November 1?, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
181 
•' Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER. F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , NOVEMBER 17th, 1900. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Wednesday, November 21st.—Birkenhead; Woolton Chrys¬ 
anthemum Shows. 
Thursday, November 22nd.—Dundee (3 days); Norfolk and 
Norwich (3 days). 
Friday, November 23rd.—Cumberland ; Aberdeen (2 days). 
eitch’s Manual of the Coniferae.* 
—The new edition of this work forms 
a compendious volume of some 562 pages, 
including a bibliography and three indexes, 
the first of which deals with miscellaneous 
subjects, the second, merely the generic and 
specific names, and the third, the vernacular 
and common names. For purposes of re¬ 
ference there can be no doubt but that an 
index is of the utmost importance whether 
divided into several subjects as in this in¬ 
stance or dealt with alphabetically as a 
whole. The amount of information about 
Conifers, collected and here recorded, is very 
great and should appeal to all lovers of this 
important order, as well as to lovers of trees 
in general, planters, gardeners, and others 
interestedin the “ stately homes of England” 
with their “ tall ancestral trees.” Around 
some of them clings a great deal of history, 
particularly the native species, amongst 
which the Yew takes the first place'on 
account of its longevity, and association with 
the varied history of the British Islands. 
The Fortingal Yew in Perthshire is reputed 
to be the oldest in this country, and though 
now only a mere shell, has a girth of 56ft. 
near the ground. Next to this come the 
Fountains Abbey Yews in Yorkshire, origin¬ 
ally seven but in 1891 reduced to three still 
standing. The species is computed to live 
1,100 to 1,250 years. It is believed to have 
been associated with religion prior to* the 
introduction of Christianity, and most of the 
oldest trees still standing are associated with 
churches. In 1215, the Ankerwyke Yew 
near Staines, witnessed the signing of Magna 
Charta. John, Earl of Loudon, signed the 
Act of Union between England and Scot¬ 
land under the Loudon Yew in Ayrshire. 
Victories on many an ancient battlefield 
were chiefly won by means of the longbow, 
which was made of Yew. All that is his¬ 
tory apart from gardening, but its associa¬ 
tion with the latter commenced early in the 
sixteenth century. Evelyn claims to have 
been the first to introduce the art or practice 
of clipping Yews into artificial shapes. The 
great popularity of clipped Yews about the 
end of the seventeenth century and the 
eighteenth century is computed to be ac¬ 
counted for to some extent by the paucity of 
native gvergreen trees and shrubs, which 
could be counted on the fingers. The in¬ 
troduction of evergreen exotics, however, 
gave a much greater variety of natural form, 
so that the quaint conceits in Yew, Box and 
Juniper rapidly fell into disuse. The history 
of some of the more remarkable varieties of 
Yew is also given, including Taxus baccata 
♦Veitch’s Manual of the Coniferae, containing 
a General Review of the Order; a Synopsis of the 
Species cultivated in Great Britain; their Botanical 
History, Economic Properties, Place and Use in 
Arboriculture, &c., &c. A New and Greatly En¬ 
larged Edition by Adolphus H. Kent. James Veitch 
& Sons, Ltd., Royal Exotic Nursery, 544, King's 
Road, Chelsea, S.W. 1900. All Rights Reserved. 
fastigiata (the Irish or Florence Court Yew) 
and T.b. adpressa. 
To the student of geographical botany it 
is interesting to know that the common 
Juniper practically extends round the globe 
in the northern hemisphere, and reminds us 
of the cosmopolitan distribution of Conifers 
now only found in the fossil condition. The 
variety Juniperus communis fastigiata bears 
the same relation to the type as the Irish 
Yew does to the English Yew, but no history 
of it is here recorded, though in Gordon’s 
Pinetum it is recorded as being a native of 
Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Russia. 
In the same book J.c. hibernica or the Irish 
Juniper is recorded as a distinct variety 
found on the mountains in Ireland. In 
“ Veitch’s Manual of the Coniferae,” how¬ 
ever, the two forms or supposed forms are 
included under the name J.c. fastigiata. 
Some of the varieties of the common Juniper 
are well suited for planting on the higher 
and drier slopes of the rockery on account 
of their slow growth, dwarf habit and suit¬ 
ability for the position. The Red Cedar 
(Juniperus virginiana) is also a variable 
species and some of the forms like those of 
the common one furnish distinct features or 
effects in landscape planting. 
The most recent addition to the many 
handsomeformsof Cupressus,namely,C.ari- 
zonica, is here recorded, and we hope it will 
not belie its promise of being hardy in this 
country. Its columnar habit and beautiful 
light green, glaucous hue will make it a 
favourite with planters in the near future, 
provided it continues to withstand our cli¬ 
mate. Though only discovered on the 
mountains of Arizona in 1880, it was intro¬ 
duced to this country in 1882, and some of 
the specimens we have seen are 5ft. to 6ft. 
high. C. lawsoniana is the most variable 
of all the species of Cypress, as every gar¬ 
dener knows ; but although a large number 
of them are here recorded, the tendency of 
the author is to restrict or reduce the num¬ 
ber of forms or names which we find in 
nurseries. For instance, C.l. Allumi and 
C.l. Fraseri are considered to be synony¬ 
mous. They are certainly closely similar 
in their glaucous hue, but most nurserymen 
and their cultivators with whom we come 
in contact stoutly maintain that they differ 
in form or habit. Both have very short 
branches, but those of C.l. Allumi are more 
erect than those of C.l. Fraseri, which are 
short and spreading. Here also we find 
such names as Chamaecyparis, Retinospora, 
and Thujopsis borealis have been merged in 
Cupressus- In like manner Thujopsis 
dolobrata, T. Standishi, apd T. laetevirens 
have all been placed under Thuia, the last 
named being made a variety of Thuia dolo¬ 
brata. For this genus it is certainly curious 
if not remarkable to note the diversity of 
opinion as to how it should be spelt. Our 
early recollection of it was Thuja ; then 
Thuya was the rendering, here again dis¬ 
placed by Thuia, in which Thujopsis and 
Biota have been merged. It is to be hoped 
we shall soon settle down to the opinion that 
we have discovered the proper spelling at 
last as well as the correct generic name for 
the many species now ranged under Cupressus 
and Thuia. The history of the latter in 
brief is that Linnaeus adopted or adapted 
his Thuja from Tournefort’s Thuya, which 
by general consent is derived from the Greek 
Tbua or Thuia, of Theophrastus, who applied 
the name to a tree or shrub that cannot now 
be identified, though it is supposed to be 
the North African Cypress, Callitris quad- 
rivalvis (Endl) Tetraclinis articulata (Mast.) 
Gardeners and planters would do well to 
make a note of this. 
The well known Retinospora plumosa 
and R. squarrosa with the colour varieties 
of the former are classed under Cupressus 
pisifera,as formsofit. Branches of squarrosa 
have proved that it is only the juvenile 
stage of C. pisifera, that is, the seedling, 
form, as gardeners would say. Both C. 
pisifera and C. obtusa are largely used by 
the Japanese for clipping and starving into 
certain artificial forms now getting pretty 
well known in this country. Some illustra¬ 
tions of them have been introduced in this 
work; and though they remind us of the 
topiary work as practiced in this country, 
they differ materially in being grown in 
very small pots and other vessels by which 
they are starved and dwarfed to diminutive 
size in proportion to their age. No doubt 
these miniature Conifers are destined to 
make their presence felt in conservatories 
and greenhouses of this country for a time 
at least, owing to the importations and 
sales of them, conducted in London, and 
possibly elsewhere, by pushing Japanese 
firms. The author has been so thorough 
in his work as to include C. thurifera (which 
is hardy on the shores of the Mediterranean, 
but not in this country) so as to complete 
his monograph of the genus. There can be 
no doubt that an exhaustive treatment of 
the subject in hand greatly adds to the 
value of a book, because rare or uncommon 
things crop up now and again to trouble the 
reader or enquirer, who thus has the 
necessary information ready to hand. 
Here we learn that Retinospora ericoides, 
of gardens, is only the juvenile form or 
jugendform (German) of Cupressus thyoides, 
a pretty though rather neglected species in 
this country. The quaint form Retinospora 
leptoclada has also been proved to be a state 
of Cupressus thyoides, a species which 
inhabits the swamps of North America 
from Maine southward to northern Florida. 
This fact should be noted by planters in 
this country, as it thrives best and longest 
in constantly moist situations, though the 
tallest trees we have seen of it were growing 
upon an elevated chalk plateau. 
All the species of Cryptomeria are re¬ 
duced to forms of C. japonica including the 
distinct looking C. elegans, which becomes 
C. j. elegans, following the lead of Dr. 
Masters in the Journal of the Linnean Society. 
Many species of various Conifers seldom or 
never seen outside hothouses in Britain, 
except perhaps in summer are carefully 
described, and much information of a useful 
character here recorded. A large number of 
illustrations showing the botanical characters 
as well as full sized trees or shrubs are used 
through the work making it a manual for 
reference that cannot fail to be of value to 
all classes of readers. Paper, type and print¬ 
ing leave nothing to be desired. 
- « *- 
Snowdrops have been flowering for the past fort¬ 
night on the rockery at Kew. 
Examination in Horticulture.—The Royal 
Horticultural Society will hold its next examination 
in horticulture on Wednesday, April 24th, 1901. For 
syllabus apply to the Secretary, R.H.S., 117, Vic¬ 
toria Street, S.W., enclosing a stamp. 
Mr. J. W. McHattie is gardener to Whitaker 
Wright, Esq., Lea Park, Milford, Surrey, not to W. 
H. Stone, Esq., as stated in last issue, page 168, 
third column. He is busily engaged at present 
making new gardens and pleasure grounds, &c., that 
being the reason why we have missed him from the 
annual Chrysanthemum competitions this autumn. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The next fruit 
and flower show of the Royal Horticultural Society 
will be held on Tuesday, November 20th, in the 
Drill Hall, James Street, Westminster, 1 to 4 p.m 
A lecture on •' Mistakes in Fruit Culture " will be 
given by Mr. Geo. Bunyard, V.M.H., at 3 o'clock. 
The following dates have been fixed provisionally 
for meetings in 1901:—January 15th, 29th ; February 
12th, 26th; March 12th, 26th; April gth, 23rd; 
May 7th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th (Temple) ; June 4th, 18th ; 
July 2nd, 16th (Conference on Lilies), 30th ; August 
13th, 27th; September 10th, 24th ; October 10th, 
nth, 12th (Crystal Palace), 15th, 29th; November 
12th, 26th; December 17th. 
