THE CHILI PINE. 
171 
a year earlier. They are of cylindric form, crimson in colour, 
and each stamen bears from two to six anther-cells. The small 
“ cones ” are more or less globular, but instead of a large number 
of spirally arranged overlapping scales, as in the Pines and Firs, 
here there are only eight, whose edges at first join to form a 
box. When the “ cone ” is ripe these scales separate, to allow 
the escape of the seeds. 
The Lawson Cypress produces a valuable wood, close-grained 
and strong, yet light. It is considered one of the most im- 
portant timber trees of North America ; but in this country it 
has been planted solely with a view to its ornamental qualities. 
Its perfect hardiness and its freedom of growth may, with longer 
experience than half a century affords, lead to its being regarded 
as a timber producer here also. 
The Common Cypress {Cupressus se 7 npervirens) of the Medi- 
terranean region and the East, of which poets have sung in 
all ages, has been cultivated in this countin' for at least three 
hundred and fifty years. 
The Chili Pine (Araucaria hnhricata). 
The Chili Pine, or “ Monkey Puzzle,” is a familiar sight on 
suburban lawns, where, however, it seldom attains a large size 
or long retains health. The lower branches drop off, and the 
upper ones become brown, as though scorched. But away from 
the smoke-laden atmosphere and uncongenial soils, some hand- 
some and massive Araucarias may be seen rising from fair lawns, 
with dense branches curving at their tips, and regularly dis- 
posed in whorls from the dome-like head of the tree to the grass 
at its base. Such was the magnificent specimen at Dropmore 
that died in 1902, such is the fine tree at Woodstock, Co. 
Kilkenny, which now presumably takes the position of eminence 
in these islands hitherto held by the Dropmore example. 
