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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



islands are but sparsely inhabited ; they are for the most part 

 covered with coniferous forests of the Siberian type, composed 

 very largely of trees of the Fir and Pine tribe, and include 

 A. sachalinensis, A. jezoensis of Siebold (the A.micros^erma of 

 Lindley), A. Glehnii ; a Pine resembling a stunted Pimis Cemhiri, 

 which Mayr calls P. pumila ; and also a Larch, to which Mayr 

 has given the name of Larix hurilensis. The first two have 

 been introduced by our firm, but the mildness of our winters 

 compared with that of their natural home stimulates them into 

 premature growth, which is destroyed by spring frosts— an injury 

 from which they but imperfectly recover, and hence they are 

 practically useless for the British Arboretum ; we will, therefore, 

 dismiss them with the suggestion that they might be tried in the 

 North of Scotland. 



With these exceptions, all the Japanese Conifers cultivated 

 in Great Britain have been brought from the principal island, 

 Nippon, or Honda as it is sometimes called, and from that 

 portion of it that lies between the 35th and 40th parallels, where 

 the climate is intermediate between the extremes just mentioned, 

 and in the highest degree favourable for their development. But 

 here it should be noted that within this tract, owing to the 

 presence of a dense population, comparatively little is left of the 

 original vegetation ; it is only to be seen here and there in the 

 neighbourhood of shrines and temples, on inaccessible hanging 

 rocks, on the steep places on the mountain- sides unsuited for 

 cultivation, and on the summits of the mountain ranges. 



We are now prepared to pass in review the Conifers of Nippon 

 in the order of their tribes, commencing with the Firs and Pines. 



Abies firma. — This is the common Silver Fir of Japan. It is 

 spread generally, either wild or cultivated, over the southern half 

 of Nippon. It also ascends to a considerable height on the central 

 range, a circumstance that seems to affect its hardiness in this 

 country ; for, while some seedlings are killed outright by a severe 

 winter, others escape unscathed, and this may have resulted from 

 the situation of the trees from which the cones were gathered. 

 It sometimes attains a great size ; trunks 150 feet high and 

 4 feet in diameter have been measured. In its young state it is 

 a fast-growing, symmetrical tree, remarkable for the variabilit}' 

 of its foliage, which has caused it to be encumbered with many 

 synonyms. In this country it is not so often seen as could 



