VALUE IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS OF INTRODUCED CONIFERS. 77 



with pride and pleasure to their wondering and admiring friends 

 the sapling giant, which they considered cheap at " a crown an 

 inch " ! Eesiding in England for nearly a decade, and in half a 

 dozen widely separated counties, many opportunities occurred, of 

 which advantage was taken, for observing the habits and rate of 

 growth of the new Conifers, and noting their merits and value 

 under varying circumstances and different methods of treatment. 

 Scarcely a noted collection in the country but was visited 

 and examined with keen interest during that period, and much 

 valuable information as to their general treatment and special 

 requirements was gathered. 



Crossing to Ireland in the latter half of 1865, the next six 

 years were passed in that favoured country for Conifers, particu- 

 larly for those of a somewhat tender nature. Eesiding at 

 Powerscourt, in the County of Wicklow, and actively engaged 

 under Viscount Powerscourt in the formation of the extensive 

 collection of Conifers for which that beautiful estate is well 

 known, a wide field of practical knowledge was opened up, from 

 which much special information was acquired in regard to the 

 cultivation, growth, and merits of all the hardy species of 

 Conifers. Since returning to Scotland in 1871, to fill my 

 present office at Dalkeith under the Duke of Buccleuch, scarcely 

 an opportunity has been missed, in any part of the United 

 Kingdom where duty called or friendship led, for increasing my 

 knowledge of the merits and qualities, good or bad, of the 

 various species of the Coniferse. 



Knowing well that unsupported testimony in respect to 

 questions of this nature, however wide and long sustained the 

 personal experience may have been, is liable to be obstinately 

 doubted and proof called for, I have taken the precaution, 

 through the willing aid of numerous friends, to whom I am much 

 indebted, to provide substantial grounds of proof, which all may 

 examine, in support of the value I may place upon any 

 coniferous tree or shrub grown in Britain. That evidence has 

 been gathered within the last few weeks from almost every part 

 of the British Isles where Conifers are growing— from the 

 southern counties of England and Ireland to the Orkney 

 Islands, and from the eastern coasts of Great Britain to the 

 wind-swept wilds of Connemara, where Pinus insignis and 

 Cupressus macrocarpa luxuriate in the moist and saline-laden 



