34 JOURNAL OF T3E ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



CONIFERS AS SPECIMEN TREES AND FOR LANDSCAPE 

 GARDENING. 



By Mr. Geoege Nicholson, A.L.S., F.R.H.S. 



The subject on wliich it has fallen to my lot to speak is a 

 rather formidable one, and would require, for anything like an 

 exhaustive treatment, much more time than is available at this 

 Conference, where Conifers have to be looked at from other points 

 of view than that of ornament. Were time not so much an object, 

 and space no object at all, an entire volume of the Society's 

 Journal could be filled without the question being thoroughly 

 thrashed out. It would scarcely be possible for one man to give, 

 from his own experience, a series of lists which could be relied 

 on by planters in all parts of the British Islands. Not unfre- 

 quently — even where soil and some other conditions seem nearly 

 identical in character — various Conifers thrive remarkably well 

 in one spot, and in another, a few miles away perhaps, do not 

 succeed nearly so well, or refuse to grow at all. It is to be 

 hoped that this Conference will be the means of bringing together, 

 focussmg, and arrangmg experiences of this sort for our own 

 benefit as well as for that of future planters. Many Conifers 

 seem to be indifferent to soil and situation, provided that such 

 physical conditions obtain as efficient drainage and shelter, as 

 well as absence of smoke. All Conifers object strongly to a 

 smoke or dust-laden atmosphere, and that is why none thrive 

 for any lengthened period in the immediate neighbourhood of a 

 large town. A partial exception to this rule may perhaps be 

 made in respect to the Ginkgo or Maidenhair-tree of China and 

 Japan [Ginkgo biloha), which I have seen growing freely in the 

 High Street of Brentford, the branches overhanging the pave- 

 ment. 



Since writing the foregoing sentence I have been to Brent- 

 ford to sec the tree in question. Not many years ago it was a 

 remarkably fine specimen, but the leader is now dead and it will 

 probably not last much longer. It is to be found between the 

 gasworks and the Royal Brewery, and extension of buildings 

 seems to have injured the roots and restricted the space available 

 for them to work in. 



