352 



PARKS AND PLEASURE -GROUNDS . 



and they had outlived the period of irregular growth. 

 To Mr. Graham we are indebted for some of the indi- 

 cations of hardiness given in the foregoing enumera- 

 tion of species. We have also been favored with 

 similar information by George Patton, Esq., of The 

 Carnies, a zealous and successful cultivator of pines, 

 whose pinetum, in the sub-alpine country west of Perth, 

 affords abundant corroborative proof of the views we 

 have expressed. In our remarks appended to the sec- 

 tions Abies and Pieea, we mentioned several species 

 whose young shoots are liable to be injured by spring 

 frosts, and other sorts might easily be added to the 

 number. Such injuries generally occur when they are 

 planted in warm, sunny situations, and arise from their 

 being, at the time, in advance of the average climate 

 of the place. These results seldom occur when they 

 grow, on ground sloping toward the north, or where 

 they are little exposed to the sun in spring. The de- 

 crease of injury from late frosts, as the tree increases 

 in age and size, is strongly marked in the Cephalonian 

 and silver firs. It remains to be added, that the power 

 of .many species to resist the severities of our climate 

 has still to be tested by more rigorous winters - and 

 springs than we have experienced of late years. 



Soil op the Pinetum. — Generally speaking, pines 

 do not require deep or rich soils, and they succeed best 

 on ground of loose texture, lying on subsoils through 

 which water percolates freely. Some spruces thrive 

 in comparatively poor clayey soils; and along with 

 Larix microcarjpa and Pvnus Tceda, grow vigorously 

 in moist or even swampy ground ; but these are excep- 

 tions to the general rule. Others, such as P. Lam- 

 bertiana, Pinaster, qustralis. exoelsa, and a few more, 



