380 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, March 3, 1857. 
years past one of tlie most popular ornamental trees in 
all parts of the world where known, and where the climate 
has been found suitable to its growth. Most of the English 
conservatories are furnished with one or more, in height 
varying from six to fifteen feet, growing in large pots or 
tubs. These in summer are sometimes removed to shrub¬ 
beries and lawns, and there, until winter approaches, when 
they must be returned to more congenial quarters, or perish 
from the effects of frost, they form one of the most in¬ 
teresting features. The Chilians and Peruvians are ex¬ 
ceedingly pleased to have at least one of these trees near the 
doors of their houses : they appear to hold them in some 
veneration, having, as they imagine, a striking resemblance 
to the cross. 
In the environs of our own Sydney the same Pine appears 
to be a great favourite, for there there is scarcely a cottage 
garden, even if only a few yards in extent, in which any 
tree at all is planted, where this will not in all probability, 
be the one. Our readers are all doubtless well enough 
acquainted with the Norfolk Island Pine to know it, at all 
events, by sight. A particularly fine specimen growing in 
our Botanic Gardens is the first, as well as it is the noblest 
and most elegant object, which attracts the attention and 
demands the admiration of strangers who visit that estab¬ 
lishment, and I presume that there is not one of us who 
cannot recognise the specimen alluded to ; and I would here 
remark that in their native island such elegant specimens 
as this, and others that could be named, are rarely met with. 
This arises from the greater facilities for freedom of growth 
afforded by cultivation under the management of gardeners, 
for Nature usually places two or more trees where there is 
only enough room for one to develope itself fully. On ap¬ 
proaching Norfolk Island the voyager is at once struck with 
the idea of a Pine island, for at first sight nothing but Pines 
can be seen. This feature arises from the great height to 
which the Pine grows in comparison with its arborial neigh¬ 
bours, being two or three times higher at the least, and 
consequently visible at a much greater distance. On a 
closer inspection this appearance wears off, and when the 
jungle is once entered it is no easy matter to find them ; for 
you can only search for the trunk, the denseness of the 
scrub preventing the seeker from seeing aloft. The largest 
trunks that I saw were near the summit of Mount Pitt, 
which forms the highest point, and is about the centre of 
the island, and measured from thirty to forty feet in circum¬ 
ference. The height of these could not be satisfactorily 
ascertained; for, at an elevation of from 120 to 200 feet from 
the earth, the tops had gone, reminding one forcibly of a 
passage from Horace, as rendered by one of our poets: — 
“ The tallest pine feels most the power 
Of wintry blasts ; the loftiest tower 
Comes heaviest to the ground ; 
The bolts that spare the mountain’s side, 
His cloud-capp’d eminence divide, 
And spread the ruin round.” 
Some of these topless trees must have been from 250 to 
300 feet high had they not met with some violent hurricane, 
which had snapped them across a little above the level of 
the surrounding scrub, and probably at little more than half 
their original height. A very remarkable feature in the 
Norfolk Island Pine is the singularly inconstant position in 
which the whorls or rows of branches are placed, some 
trees at twenty-five years of age having less than half the 
number of whorls that are to be found upon others of 
similar age, although of the like stature. This curious cir¬ 
cumstance I cannot account for, but the fact is of frequent 
occurrence, and causes such a difference in appearance that 
the observer is at first inclined to doubt whether they are of 
the same species. Many instances of this irregularity are to 
be met with in specimens growing in the gardens about Sydney. 
The most remarkable that I have met with may be seen in 
Mr. Josephson’s garden at Newtown. This tree, with a 
number of others, was planted by that gentleman upwards 
of twenty years back, and although it keeps place in stature 
with the others, yet it has never formed more than one whorl 
in two years, while its neighbours produce one, and some¬ 
times two, in a year. The consequence is that the whorls 
of branches in this tree are separated from each other to 
twice, thrice, or even, in some cases, four times the distance 
that they are in the others. 
It is rather curious that this Pine has been placed in the 
Linnrean class Dioecia, while in fact it should have been 
placed in Monoscia. This mistake occurs in our standard 
catalogues, and I do not know that the error has ever before 
been pointed out. 
The uses to which the timber has usually been applied 
may be briefly summed up. They are sawn timber, in the 
shape of flooring boards, joists, rafters, battens ; in fact, 
everything connected with the woodwork of houses, in¬ 
cluding shingles for roofing, and it is the only wood on the 
island fitted for these purposes. It is also the principal 
timber used for furniture, fencing, boat building, spars for 
shipping, &c., but not of the best quality for the last; in 
fact, without this Pine, Norfolk Island might be said to be 
destitute of timber fit for any useful purposes. There are, 
indeed, some other woods used for ornamental and a few 
useful purposes, but these are of little importance com¬ 
pared with this, the only species of the Pine family found 
on the island. 
I have dwelt so long upon this Eutassa that I must 
defer until another opportunity what more I have to say 
about the botany of Norfolk Island. 
EXPERIMENTS ON THE GROWTH OF PLANTS 
IN THE PURE EARTHS, AND ALSO WITH 
STIMULANTS AND MANURE, MADE IN THE 
YEARS 1843—44. 
By W. H. Pepys, F.R.S., E.H.S. 
I The Earths . 751 White Sand. 
emp oye weie | Carbonate of Lime . 10 J Whitening. 
100 
The pots in which the experiments were made were green 
wine-bottles, cutting off their bottoms and reversing them 
on a stand for that purpose. 
" The Bottle-Pot (a Wine Bottle 
with the bottom ground off). 
— Space of the Pure Earths. 
--■ Glass Crocks. 
Filter and Receiver. 
.. Stand. 
April 26th, 1843.— The first experiment consisted in 
mixing the earths in the proportions described, and having 
placed some broken green glass as crocks in the glass pots, 
they were nearly filled with the mixed earths. Three yellow 
Lupine seeds, each weighing two grains six-tenths, were 
then planted about half an inch deep therein, and watered 
with three ounces five drachms of distilled water, and exposed 
to the atmosphere. They were watered every day until the 
29th of May, with from half an ounce to an ounce of dis¬ 
tilled water; and on that day one of the seeds broke ground, 
only the cotyledon making its appearance; the watering 
was continued, and on the 5th of June a small plume 
appeared, but very weak, which increased but very slowly'. 
On the 10th of July the plant had six leaf-stalks, of six 
leaves each; and on the 1st of August, the plant being 
