68 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



quality ; it is coarse-grained and spongy-looking, and not at all 

 easy for the cross-cut saw to work through. 



Of the Silver Firs there are some good specimens. Abies 

 Pinsaioo, the Spanish Silver Fir, is a fine tree 60 feet high and 

 7 feet in girth. A. Nordmanniana, 58 feet high and 5 feet 

 6 inches in girth, a handsome specimen, produces cones freely 

 and some fertile seed. A. amahilis, 38 feet high, with 4 feet 

 6 inches girth. This tree has beautiful foliage, more dense and 

 silvery beneath than Nordmann's Silver Fir. A. Morinda, the 

 Indian Spruce, is 53 feet high, 5 feet in girth, and is quite a 

 distinct species, having a weeping habit. A. Douglasii is 65 

 feet in height, with a girth of 8 feet. This has lost its leader, 

 owing to rooks and other birds resting upon it. There are other 

 young trees of it growing well in a damp and rather shaded situa- 

 tion. Abies lasioccnya is 60 feet high, with a girth of 8 feet 

 9 inches, and has increased 6 feet in height and a foot in girth 

 since May 1888. This is one of the handsomest trees in the col- 

 lection ; it has dense horizontal well-feathered branches reaching 

 to the ground. Three years ago it produced a quantity of cones, 

 but this year only two or three, and these are unattainable with- 

 out damaging the tree. A. ceijlialonica, the Greek Silver Fir, is 

 between 60 and 70 feet high, with a large spreading head and 

 good trunk. It has produced fine cones this year.* It is grow- 

 ing in a damp situation with a northerly aspect. A. grandis is 

 a fast-growing tree, some seasons making 8 or 4 feet leaders. 

 The tallest specimen is 65 feet high, with a girth of 7 feet. The 

 common Spruce, A. (=Picea) excclsa, is represented by several 

 good specimens, one of the best of which is 69 feet high, with a 

 good trunk. A. nobilis, as already stated, does not thrive well 

 here, the best being only 35 feet high, and is also of poor habit. 

 A. magnified is distinct and beautiful, but there is only one young 

 specimen about 20 feet high. It, however, produced seven or 

 eight handsome cones three years ago. A. bracteata, measured 

 recently, is 50 feet high, and promises to form a good tree. It 

 has not, so far as I have observed, produced any of its remark- 

 able cones yet. A. amabilis produced one solitary cone two 

 years ago, but, unfortunately, I failed to save it. In May its 

 bright red-coloured catkins produce a telling eflect against its 



* Some cones of tliis species were exhibited at the Conference, and were 

 very beautiful. — Eds. 



