52 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTIQULTURAL SOCIETY, 



THE DECORATIVE CHARACTER OF CONIFERS. 



By Mr. Edmund J. Baillie, F.L.S. 



A GLANCE at the programme giving the titles of the papers to 

 be read at this Conference shows how exhaustively the subject 

 has been considered, and is set down for treatment, and it will be 

 apparent how little room there is to stand upon where the ground 

 is so thickly covered. In the title chosen for my few remarks it will 

 be seen I n.m not to confine myself to the consideration of Conifers 

 alone as Conifers — that is to say, to the consideration of the 

 characteristics of Conifers, as separating them from other 

 ornamental plants and separating them from each other, in their 

 genera and species — but, rather, we are to look for a few minutes 

 on this interesting and beautiful family of plants considered in 

 combination with surroundings which are of a decorative character^ 

 We are to consider the decorative character of Conifers, and, in 

 connection with this, the securing of decorative effects by their 

 judicious introduction. 



The decorative character of Conifers as a subject therefore 

 includes the consideration of nature and art. The moment you 

 bring in decoration you necessarily touch art. Indeed, from one 

 point of view, you cannot touch the Conifers themselves, in the 

 wider sense, without at the same time throwing yourself back 

 upon that discerning and selective process which can only be 

 described as art, and which has brought into Britain the 

 progenitors of this now naturalised family, in its beautiful 

 variation and diversity ; for,wdtlibut very few exceptions. Conifers 

 come under the classification tabulated "Introduced — not native." 

 Then, further, let us note, a chance seedling which comes up 

 where the hand of Nature has laid it is the offspring of 

 Nature, so to speak ; but the moment you bring man upon 

 the scene he looks about him and before him, and con- 

 siders what the effect will be when the tree he is now placing 

 here shall fill the place appointed for it. That is necessarily 

 the introduction of art. But art in association with the ideas 

 we are now considering has a wider range. The idea of culture 

 in any of its departments, as applied to aspects of nature — say 

 horticulture, agriculture, or arboriculture — brings us face tg 



