TREES AND SHRUBS FOR LARGE TOWNS. 



D7 



is no reason why Rhododendron ponticum and others should not 

 be cultivated. 



Sir Charles Strickland, referring to the mention made by 

 Dr. Masters of the Council of the R.H.S. taking up the subject 

 of planting hardy trees and shrubs, said that in Scotland there 

 is a Society which has been doing good work in this particular, 

 and he thought it was quite open to the Royal Horticultural 

 Society to take up the work in a systematic way. As to the 

 trees and shrubs in London, he said the Plane-tree was the one 

 tree which thrives there better than any other, and he wished it 

 would also thrive in Yorkshire. 



Mr. H. Cannell said he was not at all surprised that 

 plants would not grow in London, simply because there was 

 no good soil for them to grow in. They had to be content 

 with something like ash-heaps, from which little good could 

 be expected. As to the Local Boards planting trees, all they 

 cared about was that the trees should look pretty when planted, 

 or as long as the contractor had the work on hand ; after 

 that it mattered little what became of them. Trees should 

 not be planted anywhere near gas-pipes, as no matter how 

 tightly fixed the latter were, there was sure to be an escape of 

 gas for some distance round, and this would soon kill the roots 

 of any plant. 



Dr. Masters, rising to reply, thanked the audience for their 

 attention to his lecture, and also the gentlemen who had taken 

 part in the discussion. He was especially grateful to Messrs. W. 

 Paul & Son, of Waltham Cross, for their cut specimens of trees, 

 and shrubs which they had kindly sent to illustrate his remarks, 

 and he also thanked Messrs. Cutbush & Son for their exhibition 

 of Pernettyas. Supplementing his remarks on trees for large 

 towns, Dr. Masters said that Magnolia acuminata was a very 

 fine town tree, and came next to the Tulip-tree, and, with the 

 Plane, should be planted in London. He could not agree with 

 Mr. Geo. Paul in eulogising Rctinospora plumosa, which gathered 

 dirt too quickly in smoky districts, although in such places as 

 cemeteries it might do very well. He considered the Arbor Vita3 

 (Thuja orientalis) an excellent test-shrub as showing in what 

 parts of a large town trees would flourish, and where they 

 would not. He had observed it for many years, and noticed 

 that the nearer it was to the centre of the town, the more 



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