234 ARBOR VITZE. 
ARBORETUM. 
to be planted at the distance of only a yard from | prove to be perfectly hardy.—Loudon’s Encye. of 
plant to plant, and afterwards thinned and man- ! Plants.—Miller’s Gardeners Dictionary.—Marshall 
aged according to their several hardiness and 
growth. The first arbor vita introduced to 
Europe was planted in the royal grounds at 
Fountainbleau in the reign of Francis I. In 
1780, an arbor vite at Bargoly in Galloway, mea- 
sured 5 feet 4 inches in girth; and at a meeting 
of the Prussian Horticultural Society in 1830, a 
paper was read giving an account of an arbor 
vitze at Heidelberg 212 years of age. 
A well-established variety of the American 
arbor vitee is denser or more ramified and com- 
pact than the normal tree, and has the botanical 
name of densa, and the popular one of close- 
branched. Another variety, if indeed it be not 
the same as the preceding, was discovered by Mr. 
Hanbury, and called by him the American sweet- 
scented arbor vite. He says respecting it, “It 
came up from some scattered seeds at the bottom 
of a box I had from Pennsylvania. It has the 
same dusky look in winter as the common sort, 
_ though it is better furnished with branches; 
neither are they produced so horizontally, or 
_ hang down in the manner of the common sort. 
| What makes this sort most valuable is the pro- 
| perty of its leaves; for being bruised, they emit 
_ a most refreshing odour, which is by many sup- 
posed to be as fine aromatic as any we have.” 
The Chinese arbor vite, Thuja orientalis, is a 
native of China, and was introduced to Great 
Britain in 1752. It is much more beautiful than 
the American species, and has, in a very great 
degree, superseded it as an ornamental plant. Its 
branches are more numerous, grow in a more 
_ erect manner, and are more picturesquely grouped, 
| and they have a smooth and light brown bark ; 
_ andits leaves are smaller and more numerous, and 
have a pleasant, light green colour. Fougeroux 
| regarded this species as the Thuja of Theophrastus. 
The jointed arbor vite, Thuja articulata,is a native 
of Barbary, grows 15 feet high, and was introduced 
to Great Britain in 1815; the African arbor vite, 
_ Thuja cupressordes, is a native of the Cape of Good 
Hope, grows to the height of 10 feet, end was in- 
troduced to Great Britain in 1799; but both of 
these species are tender, and require to be culti- 
| vated, the latter in the greenhouse, and the former 
in the frame. Three other species or varieties 
have recently been introduced,—the plaited arbor 
vite, Zhuja plicata, from Nootka Sound; the 
weeping arbor vite, Thuja pendula, from Tar- 
tary ; and Lucas’s arbor vite, Thaja Caroliniana, 
from Carolina. But several unintroduced Chinese 
| and Japanese species and varieties which have 
_ recently become known to botanists, are said to 
possess great beauty, and would be fine acces- 
sions to our woods, shrubberies, and parks. Thuja 
dolabrata, in particular, is described by Koempfer 
and Thunberg, who saw it in its native soil, as a 
| vast, lofty, and beautiful tree, the fairest of all 
the evergreens ; and it grows in such latitudes as 
| indicate that, if brought to Britain, it would 
on Planting—WNicol’s Planters Calendar.—Gil- 
pin’s Forest Scenery.—Dictionnaire d Histoire Na- 
turelle. Paris 1819. Tom. xxxiv. 
ARBORETUM. A systematic garden collec- 
tion of ligneous plants, or of trees and shrubs. 
Specimens of about 2,500 species of trees and 
shrubs, exclusive of roses, are requisite for the 
formation of a complete Arboretum Britannicum 
or collection of all the kinds which are at present 
growing in Great Britain. Such a collection 
may be so disposed, on the principles of landscape 
gardening, as to produce anumerous and elaborate 
series of most imposing and picturesque groupings; 
but it undoubtedly better serves the purposes 
of science and utility, when tastefully arranged 
on the principles of systematic botany; and, in 
either case, but especially in the latter, it minis- 
ters largely to the knowledge and enjoyment of 
all persons who have access to it, contributes 
valuable information to the farmer, the gardener, 
the forester, the nurseryman, the young botanist, 
and the general student, and makes visitors feel 
as if wandering in other climes, conversing with 
other nations, and looking in succession upon the 
woody wildernesses of America, the icy table- 
lands of Tartary, the savannahs of the Missouri, 
the eternal snows of the Himalaya, and the un- 
trodden forests of Patagonia. Scotland and IJre- 
land are dismally poor in arboretums; and even 
England is far from being rich. Two of the best 
in our country are one at Derby and one in the 
grounds of the London Horticultural society ; 
and several very good and comparatively exten- 
Sive ones exist in connexion with nurseries, par- 
ticularly in the vicinity of London. 
“The Derby arboretum,” says Mr. Loudon, “is 
situate in the outskirts of the town; the extent 
about 11 acres; the form long, narrow, and irre- 
gular; the surface is flat, apparently level, but 
with avery gentle inclination from the north- 
east to the south-west; and the soil is loamy, on | 
a gravelly or loamy subsoil. The situation is 
open, but not much exposed to high winds; water 
is to be found at the usual depth to which wells 
are dug, and there is one small pond which 
is never dry at any period of the year. Every 
part of the ground admits of drainage; but all 
the drains must terminate at the south-east 
corner, where alone the water can escape. The 
soil is particularly well adapted for the growth 
of trees, as is evident from the belt which sur- 
rounds great part of the grounds, and which was 
planted some years ago by Mr. Strutt. The most 
important feature in this piece of ground, with 
reference to its adaptation for a garden of recrea- 
tion, is, that there is no distant prospect, or view 
beyond the grounds, worthy of being taken into 
consideration in laying them out ; or at least none 
that may not, in a very few years, be shut out by 
the buildings of the town, which are increasing 
fast on every side. The instructions given to me 
a 
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