106 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 15, 1860. 
Certificate was awarded. In another of our pages to-day are his 
notes on its culture. 
Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Co., of Wellington Road, sent a 
collection of pretty little finely-bloomed greenhouse plants. 
TENDERNESS AND HARDINESS OF VARIOUS 
CONIFERS AT YORK. 
As there can be no doubt that the winter just past has been a 
season of severe trial to the whole tribe of Conifer®, and that 
there is a very general desire to know the extent of its ravages in 
order to learn a useful lesson for future guidance, I am induced 
to send to The Cottage Gardener the little that I can say 
upon the subject; in doing which I shall not confine myself 
entirely to the last winter’s doings, but state my own experience 
for the last ten years. I wish to say that in some cases it is 
highly probable that I failed for want of knowledge. I certainly 
should not plant some kinds now in situations where I planted 
them in 1850. I thought that when certain kinds were said (in 
the catalogues) to be “perfectly hardy,” it vras meant that they 
were so in any situation however exposed; but I know better 
now, and I shall be very glad if my limited experience should be 
of use to any one who is in the same state of ignorance that I was 
in ten years ago. 
I shall divide the list of the Conifer® that have been planted 
here into three classes : First, those that have been entirely lost 
by frost or exposure ; secondly, those that are disfigured more or 1 
less by being partly killed, or the foliage injured by frost, &c.; 
and lastly, those that have been found perfectly hardy in the sense 
that I originally understood the words. 
Andfirst, we have lost Pirns insignis , P. halepensis,P. Llaveana, 
P. Gerardiana, Cupressus torulosa, C. Lambertiana, C. macro- 
carpa. Of these, I would observe that. P. insignis appears to be j 
too tender for the climate here. We have had three fine trees , 
planted in well-sheltered places, and they have all been entirely \ 
killed by frost. The one killed this winter had not a particle of 
life in it in January. P. Gerardiana is said to be hardy : I can ; 
only say that it has not proved so here. The Cupressi were all 
killed to the very roots by frost, though in tolerably sheltered j 
situations, and when they had attained the height of seven to 
eight feet each at least. 
The second class is much more extensive and important; and 
I approach it with great diffidence, as I am aware that many will 
differ from what I have to say about it. We have now growing 
here, more or less injured by frost or exposure, the following :—• 
Finns excelsa, P. strobus, P. cenibra, P. cembra var. Helvetica, 
Abies Morinda, A. rubra, A. Canadensis, A. Douglasii, Picea 
Pindrow, P. Webbiana, Taxodium sempervirens, Cryptomeria 
Japonica, Cupressus funebris, Cedrus deodar a, and Araucaria 
imbricata. I will tell the state of each at this date (May 1) as 
briefly as I can. 
_ The first four are planted in fully exposed places. P. excelsa, 
nine feet in height, is completely brown in its foliage and is very 
unsightly. The other three have not suffered so much, but none 
of them grow well: they are cut more or less on the north side, 
showing that shelter is wanted.* Abies Morinda, rubra, Cana¬ 
densis, and Douglasii are much in the same way : all have lost 
more or less of their foliage, though not so much exposed as the 
others. Picea Pindrow and Webbiana are very uncertain, and it 
is a great pity, for they are beautiful trees. If they are not 
well sheltered the foliage is sure to be destroyed, if not the trees 
also; and if they are well sheltered, as ours are, they push so 
early in spring as to be caught by late frosts, and they are very 
tender indeed when they have begun to grow. Perhaps when 
they attain a large size they do better—ours are not more than 
three feet. The Taxodium and Cryptomeria (eight feet high) 
are killed down eighteen inches at least, and most of the branches 
are killed at the ends for a foot or more ; they are brown besides 
where they are not dead and are very shabby now. Cedrus 
deodara has lost its foliage nearly all over it, though not much 
of the wood is dead. Araucaria imbricata (where fully exposed) 
is brown, but I think will recover. Its appearance, however, is 
spoiled for the present; but those that are well sheltered are 
looking well. None of these kinds can safely be planted, 1 think, 
on an exposed lawn, or as specimens in exposed places, without 
disappointment. The same amount of shelter will not be required 
* Pinus excelsa, ten feet high, at an elevation of 300 feetaliove the sea’s 
level, at Winchester, fully exposed to all winds, on a chalk subsoil and 
light moderately fertile surface soil, is quite uninjured— Eds. C, G.j 
by all of them j but it will be found necessary on the north and 
east sides, in the northern part of the kingdom at least. 
The following, which we have, are, I think, “perfectly hardy:” 
— Pinus sylvestris, P. Austriaca, P. Laricio, P. Calabrica, 
P. Taurica, P. Pyrenaica, P. Hamiltoniana, P. Beardsleyi, P. Jef- 
freyii, P. Mugho, P. ponderosa, P. pumilis, P. rigida, Abies 
excelsa, A. alba, A. nigra, A. orientalis, A. Menziesii, A. Whit- 
manii, A. Sibirica, Picea balsamica, P. Fraserii, P. nobilis, 
P.pectinata, P. Pinsapo, P Nordmanniana, Cedrus Libani, C. ar- 
gentea, Cephalotaxus Fortun'd, Cupressus Tourneforlii, Thuja 
Americana, T. orientalis, T. Tartarica, T. Sibirica, and T. aurea, 
Juniperus Chinensis, J. excelsa, and Weltinqionia gigantea. 
These have all stood last winter uninjured as far as I can see. 
Some of them are sheltered a little, but are exposed on all sides 
but the north. I need not say much about them. Picea nobilis 
and P. Nordmanniana are now the best for colour decidedly. 
The Wellingtonias .are brown by exposure, hut not killed at all. 
One is three feet high, and was sheltered artificially by driving a 
circle of stakes at eighteen inches from the ends of the branches, 
and winding them with the withered stems of Dahlias and Holly¬ 
hocks. We have five that are less, and they are thoroughly 
exposed on the south, east, and west sides, and not much pro¬ 
tected on the north, yet they have stood quite as well as the 
protected one. I believe I am right in saying that the Welling- 
tonia is really hardy in the proper sense of the word. 
We have also Pinus Penthamiana, P. Monspeliesnis, P. mon- 
ticola, and P. palustris, Abies Cilicia, Picea laciocarpa, Sax- 
gotlia conspicua, Libocedrus Chinensis, and Thuja glauca; but they 
are small, and as we have not had any of them more than one year, 
I shall pass them over by obssrviug that they are all alive. 
I know that what I have said is of little use to a practical man, 
he knows it all, and more than I can tell him ; but there are 
many amateurs like myself, and let us say, sub rosa, some gar¬ 
deners, too, that have been planting with but indifferent results ; 
and the Conifer® are, in general, expensive. To such I would give 
two or three hints that may be useful. I believe that Pines are 
generally too large when planted. Six to nine inches high I 
think the best size for the hardy sorts. They will make far finer 
trees, and in seven years will generally outstrip the three or four- 
feet specimens purchased at more than double the price; besides, 
I have found the smaller ones far more certain to grow, and that 
is something. 
The most expensive kinds are generally in pots. In that case, 
it is of the greatest importance that the roots be spread out with 
as little injury as possible, in the same position they would have 
been in if grown in the open ground without having been in a pot 
at all. The result of inattention to this will probably be, that the 
trees will, if exposed to the wind, be blown down for want of 
sufficient roots before they reach six feet in height; and, lastly, 
I would advise every one to plant none of the kinds until he has 
seen them growing well in some situation similar to the place 
where he intends to plant them himself; and, allow me to say, 
that this trite and homely advice is, perhaps, the best that can be 
given on the subject. I have said nothing about soil, &c.; but a 
good deep loam, on a dry, sound bottom, will suit most of them, 
and for some varieties it is indispensable if they are to do well. 
I have now to apologise for the length of this communication, 
but it is a favourite subject with me, and I shall be glad if some 
others more qualified than myself will give an account of the 
state of their Coniferous trees now, in order that we may know 
what kinds to plant in future, and what to avoid.—W. P. 
Ruddock, Cemetery, York. 
TRADE LISTS RECEIVED. 
A List of Soft-ivooded, Bedding, and other Plants, by F. G. 
Henderson 4' Son, Wellington Road, St. John’s Wood. —This is 
one of those bulky catalogues of Messrs. Henderson, which claim 
to be classed more among books than trade catalogues. It cou- 
! tains all that is new and all that is old worth growing, with full 
and in some instances lengthened descriptions of the articles 
enumerated. In glancing over it we find a statement which 
may lead some readers astray witli regard to Allamanda vio- 
laeea, which is stated to have been discovered by Dr. Gardner, 
in Ceyion. If we mistake not, Dr. Gardner discovered this 
plant in the Brazils, some years before he went to Ceylon. It is 
not often we find our friends napping, and we feel assured they 
will thank us for a gentle “ nudge ” when we do. Among the Gera¬ 
niums is a very particular account of Mr. Beaton’s new varieties, 
Carmine Nosegay, Nosegay Stella, and Silver-variegated Nosegay. 
