144. 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



lating to the subject, we must refer to the Encyclopcedia of Gardening, edit. 

 1835, p. 69. M. E. de Wael, the director of the botanic garden at Antwerp, 

 has furnished us with a list of the indigenous trees and shrubs of that neigh- 

 bourhood, wliich is even more meagre than we had anticipated ; and another 

 correspondent has sent us the following remarks on the subject of the Dutch 

 ligneous flora. " Many causes combine to operate unfavourably on the growth 

 of trees and shrubs in Holland ; the numerous heavy wiads in the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea, and more particularlj^ the north-west wind, destroy the tops 

 of the high-growing trees, break their branches, and, by shaking their trunks, 

 loosen the roots in the soil, or blow the trees down. This is chiefly occa- 

 sioned by the little depth to which the roots can penetrate into the ground ; 

 for, as soon as they reach the water, they ai-e compelled to take a lateral 

 direction, in consequence of which the trees soon become sickly, or are 

 suddenly loosened from the soft, loose, humid soil by the wind. We have 

 here much marsh and fen land. This soil, which is extremely well adapted 

 for supplying turf or peat, is unfavourable to the growth of timber. Should 

 much rain and strong winds occur, the trees on this soil cannot exist long 

 enough to become old, nor even to have good trunks. In order, therefore, to 

 prevent their being blown down, they must, from time to time, be tied or 

 propped up : but the trouble and expense of this operation cause it to be 

 neglected ; instead of it the trees are severely lopped, and this, by causing 

 them to throw down a greater quantity of roots into the wet substratum, only 

 renders them more sickly. The truth of this fact may be perceived in the 

 trees in and about most of the Dutch cities. 



" When these obstacles do not occur, the trees exhibit a better growth; for 

 the elms on the embankments in Zealand, which have their roots in a good 

 stiff clay soil, and stand high out of the water on the dykes, endure the sea 

 winds without sustaining any injury ; besides which, these trees are judiciously 

 pruned, and this, of course, greatly contributes to their large growth aiid 

 handsome appearance. Whenever the trees are on high ground, and grow in 

 masses, so as to protect one another from the winds, the vegetation is luxu- 

 riant, as is the case at the Hague, and in the woods near the Loo. This 

 strikes even a superficial observer at the first glance. 



" Most of the country seats in Holland were formerly near Rottei'dam, along 

 the Gravenwej, for example; and at Amsterdam, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Diemermeer but, as all these seats have been demolished, and new ones 

 formed in the high sandy grounds of the provinces of Guelderland and Utrecht, 

 not many remarkable old trees remain in the former district. Those which 

 time might have spai-ed have been cut down in consequence of the removal 

 of the country seats. The Populus canadensis [? monilifera] appears every 

 where here in an excellent condition, and grows in places where no other tree 

 will thrive, On the sites of some of the old country seats, especially where 

 the ground is elevated, old tulip trees and catalpas are found, both of which 

 bloom freely. The new country seats are laid out with much taste, in parks 

 on a large scale, and on high grounds, in the provinces of Utrecht and Guel- 

 derland ; and they are planted with exotic trees and shrubs, which afford very 

 favourable expectations for the future. — W" 



But, though Holland and the Netherlands are deficient in an indigenous flora, 

 they are by no means so in collections of plants from other countries. This 

 is ascertained from the early catalogues of the different botanic gardens, and 

 from the magnificent publications on botany and gardening which issued from 

 the press of Leyden, Amsterdam, and other Dutch or Flemish cities, in the 

 17th century. Great part of the Netherlands, from its moist peaty soil, is 

 particularly adapted for the growth of American trees and shrubs ; and these, 

 especially all the more showy-flowering kinds, are in popular cultivation. 

 (See Gard. Mag., vol. vii. p. 279., xi. p. 103. and p. 219.) 



The best collections of foreign trees and shrubs, at present in the Low 

 Countries, are in the different botanic gardens; in the garden of the Botanical 

 and Horticultural Society of Ghent, in the garden of the King of the Bel- 



