STATISTICS OF CONIFERS IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



491 



KENT. 



Linton Park. F. S. W. Cobnwallis, Esq. 



Altitude, 300 feet. Soil, stifE loam ; subsoil, Kentish rag. 

 Correspondent : Mr. John^McKenzie, The Gardens, Linton Park, Maidstone. 



Botanical Name. 



Age 



Height 



Girth at 

 5 ft. up 



Diameter of 

 Branches 



Exposure 



Remarks 





Years 



Feet 



Ft. In. 



Feet 









30 



68 



4. 



3 



32 



bhelta. 



Very ornamental. 





45 



7A 



/u 



9 



4 



DO 



Q 



A grand specimen ; full of 

















cones. 





30 



D4: 



8 



7 



00 





A grand tree. 





45 



lO 

 I il 



6 



4 



00 



oneitu. 



Quite a picture. 





40 



60 



6 



6 



42 



j> 



Fine ornamental tree. 





45 



i i 



8 



0 





)» 



Very hardy and graceful. 



Arancaria imbricata . . . 



45 



47 



4 



9 







Lost branches to 10 ft. up. 





50 



60 



9 



6 



52 





A feature in the grounds. 



Cupressus Lawsoniana 



30 



47 



4 



5 



17 



J) 



A dense green column. 



„ macrocarpa 



37 



61 



8 



0 



43 





Always in good condition. 





50 



74 



8 



0 



56 



»> 



Bare stem to 14 ft. up. 





30 



68 



5 



0 



12 



>j 



Very uniform trees. 





48 



60 



8 



0 



70 



5) 



Splendid tree. 





45 



62 



10 



0 



52 



>> 



Suffered badly from the 

















severities of last winter. 





25 



44 



4 



6 



24 



S. 



Very fine tree. 





36 



63 



9 



2 





)> 



Bare stem to 20 ft. up. 



Taxodium sempervirens 



47 



60 



11 



0 



48 





Lost 3 ft. of top last winter. 





30 



65 



6 



0 



19 



Sheltd. 



In perfection. 



Wellingtonia gigantea 



30 



72 



10 



6 



33 





Very symmetrical. 



General Eemarks. — Every care has been exercised to have the dimensions 

 of the above specimens of Conifers taken as accurately as possible, so that the 

 figures may be relied upon. All the trees are grown on a southern slope, well 

 sheltered, but generally open to the south. The soil is a strong heavy loam, 

 resting on the Kentish rag, which forms a thorough natural drainage. 



The last severe winter, when we had two feet of snow in Kent, with the 

 thermometer down about zero, severely tested the hardiness and suitability, or 

 otherwise, of the various kinds of Conifers, and those which have survived it 

 may be considered tolerably hardy in ordinary seasons. Here, Pinus insignis 

 suffered severely in all its stages ; the oldest trees having huge branches torn off 

 and twisted about in the most . curious way by the weight of snow and the force of 

 the gale, while the younger trees looked as if they had been severely singed all over, 

 their foliage was so browned. They have mostly made a fair effort to grow during 

 the past summer, but I am afraid few, if any, of them will ever wholly recover. 

 Fine specimens of Abies WeMiana have had their tops killed for several feet down ; 

 and the tops of Taxodium sempervirens have been killed back 2 to 3 feet. The 

 Weymouth Pine has also suffered severely, and the foliage appears as if scorched. 

 Cryptomeria elegans is very apt to lose its branches by the weight of snow lodging 

 upon them, and our finest specimen was snapped clean off in the middle during a 

 heavy snowfall. We saved many fine specimens by going round with long poles 

 and shaking off the snow before it accumulated to a great weight upon them ; but 

 the snow at times is like a thief in the night — it comes without warning 1 Pinus 

 excelsa, with its widespreading head, got much broken by the weight of snow ; 

 and P. ponderosa loses a limb or two with almost every snowstorm. The erect- 

 growing Biotas, Junipers, and Thuyas are very liable to damage from a snowstorm. 



