146 
Cultivation of Conifei-ons Trees. 
some years ago, when less understood, were almost entirely 
neglected and looked upon as unsuitcd to the climate and vicis- 
situdes of temperature of the British Isles. 
Taking the list of recently introduced conifenr and forest trees, 
annexed to this report, as containing the principal varieties 
attempted to be acclimatized in Great Britain and Ireland, we 
may state that the efforts to introduce them have, upon the whole, 
proved more or less satisfactory and successful, and that in no 
instance have we discovered in our inquiries and investigations 
amongst the principal and best regulated pineta throughout Scot- 
land, an instance of any one of the varieties named having been 
found unable to exist under the influence of our climate. The 
measure of success experienced in the trial of these new species 
in a country and climate hitherto unknown to them, as may be 
inferred from the foregoing remarks, has been very varied. But 
where attention has been paid to the rarer and more tender 
species, in the early years of their introduction, and until they 
had acquired some height, and become as it were established in 
the soil, there are many examples of their having not only 
thriven, but of their being now in such a condition as to justify 
the conclusion that they will hereafter prove valuable for shelter, 
ornament, and use. 
In many parts of England there are numerous old and con- 
sequently large specimens ; for they have been much more 
generally cultivated south of the Tweed than would be at first 
supposed. In some instances their utility for economic purposes 
as timber has been already tried and approved ; and in Ireland, 
where also these rarer pines are better known than in Scotland, 
both climate and soil are well adapted for their healthy progress 
and vigour. Indeed in that country, as in England, there is a 
much greater number of old specimens than can be found, except 
in a few special instances, in Scotland. No doubt our Scottish 
friends have been deterred from trying these "new fangled" 
trees from a belief which is still too prevalent amongst us, that 
most of these coniferae are unsuited to our climate so far north ; 
an opinion quite at variance not only with all the experience we 
have been able to bring upon the matter, but simply absurd 
when it is remembered that many of the varieties have been 
introduced from habitats in a much more northerly latitude than 
that of the British Islands ; and that a great bulk of those in- 
troduced are to be found in their native regions in latitudes 
almost similar to those of Great Britain, namely from 50° to 60^ 
north latitude. 
Such being the case, we shall in the present paper, in deference 
to this opinion, direct attention to tlie actual capability of these 
newer coniferae, &c., generally, for withstanding the vicissitudes 
