61 



CONIFEES AT DEOPMOEE. 



By Mr. Charles Herein. 



In the following short paper I have been requested to communi- 

 cate to the Conference notes on the present condition of the 

 Conifers at Dropmore, with a list of the more important ones, 

 their present height and girth, and, as far as possible, their date 

 of planting. 



Before giving any description of the condition of the trees, I 

 may say the general character of the soil is of a light and 

 gravelly nature, and such as American plants grow freely in, the 

 substratum consisting of gravel and sand, into which the trees 

 root freely. Visitors to Dropmore generally suppose that the 

 soil must be exceedingly rich and good, but it certainly is not, 

 although many of the trees have in the past been occasionally top- 

 dressed with a heavy clayey loam, and any soil or refuse likely 

 to decay is carted away and spread about the roots of the trees. 

 Undoubtedly the top-dressing, especially that of a clayey nature, 

 has very materially benefited them, both by keeping the roots 

 in a moist condition and as a rooting medium, for wherever heaps 

 have remained under Cedars and other trees the roots have 

 worked up freely into it. 



In taking the present condition of the Conifers into considera- 

 tion, they are, speaking generally, in a flourishing condition and 

 growing freely, the majority showing no signs of old age or 

 stunted growth. There are some exceptions among the Pines, 

 a few of which have apparently passed the prime of life, although 

 they are really beautiful in their rugged and weird state, and for 

 this reason form pleasing features among other trees. This 

 remark applies to Finns ^nacrocarpa, planted in 1835, the seed 

 of which came from the Eoyal Horticultural Society's gardens at 

 Chiswick ; also P. pitngens and P. rigida, each of which is 

 about 70 feet high, with many branches. Trees of the Silver 

 Abies {A. amahilis) are also exceptions, and of late years have de- 

 teriorated very much, having no leaders, and the upper branches 

 are partially dead and covered with lichen. One tree, the 

 largest, is 48 feet high, and was raised from a cutting and planted 

 in 1847. The original tree, planted in 1835, is but 35 feet in 



