OCTOBER. 
225 
The difficulty in procuring seeds of some of the species was so great a 
few years ago, that grafting was largely practised to meet the demand for 
them. Unfortunately, many of the trees planted some years ago, either 
through being grafted or the roots becoming corkscrewed by being kept in 
small pots, have done badly and caused disappointment. These matters are 
now generally well understood, and there is now no difficulty in getting fine 
seedling plants, well prepared for transplanting, with the almost certainty 
of the most satisfactory results, if planted in suitable places, and properly 
attended to. 
The two great evils that Conifers suffer from are, an excess of moisture 
at the roots, and planting in low confined situations. Unfortunately 
Conifers do not always show the effects of these evils. In dry seasons and 
mild winters the plants do pretty well. It is only when there is a heavy 
rainfall in the autumn, and this is followed by a severe winter, that Conifers 
planted in badly drained land and confined situations suffer to any extent, 
but the results are then often very disastrous, as was the case in many 
places last year. Plants that are perfectly hardy are then set down as quite 
tender. Hardy Conifers when planted in badly drained land or in con¬ 
fined places will suffer seriously from a few degrees of frost, while the very 
same kinds will, when planted in thoroughly well-drained land and open airy 
situations, stand many degrees of frost without sustaining the slightest in¬ 
jury. When Conifers are planted in badly drained land and in confined 
places the wood very rarely gets properly matured, and in consequence it 
suffers from a few degrees of frost. Excess of moisture at the roots in 
winter causes the spongelets to perish, and the plant is in consequence 
weakened, and less able to stand frost. From long practical observation I 
have very little doubt that excess of moisture at the roots, is one of the chief 
causes why so many hardy Conifers suffer so much injury in severe winters. 
Of the several thousands of Conifers planted here in the park, the plea¬ 
sure ground, and woods, not one of those in exposed situations, and where the 
subsoil is of a dry porous nature, suffered in the slightest degree from the 
frost of last winter and spring. A few only, in low places, or where from the 
nature of the ground the surface water could not pass off freely, suffered 
slightly. 
I am perfectly convinced if more attention was paid to the drainage of 
the land, and to planting in open airy situations where the wood would get 
ripened, we should not hear so often of such wholesale destruction of 
Conifers in severe winters as we did in that of 1866. In our moist climate 
the land for Conifers cannot be too dry in winter .if we wish to save the fine 
roots from perishing; nor can the situation be too open and airy, provided it 
is sheltered from the fury of the destructive west winds. 
We are now on the eve of the planting season, and it would be well if 
these facts were not only borne in mind, but acted upon by intending planters. 
I am sure those who do so, will have the pleasure of witnessing satisfactory 
results. 
Though plantations are the proper places for all the larger-growing species, 
I am no great advocate for planting young Conifers in old woods—not, 
however, through a dread of root-fungus, but from the difficulty of getting 
spaces sufficiently open and airy, where the sun can shine on the young 
plants all day long. If tall trees in any way shade young Conifers they will 
grow up thin and weakly. 
I am a great advocate for planting Conifers in young plantations, and 
for planting them at good distances apart, so that they may have ample 
