July 80, 1891.1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
95 
wherever forests of this tree exist ; it is used for all sorts of building 
purposes, and for construction, railway ties, and fuel. 
Abies Douglasi was discovered late in the last century by Archibald 
Menzies, Vancouver’s surgeon and naturalist, on his voyage of discovery ; 
and a few years later Lewis and Clark found it in Montana during their 
transcontinental journey. David Douglas rediscovered it on the 
Columbia River in 1825 and introduced it into England ; and it is 
the name of this bold and enterprising botanist which has become 
associated with this tree, although, unhappily, it cannot bear it in the 
language of science. No tree is more unfortunate in its name; and 
there are few instances where the application of the rules which govern 
botanical nomenclature has produced a more unsatisfactory result. 
Lambert, who first named the tree, called it Pinus taxifolia, from the 
fancied resemblance of the leaves to those of the Yew tree; then 
Lindley, disregarding Lambert’s specific name, named it Abies Douglasi 
in honour of its rediscoverer. Carriere, recognising the characters which 
separate this tree from the true Firs, coined for his genus a bastard 
word, half Greek and half Japanese, and called it Pseudo-tsuga, a 
perfectly improper name, as it has little in common with Tsuga, the 
Japanese name for the Hemlock. Carriere retained, however, Lindley’s 
Douglasi, calling the tree Pseudo-tsuga Douglasi, but as Lambert’s 
specific name is the oldest, the Douglas Fir must be known as Pseudo- 
tsuga taxifolia, a name bad in every way, and especially bad in its 
failure to recognise the name of Douglas, which, more than that of 
any other man, should be associated with it. 
It has proved itself in cultivation to be an ornamental tree of great 
value. The largest specimen in England is already more than 110 feet 
high, with a stout trunk furnished with branches from ground to tip, 
and showing no signs of diminishing vigour or beauty. The earliest 
attempts at cultivating the Douglas Fir in the Eastern States were not 
successful ; the trees raised from seed, gathered in the mild and humid 
climate of the north-west or in England, first planted here were unable, 
except in exceptional positions, to support our climate for any length of 
time. The late Dr. Parry, however, in 1862 discovered the Douglas 
Fir growing on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado 
in a climate distinguished by the severity of the cold of winter and by 
the drought of summer ; he sent seed to the Botanic Garden at Cam¬ 
bridge, and the plants raised from this seed have proved hardy in the 
most trying situations in New England. Some of these trees are now 
more than 20 feet high, and although it is too soon to speak with 
anything like certainty in the matter, there is reason to hope that they 
will grow to a large size and retain their beauty for many years. 
Much attention has been given to the Douglas Fir of late years as 
a subject for forest planting in Europe, although the best authorities 
on such matters do not yet agree as to its value for this purpose. 
Large experimental forest plantations are made every year, especially in 
some parts of Germany, where some forest experts believe that the 
Douglas Fir is to rival and finally replace the Larch in Europe as a 
timber tree. It has the merit of growing with surprising rapidity and 
of producing a large amount of timber in a comparatively short time. 
Few coniferous trees grow as rapidly as this Fir, and it is not un¬ 
common to see self-sown seedlings in Washington and Oregon pro¬ 
ducing, when they stand very close together in good soil, annual shoots 
12 feet long. A remarkable form, distinguished by its large cones, 
occurs on the San Bernardino Mountains in California. It has been 
considered a variety of the typical tree, and by some botanists a second 
species—a view supported by the fact that no intermediate forms con¬ 
necting it with the type have been found, while in the region north 
and south of that occupied by this large fruited tree the typical 
Douglas Fir abounds .—(American Garden and Forest ;) 
NATIONAL PINK SOCIETY. 
Northern Section. 
In our last issue a brief notice of the annual exhibition of Pinks 
at Manchester was given, and a full list of the awards is now 
supplied. For twelve blooms, six at least dissimilar.—First, Mr. A. R. 
Brown, Handsworth, Birmingham, with Boiard, Amy (Brown), a very 
fine bloom; Bertram, Maud (Brown), Ethel (Brown), Minerva, Mr. 
J. Cronk, and Modesty; a very fine stand of blooms. Second, Mr. 
Samuel Barlow, Chadderton, Manchester, with Boiard, John Dorrington, 
Campbell’s Nothing Better, Hooper’s No. 1, Mrs. Barlow, George 
Hodgkinson, and Defiance. Third, Mr. William Taylor, Middleton. 
Fourth, Mr. Campbell, Blantyre. Fifth, Mr. C. H. Thurstan. For six 
blooms, dissimilar.—First, Mr. C. H. Thurstan, Wolverhampton, with 
John Dorrington, Boiard, Mrs. Thurstan, and three seedlings, one of 
them (No. 4) a very promising flower. Second, Mr. A. R. Brown, with 
Mrs. Dark, Bertram, Ethel, Amy, Modesty, and George White. Third, 
Mr. S. Barlow. Fourth, Mr. J. Edwards, Blackley. Fifth, Mr. F. Morton, 
Wolverhampton. 
For six blooms, not less than three dissimilar.—First, Mr. A. R. 
Brown, with Bertram, Amy, Minerva, The Rector, and Mrs. J. Cronk. 
Second, Mr. W. Taylor. Third, Mr. S. Barlow. Fourth, Mr. Burgess. 
Fifth, Mr. Thurstan. For three blooms, one red-laced, one purple-laced, 
and one black-and-white.—First, Mr. Taylor. Second, Mr. Barlow. 
Third, Mr. Thurstan. Fourth, Mr. Burgess. 
Single blooms, purple-laced.—First, Mr. Brown, with Bertha. Se¬ 
cond and third, Mr. Barlow, with Boiard. Fourth, Mr. Taylor, with 
Samuel Barlow, and fifth with a seedling. Single bloom, red laced.— 
First and third, Mr. Brown, with Empress of India, and second with 
Amy. Fourth and fifth, Mr. Taylor, with seedlings. 
Collection of Pinks set up in bunches as cut from the borders.— 
First, Mr. T. Walkden, Sale, near Manchester, his mo3t noteworthy 
kinds being Souvenir de Sale, William Brownhill, and Mr. Walkden. 
The premier red-laced was a fine bloom of Empress of India ; and the 
premier purple-laced a grand bloom of Boiard, both belonging to Mr. 
A. R. Brown and in his winning stand of twelve. 
First-class certificates were awarded to Mr. A. Brown for Amy 
(seedling), a large flower with broad smooth petals and of first-rate 
quality ; to Bertha (Paul), exhibited by Mr. Brown, a smooth finely 5 
formed flower with dark purple lacing ; and to Mr. J. Edwards for 
seedling James Percival, red laced, good petal, and clean lacing. A 
third-class certificate was also awarded to a very fine self white variety, 
with broad petal and smooth elge, named Mrs. Walkden, exhibited in 
Mr. Walkden’s collection. 
BAPTISIA EXALTATA. 
Occasionally in old borders of herbaceous plants specimens are seen 
of Baptisia exaltata (fig. 15) and a few other forms, but they can scarcely 
be said to be common, though in good soil and with ordinary a'tention 
they are much more effective than many occupants of our gardens. Good 
clumps, with stems 3 or 4 feet high, and bearing large racemes of bright 
blue flowers, produce a fine display, and are useful as a background to 
dwarfer plants. 
Baptisia exaltata was described by Robert Sweet in his “ British 
Flower Garden ” in 1825, and he there gives the following history of 
the plantThe present stately perennial plant is a native of North 
America, and was introduced from thence in the year 1812 by the late 
Mr. John Lyons, at the sale of whose plants it was sold by the name of 
Podalyria exaltata ; we were afraid that it was again lost to our 
collections until we were agreeably surprised, the year before last 
(1824), in seeing it growing very strong, and flowering luxuriantly, in 
the Apothecaries’ Garden at Chelsea. It is readily distinguished from 
B. australis by its much stronger and upright growth. The latter species 
was growing beside it in the same collection, so that the difference was 
readily perceptible ; we do not know that the present specee exists in 
