PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
89 
quality of the timber. After these in succession came Pinus sylveslris , P. laricio , 
P. pinaster , P. pinea , and P. Plalepensis , and their value diminished with their 
want of elevation. The genus A foes did not appear to yield timber so valuable 
in quality as Pinus. The species were not so numerous. A. excelsa is one of 
the hardiest, and A.pectinata might be cultivated in this country with probable 
success. The cultivation of the hardier and more valuable species of these genera 
Was strongly recommended from the results of the experiments of the Duke of 
Athol, who had found that timber of sufficiently good quality lor the ordinary 
consumption of the Navy, might be grown at I-140th the expense of Oak, taking 
into consideration the rental of the land, and the ground occupied, besides the 
vast value given to the land by the fertilizing properties of the Larch. The 
author considered that 100,000 acres of waste, taken from the Grampian hills, 
for the growth of Larch, would, in two generations, not only supply all the 
ordinary wants of the country, but enable us to export it. In the w r est and 
south of England Pinus laricio and P. Hispanica would probably succeed best; 
the Cedar of Lebanon might also be tried in these districts. He likewise recom¬ 
mended the Larch to be cultivated by the proprietors of cold Clay land in the 
north of England, as a means of improving the land by the deposition of its 
spiculse, the trees being kept open for the admission of Sheep for fifteen or twenty 
years, when the trees being thinned, good open woodland would be formed, the 
soil of which would be good. No other species of tree should be mixed, as the 
Larch is recommended merely as a fructffier or ameliorator of the soil. 
Prof. Graham stated that Pinus morinda , one of the Himalaya groups, had 
borne this climate very well. With regard to P. Douglasii , there were two 
varieties—one that had sustained little injury during the past hard winter, and 
another that had sustained very considerable injury. He might add, that the 
Araucarias had suffered no injury last winter in Edinburgh. He had thought 
that when trees grew but little, they were best enabled to stand the frost; 
but his had grown every year more and more, and yet stood last winter without 
injury. 
Sir Charles Monk observed that P. morincla had been damaged during the 
past winter at his residence, fourteen miles from Newcastle ; he had specimens 
of Araucaria which were not at all injured during the past winter. With respect 
to P. Douglasii , he had received a letter from Mr. Knight, just before his 
lamented death, in which that distinguished individual had informed him he had 
succeeded in grafting this Pine upon the Common Larch. He had sent a fine 
specimen of P. Halepensis to the Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick, but it was 
destroyed one severe winter. He has at present at his own residence a P. 
Halepensis , which had resisted the last winter. Pinus Douglasii was not 
sufficiently matured to produce seed, but it might be propagated by cuttings.— 
VOL. IV.-NO. XXVI. N 
