^0 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



gigantea, which, according to recent authorities, is quite another 

 kind of tree altogether. Taxodium distichicm, the Deciduous 

 Cypress, is growing freely near water ; and another deciduous 

 Conifer, the Maidenhair tree of Japan, Ginkgo biloha {Salishuria 

 adiantifolia), is 35 feet high, with a girth of 4 feet. This is 

 growing in a drier situation and shallow soil. Cuiwessus 

 macrocarioa, which is represented hy about forty specimens — 

 some of them rising to a height of 60 feet — has not proved itself 

 quite hardy, twenty degrees of frost injuring the foliage, and the 

 winter of 1860 killed some, as did also the recent severe winter 

 of 1890. There are two distinct forms of it, but the foliage and 

 fruit are similar. Their habit is different, one being upright or 

 fastigiate, the other having more horizontal and spreading 

 branches. Cujjressus Laiusoniana grows freely, and produces 

 good seeds in abundance. Several trees are about 40 feet high, 

 and one has a trunk 5 feet 9 inches in circumference. The 

 Eedwood tree of California, Taxodium semioervirens, has a trunk 

 13 feet round, and is 68 feet high. Its' cones, though much 

 smaller, are very similar to those of the Wellingtonia, thus 

 showing the two genera to be closely allied. The bark also 

 bears a strong resemblance. There is a marked difference, 

 however, in the timber, for while the Wellingtonia appears 

 coarse and of bad quality, the Eedwood has a close fine grain, 

 and appears to be durable. A tree of it was cut down eight or 

 nine years ago, and, although exposed to all weathers, appears 

 now to be none the worse. The common Yew and the Irish 

 Yew, Taxus fastigiata, flourish well ; there is a good tree of the 

 latter, very much resembling the Florence Court Yew. One of 

 the most curious of the Taxads is the Foetid Yew, Torreya 

 Myristica, a tree, or rather a bush, about 20 feet high, and having 

 a spread of branches of about 60 feet. It produces its singular 

 fruit annually, in greater abundance some years than others ; but 

 throughout the summer months it has the appearance of a bush 

 laden with green plums. They are about the size of, and have 

 also a husk or outer covering enclosing a solitary seed like the 

 walnut. The fruits usually drop off' in October, and the outer 

 covering, if bruised, emits a very offensive odour. About ninety 

 per cent, of the seeds grown from this tree have proved to be 

 good. The plant should be in every collection of Conifers, if 

 only for curiosity. 



There are not many kinds of Juniper, Cephalotaxus, or 



