Downing' s //or^/cM?/;?fm^, Vol. 5, 

 page 224, that you called attention to the advantage 

 of a firm soil. I read it at the time, — 16 or 17 years 

 ago. My interest in the matter was increased from 

 having observed the same or similar phenomena 

 before reading it. I have not seen any attempted 

 explanation of the matter. 



Recently I have got on the track of a solution 

 that gives me some satisfaction, and will attempt an 

 explanation. Spring bulbs will send up their shoots 

 througih frozen ground, and roots can penetrate 

 soils of great solidity and firmness, but they prefer 

 light to heavy labor. 



Most of soils plowed or spaded consist in part of 

 lumps large and small, though easily crushed, or 

 penetrated by roots, yet when a root reaches one of 

 these it passes aro ind and not through it. The in- 

 terior of that lump remains entirely useless. 



There is often a large quantity of those not hard 

 ones but more firm than the spaces between them. 



These spaces, or portions less firm, contain the 

 roots, rendering useless a large portion of soil ; and 

 the loss of soil is not all. If the roots could p'^ne- 

 trate every portion alike, they would be in a far bet- 

 ter position relative to each other and the plant 

 above them. 



One would think this Illinois soil so loose, and 

 the lumps of so little firmness, that it made no dif- 

 ference. But here, and after passing over it a com- 

 mon roller, I find lumps, 6 to 12 inches deep, laying 

 idle, and the roots around them. 



