CONIFERS AT OETON LONGUEVILLE. 



71 



Eetinospora, but there is a good plant of the Whipcord Thuya, 

 T. plicata, also Gupressus sempervirens, Juniperus chinensis, 

 and J. excelsa stricta. Thuya gigantea is represented by many 

 specimens rising 60 feet high, and thrives well. It has trunks 

 as straight as a gun- barrel, and seeds freely. Young plants 

 germinate in the gravel paths and other places ; one even 

 sprouted up on a large stone covered with damp moss and 

 liverwort, and has grown 10 feet high in as many years. I raised 

 young trees from seed twelve years ago, and many of them are 

 now 25 feet high. A healthy tree will, in one season, make leaders 

 of 3 and 4 feet. The foliage is good for decorative purposes, and 

 as an ornamental hedge it stands clipping well, but this opera- 

 tion should be performed in March or April. 



Some of the trees above alluded to were planted before 1844, 

 such as the Cedrus Libani, C. Deodara, C. atlantica, Pseudo- 

 tsuga Douglasii, Finns macrocarpa, P. Sahiniana, P. excelsa, 

 and a few others ; but most of them were planted in the fifties 

 and sixties. It should be stated that all the girths stated above 

 were taken at about a foot from the ground. The altitude was 

 taken by a tree-measurer on correct geometric principles. 



Before closing these few remarks on the Conifer^e at Orton, 

 there is one thing I wish to add as to the culture and well-being 

 of these trees, and that is, never dig beneath them so as to 

 mutilate their roots. I have found out from observation 

 that the majority of them have active feeding roots near the 

 surface, and although some kinds of trees and shrubs would not 

 suffer much, established trees of the Conifer family suffer con- 

 siderably. By all means, cut or hook out coarse weeds, but let 

 the foliage that falls from the trees remain. In their forest state 

 it is their own natural food and protection for the roots. As a 

 matter of course, on lawns where trees have lost their bottom 

 branches, and close turf grows up to the trunks, the leaves 

 cannot be suffered to remain, for the sake of tidiness ; but there 

 are a large number of species that remain feathered to the ground 

 for many years, and their leaves may be raked or put under these 

 branches as food for the roots ; and if time and material be at 

 hand, a 3-inch covering of ordinary garden soil placed over 

 this dead foliage would greatly benefit them, not only as more 

 nourishment, but the extra weight of material on the surface 

 acts as a preventive of the trees being blown over by strong gales 

 of wind. 



