SEQUOIA WELLINGTON I A. 
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planted out the previous year in a low, wet, and exposed situation, and had never done well. The cause 
of death was the wet.” Of another, which was killed at Ashford Hall, Cheshire, we are told that it “ had 
been in a pot the year previous to its being killed, in consequence of which it no doubt was not so hardy 
as it would otherwise have been. It was only 2 feet high, and was the only specimen here.” These 
instances, therefore, can have no bearing upon the hardiness of this species. But there remain two other 
places where several plants were killed in the winter of 1860-61, which seem to reveal to us the limit of its 
endurance of cold, especially when combined with wet. They are certainly both within its bounds, but 
perhaps not far from the dividing line. One of these places is the Cairnies, in Perthshire, the property of 
Mr George Patton, the Lord Advocate of Scotland (after whom Abies Pattoniana is named). It is sit¬ 
uated on one of the southern ranges of the Grampian Hills, at 600 feet above the level of the sea, and the 
soil where the plants grew was poor and shallow, with an impervious till for the subsoil. Mr Paterson, 
the gardener, writing in July 1863, says, “ Our Wellingtonias are all small ; some of them are in quite 
sheltered places; others are more exposed. Those most exposed suffered the most, other things being 
equal; some were only browned ; others were killed or hurt so much that they have never fairly re¬ 
covered. In the latter case, the soil was shallow, and the subsoil so hard, that the surface water could 
not sink away freely.” We here see that wet again was one of th e elements which contributed to the 
fatal result. The lowest temperature to which the plants at the Cairnies were subjected during the 
winter in which they were killed, was 4° below zero ; a degree of cold which, although no doubt great, 
was exceeded at various other places where the Wellingtonias were not hurt. 
The other place where plants were killed was Basing Park, Hampshire. With regard to it, Mr 
Duncan, writing in Lebruary 1863, says, “ The situation of Basing Park is a very elevated one, and forms 
a series of hills. The valleys between these are cold, and the currents of air are very destructive to trees, 
more so, I believe, than the frosts, unless indeed it be the late spring frosts. In one of such sites, I 
planted some six years since three specimens of Wellingtonia. They had grown to the height of nearly 
four feet, when they were killed in 1860-61. Larch, which had been planted twenty-five years, were also 
completely destroyed in these valleys.” We may, therefore, reasonably regard the fatal cases at Basing 
Park as exceptional. 
The degree of cold was not known at all the places included in Mr Palmer’s tables, but it was known 
at 105 out of the 122 reported on. At 60 of the 105 the greatest cold in the winter of 1860-61 did not fall 
below zero; at 45 of them it did, falling at Castle Newe, in Aberdeenshire, as low as 19° below zero; at 
Saffron Walden, in Essex, as low as 14° below zero ; and at Chatsworth, and more than one place in that 
part of England, as low as 12° below zero ; and reaching all the lesser degrees in various other parts of the 
country. In other words, there were rather more places reported on where the cold did not reach zero, 
than where it did, the proportion being as 4 to 3. 
Now, the Wellingtonias were uninjured at 51 places where the cold did not reach zero, as against 31 
where it did, giving a proportion of 5 to 3. The places where they were injured shew the influence of the 
cold even more strongly. Of those at which they were simply injured, but not seriously damaged, the 
proportion of places where the cold was above zero, and those where it was below zero, was nearly equal, 
being 8° above zero, to 7° below zero. But when we come to the instances in which the plants were much 
injured, the relative proportions are completely reversed. Then there is only one instance where the cold 
was not below zero. There were six cases of much injured, and at five of them the thermometer had 
reached respectively, 5°, 8°, 9°, 9°, and 11° below zero. In the two cases where the plants were killed, the 
cold in both was 4 below zero. 
The tree seems to suffer more from the adlion of winds, however, than from cold. In the various 
notices of its growth and progress, which have from time to time appeared in the “ Gardeners’ Chron¬ 
icle,” and other horticultural periodicals, we constantly meet with such remarks as the following:— 
“ Becomes brownish under spring winds, but recovers ; ” “ turns brown under severe winds ; ” “ gets 
browned in foliage from effect of wind, but recovers.” “ Loliage becomes brown under exposure to wind, 
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