SOME fEATURES OF INTE>REST IN THE ORDER OF CONIFERS. 9 



interesting to the botanist, and one which unconsciously im- 

 presses the spectator, much in the same way that the human 

 face, with its tale of trials surmounted, of cares ingrained, or of 

 patient trust, arouses his interest and appeals to his sympa- 

 thies. 



Many of the " curiosities " among these plants are dependent 

 upon the inordinate development of the branches in size or in 

 number. Thus the curious " Snake Firs" (Piceaexcelsa monstrosa) , 

 with their long, lithe, unbranched arms trailing on the ground, 

 owe their peculiar appearance to the circumstance that the side- 

 buds are almost entirely suppressed or undeveloped. In such 

 branches the leaves are often unusually large, as if to compensate 

 for their diminished number and to ensure as large an amount of 

 leaf-surface as if the branches were developed in the usual way.* 

 The peculiar elegance and great diversity in the sprays of 

 Cypresses and Thuyas is likewise due to variations in the direc- 

 tion and in the degree of branching of the ultimate twigs. A 

 fascinating subject for investigation is here presented to the 

 student, and one which would not only be useful to the scientific 

 botanist, but specially advantageous to the propagator. Those 

 who raise these plants from cuttings, say of a Eetinospora, know 

 well how important it is that the cutting should be taken from a 

 leading and not from a lateral branch. 



There are numerous other matters connected with the growth 

 of these plants upon which gentlemen who have these trees 

 under daily observation might give information. Is it a generally 

 observed fact that the Eastern Arbor VitaB [Biota) will not unite 

 by grafting with the Western Thuya occidentalis ; that the 

 Golden Larch {Pseudolarix KcBmpferii) will not graft on the 

 common Larch, nor the Douglas on the Silver Fir ; that Abies 

 Lowiana [Parsonsiana) as a grafted plant is always unsatisfac- 

 tory, whilst, on the other hand, that Picea pungens always does 

 well when grafted on the Spruce ? Again, is it generally known 

 that Thuyopsis horealis must be propagated by cuttings rather 

 than by seed, whilst the not distant Thuya gigantea [Lohhii of 



* Since the Conference an obliging correspondent has informed me of 

 an Armicaria imlricata which, after producing two tiers of branches, 

 ceased to develop any side-branches, whilst the leader-shoot has con- 

 tinued to lengthen year after year. The analogy between the lithe 

 branches of the Araucaria and those of the Snake Firs must often strike 

 the observer. 



