8 
PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
We have already alluded to the difficulty of {hiking cuttings of this tree. This, however, is not abfolute. 
It is only difficult to {hike them in the wrong way. As in everything elfe, fo here, there is a right and 
a wrong way of doing it. In the “ Tranfadlions of the Edinburgh Botanical Society,” vol. v. p. 187, a 
fuccefsful plan is recorded, in which the very young pea-green fhoots torn off the older wood were found 
to ftrike readily ; but, on the other hand, there are cultivators who {trike them invariably in Auguft or Sep¬ 
tember, when they are fomewhat riper. The tree is late in pufhing out its young fhoots, fo that Auguft 
is a good deal earlier than the period generally adopted for making cuttings of other kinds of plants. We 
apprehend that it is from moft people taking their cuttings from too old wood that it has been found fo 
difficult to ftrike them. When the cuttings are fuccefsfully grown, they acquire, in a fair proportion of 
inftances, a good form by the time they reach 4 or 5 feet in height, and in fome few cafes can fcarcely be 
diftinguifhed from feedlings* 
It remains to fay a word or two upon grafts of this tree, which are generally worked upon the com¬ 
mon Silver Fir; but P. nobilis, when grafted in the manner recommended in moft works on gardening, 
is apt to overgrow the ftock and the tree at the graft, and fome other cheap ftock is wanted of more 
equal growth with the fcion. The ufual mode of grafting is, to cut an inch or two off the top of the leading 
fhoot of the ftock, and to remove the leaves for about three inches further down, with the exception of a 
pair or fo at the very top to continue to draw nourifhment to the extremity of the ftock until the fcion 
becomes fully attached. The fhoot is then fplit down for a couple of inches, and the fcion, after its 
lower leaves are removed, is pared on each fide into a narrow wedge, which is inferted 
in the flit to its full depth in the fame manner as in cleft-grafting. The graft is then 
tied and clayed, or coated with grafting-wax, or the new compofition Lhomme Lefort. 
The plan we adopt is, we think, better. It is to remove the foil for a little depth 
round the ftock, and to place the graft low down, fo that when the foil is replaced 
the end of the graft is below the furface, and forms a root for itfelf. The accompany¬ 
ing woodcut [fig. 22] {hews the procefs. 
Large plants are to be found in nurferies; but in moft cafes they have been fo 
much cut in to furnifh cuttings and grafts that the fymmetry of fhape, which is one 
of the chief beauties of this tree, is much impaired. 
Fine fpecimens are to be feen at Mr Walker’s, of Calderftone, near Liverpool; at Tinedon Hall, 
Northamptonfhire; at Caftle Martyr, near Cork, the feat of the Earl of Shannon, where a tree planted 
fubfequently to 1845 is now 25 feet in height and 3 feet 8 inches in circumference; at Riccarton 
(Sir William Gibfon-Craig), near Edinburgh ; at Durris Houfe (A. W. Madlier, Efq.), near Aberdeen ; 
Smeaton Houfe (Sir T. B. Hepburn), Mid-Lothian ; at Caftle Kennedy (the Earl of Stair), Wigtown- 
fhire; and at Wall Tower (Sir Hew Dalrymple), near North Berwick. But the fineft and oldeft trees 
in this country are thofe at Chatfworth and Elvafton, near Derby (the latter planted by the late Earl 
of Harrington), which for fome years paft have fupplied a conftderable quantity of feeds. The fpecimen 
figured in the coloured plate is from Lady Grenville’s, at Dropmore. 
Commercial Statijlics .—The price of young plants, for a few years after introduction, varied from five 
to twenty guineas, according to fize and growth. In 1850, for fmall grafted plants, 7s. 6d.; do., 6 to 9 
inches high, 15s. In i860, for 1 year feedlings, 2s. each; 2 years, 3s; for plants 9 inches high, 10s. 6d.; 
for grafted plants, 3 to 4 feet, 31s. 6d. The feed has been fold for as much as ^5 per ounce, and ftill 
commands a high price. 
Fig. 22. 
* It may perhaps not be impertinent to our fubjedt to mention, as a fort of empirical guide, at this date (1863), to diftinguifh feedling trees 
from cuttings in this country (grafts, of courfe, fpeaking for themfelves), that the practical refult of the different importations of feeds, &c., has been 
this : viz., a tree above 20 feet in height is probably a feedling of the firft importation; one from 3 or 4 feet to 10 feet in height, a cutting; and 
one under 2 feet, may probably be a feedling. 
