PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
' d '' 0 
22 
growth is retarded in the following year, its energies being employed in making up the loss which its 
stamina sustained, instead of adding to its size. 
Diseases. — Soon after its introduction, complaints were frequent of its being subject to various 
diseases : one very common one was its shoots becoming sickly, and dying off, as is often the case with 
Cryptomeria Japonica, and D aery chum. This was due principally, if not entirely, to the plants being 
over-coddled, kept under glass when they should have been in the open air, and retained in pots when 
they should have been planted out in the open ground. And although occasional sickly shoots do still 
now and then appear, the general complaint has ceased since the plants have become more common, and 
less attention is bestowed upon them. 
Pot-cramping must be peculiarly prejudicial to such a plant as this. The larger a tree is to be, the 
more space and freedom for its roots should be given ; and we know that, if the roots of a plant once 
acquire the spiral conglomeration which is the result of being packed in too small a pot, it is almost 
impossible to get them out of the set. There is a congeries of roots coiled up, which directs the line 
of growth of future roots, and the plant never thrives. It is impossible to speak too strongly of the evil 
done to forest trees by pot-cramping. One has often to submit to it, and the only alleviation (it is not 
always a remedy) is to see that the roots are carefully uncoiled, and spread out and laid down in a proper 
position, and so rammed or wadded into the right attitude, that they will not by-and-by gradually recoil back 
into their old posture. To quote the words of an intelligent practical horticulturist, Mr William Bax¬ 
ter, the gardener of Sir W. Gibson-Craig of Riccarton: “In purchasing plants in pots in nurseries, 
it invariably happens that the roots are much matted : to plant them in this state I have found to be 
an injudicious step ; rather than this, shake every particle of soil from the roots, and spread them 
regularly out when planting. This causes the roots to spread wide, and consequently enables the trees 
to withstand a high wind. It is also a good practice to place a few rather heavy stones round the 
necks of the plants, which does away with staking.” There is a tree growing in the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Garden at Chiswick, which well illustrates the advantage of this treatment. It arrived in 
a pot, and on being taken out of it, its roots were found to be thoroughly pot-cramped. The present 
intelligent superintendent of the Society’s Chiswick Garden, Mr Barron, carefully uncoiled and spread 
out every one of the roots, much to the surprise of some of his men, who predicted that it would not 
survive such rough treatment: for it may reasonably be supposed that there is no uncoiling of a con¬ 
glomerated mass of intertwined roots without some damage being done to them. The result, however, 
has justified his procedure. For two or three years it made little progress, but at last it started. Last 
year (1866) it grew 3 feet, and this year it promises to do as much. It was planted in 1861, and is already 
between 9 and 10 feet in height, and is as fine and handsome a well-proportioned plant as any one could 
wish to see; not unlike fig. 38 (page 24), which is a very characteristic representation of a well-grown 
seedling. 
Another disease which we saw at first, but which we have not noticed for some years, was a thicken¬ 
ing of some of the branches at the base of the year’s shoots, enlarging it and the neighbouring branches 
into an unsightly, swollen, diseased-looking mass. We never ascertained the true history of this complaint. 
At first we were inclined to refer it to an insect; and even yet that still strikes us as the most plausible 
explanation ; but on examination of the place we failed to detect any insect, either outside or inside the 
diseased part. The complaint, too, seemed to extend generally over all the Wellingtonias in the same 
district. It did not last long, however, and had no permanent bad effed upon the trees. 
This has of late years been the favourite tree seleded to be planted as a memorial by the Queen, and 
those whom the nation delights to honour. It has been so seleded, of course, from the feeling that its 
great size and long life will make it a prominent and enduring monument; and equally, of course, it has 
been chiefly in the neighbourhood of great cities that these memorial trees have been planted, these 
being the places where memorials are desired. Two young Wellingtonias were planted in 1861, the one 
by 
