November  6.  1932. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
433 
abundant,  were  in  all  shades  from  green  to  a  primrose-yellow  ; 
the  Mountain  Ash,  deep  red.  Poplars  an  Italian-yellow,  and  all 
interspersed  with  the  ultra-marine  green  (a  shade  to  be  seen 
nowhere  but  in  the  Highlands)  of  the  young  plantations  of  Scot¬ 
tish  Pine.  Around  the  seat  of  the  chief  of  the  Mackintosh, 
the  scene  was  deeply  intensified  with  the  large  sheet  of  water 
Loch  Moy,  on  whose  banks  the  historic  residence  Moy  Hall 
stands.  The  Mountain  Ash  seem  as  the  altitude  increases  to 
also  increase  in  intensity  of  colour.  In  the  vicinity  of  Kingussie 
and  lvincraig  the  foliage  was  practically  scarlet.  For  several 
miles  on  either  side  of  the  summit  (which  is  1484ft)  trees  of  all 
kinds  disappear,  but  on  several  occasions  the  roots  cf-a  primeval 
forest  were  seen  exposed  in  the  railway  cuttings  through  the 
peat  moss.  These  appeared  to  have  been  either  cut  or  over¬ 
come  by  some  disaster  other  than  a  gale,  for  the  large  roots  sat 
in  their  original  position,  several  feet  below  the  present  surface. 
Were  they  denuded  by  the  influence  of  the  moving  icebergs  of 
the  ice  age?  The  grass  of  Ivillicrankie,  perhaps,  was  among  the 
finest  of  any  of  the  scenes,  for  its  grandeur  of  autumn ^foliage. 
Here  the  Oaks,  Beeches,  and  Birches  were  exceedingly  rich  in 
tints.  Oaks  and  Beeches  were  red,  a  tint  seldom  acquired  in 
lower  altitudes,  and  at  Pitlochry  the  Oak  coppice  were  almost 
scarlet,  while  the  Spanish  Chestnuts  in  the  Dunkeld  district  were 
of  a  deep  yellow  hue.  But  alas!  on  leaving  these  higher  altitudes 
and  coming  to  the  lower  grounds  between  Perth  and  Glasgow,  the 
general  effect  of  woodland  tints  were  dispiriting  and  gloomy. 
The  trees  were  shedding  their  garbs  in  an  apparent  half-ripened 
condition,  and  those  yet  struggling  for  existence  to  the  branches 
persisted  in  a  dirty  sickly  green  so  unlike  those  we  had  been 
accustomed  to  see  for  the  previous  ten  days. — D.  C. 
Natural  Reproduction  of  the  Scottish  Pine. 
In  a  recent  visit  to  the  Beauly  district  of  the  North  High¬ 
lands,  my  curiosity  was  very  much  attracted  by  a  plantation  of 
self-sown  Scot’s  Firs.  About  thirty  years  ago  this  piece  of  land 
was  a  heath  waste,  on  which  a  single  seedling  of  Fir  could  not 
be  seen,  and  now  it  is  mostly  covered  with  a  plantation  of  sin¬ 
gularly  vigorous  trees,  rather  above  the  average  height  and 
girth  for  that  age.  No  one  now  living  in  the  locality  ever 
remembers  of  hearing  of  the  place  being  at  any  time  before 
under  wood,  and  certainly  there  remains  no  signs  in  the  soil,  for 
several  feet  deep,  of  such  being  the  case.  “How  did  the  Pines 
get  there?”  was  the  question  I  asked  of  an  intelligent  man  of 
eighty-five  years  of  age.  “'  The  woods  at  either  end  of  the  plan¬ 
tation  are  too  far  away  for  the  seeds  to  blow  over  the  whole 
area,”  I  said  to  the  man.  “Well,”  said  he,  “as  late  as  thirty 
years  ago  the  Fir  wood  yonder  contained  a  rather  extensive 
rookery,  and  I  remember  how  the  rooks  used  to  flock  together 
in  large  numbers  on  this  moor.  At  the  time  all  the  people 
supposed  them  to  be  feeding  on  stolen  Potatoes  from  the 
crofters’  allotments,  but  they  probably  were  feeding  on  the  seeds 
of  the  Fir  cones  taken  hence  from  the  wood,  or,  if  not  feeding 
on  them,  perhaps  obeying  one  of  Nature’s  great  laws  in  helping 
to  plant  the  seeds  of  the  Pine.” 
“  But  allowing  that  either  or  both  of  these  ideas  are  correct,” 
.'•aid  I.  “how  can  you  account  for  the  regularity  in  which  they 
sowed  the  seed,  as  the  results  now  show?  ”  My  friend  explained 
this  by  saying  that  the  rooks  did  not  confine  themselves  to  one 
particular  spot,  but,  on  the  contrary,  were  to  be  seen  from  time 
to  time  all  over  the  heath.  Some  parts  of  this  heath  are  exposed 
to  the  droughts  of  a  summer’s  heat,  and,  though  the  soil  con¬ 
ditions  are  not  different,  yet  no  Pines  have  grown  at  all  on 
these  parts;  but  where  the  Heather  was  long  and  the  soil  in¬ 
clined  to  be  soddened,  the  trees  have  grown  with  the  vigour  of 
Osiers.  This  would  point  to  a  very  important  fact  in  the  arti¬ 
ficial  planting  of  Firs,  namely,  that  moisture  at  an  early  stage  of 
growth  is  not  an  undesirable  thing  for  the  successful  growth  of 
the  Pine.  The  altitude  of  this  self-sown  plantation  is  not  over 
250ft  above  sea  level,  and  the  exposure  is  to  the  north. 
I  observed  another  instance,  a  few  miles  distant  from  this 
one,  where  the  process  of  reproduction  has  been  keeping  pace 
with  the  axe  of  the  woodman.  The  wood  was  planted  after  the 
last  rebellion  by  the  “Confiscated  Estates  Commissioners;”  it 
would,  thereforej  be  well  over  100  years  old  thirty  years  ago, 
which  age  the  rising  forest  appeared  to  be.  Both  these  ca'ses 
have  given  rise  to  a  strong  presumption  in  my  mind  that  there 
is  very  probably  a  definite  period  in  the  age  of  the  Pine  when 
its  seeds  are  better  adapted  for  successful  reproduction  than  at 
any  other  time,,  at  least,  that  they  are  better  able  to  overcome 
the  hardships  attending  nature  sowing.  This  period,  I  fancy, 
exists  somewhere  between  the  ages  of  eighty  or  100  years. 
The  altitude  of  this  last  wood  is  not  over  200ft  above  sea  level. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  from  your  sylvicultural  readers 
what  is  the  highest,  altitude  at  the  present  day  that  natural 
reproduction  is  taking  place.  I  have  an  idea  that  our  land  has 
risen  considerably  since  this  process  was  universal  in  the  higher 
mountains  of  Scotland,  and  that,  therefore,  it  must  be  useless 
to  expect  Firs  to  grow  again  in  many  of  the  situations  they 
flourished  in  the  days  of  antiquity. — -C. 
Societies. 
Royal  Horticultural— Drill  Hall,  November  4. 
Orchids  and  winter-flowering  Begonias  were  prominent  at  Tues¬ 
day’s  meeting,  while  Messrs.  Bull  and  J.  Russell  had  nice 
grouplets  of  foliage  plants ;  evergreens  came  from  J.  Waterer  and 
.Sons  of  Bagshot;  and  Chrysanthemums  from  Wells  and  Co.,  and 
Mr.  Foster.  Apples,  too,  were  largely  shown  by  Mr.  Divers,  and 
the  Horticultural  College,  Swanley. 
Hardy  flowers  were  shown  by  Messrs.  Barr  and  Sons,  King 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  who  had  Crocuses  and  autumn  flowering 
Chrysanthemums  chiefly;  Messrs.  Peed  and  Son,  of  West  Nor¬ 
wood,  brought  Cattleyas  and  Cypripediums,  together  with 
Begonias  Moonlight  and  Gloire  de  Lorraine  var.,  Mrs.  L.  de 
Rothschild,  the  latter  light  pink,  the  former  pale  white.  Mr. 
John  Russell  of  Richmond  contributed  a  group  of  exotic  foliage 
plants,  all  of  them  exceedingly  well  grown.  F.  D.  Lambert,  Esq. 
(gardener,  Mr.  J.  Fulford),  Moor  Hall,  Cookbam,  contributed  a 
creditably  grown  group  of  Turnforcl  Hall  Begonia. 
Besides  a  group  of  Chrysanthemums  in  pots,  Messrs.  Wells 
and  Co.  staged  cut  blooms  of  Mrs.  T.  W.  Pockett  (a  whole  row 
of  it),  S.  T.  Wright,  the  new  “gun”;  W.  R.  Church,  Mine. 
Herrewege,  Matthew  Smith,  and  a  number  of  good  unnamed  seed¬ 
lings. 
Messrs.  Harrison  and  Sons,  Leicester,  had  an  exhibit  of 
Onions,  including  White  Spanish,  Harrison’s  Leicester  Keeping. 
Rousham  Park  Hero,  Nuneham  Park,  Banbury  Cross,  Bedford¬ 
shire  Champion,  Ailsa  Craig,  Excelsior,  and  Up-to-Date  amongst 
others.  The  bulbs  were  fine,  ripe,  and  of  medium  size,  suitable 
for  market  and  general  purposes. 
C.  B.  Gabriel,  Esq.,  Easdale,  Horsell,  Woking  (gardener,  Mr. 
C’alville),  staged,  in  very  good  form,  large  bouquets  of  Zonal 
Pelargonium  blooms.  Amongst  these  were  Mrs.  G.  Luizet,  The 
Sirdar,  Lady  C’urzon,  Mark  Twain,  Mrs.  Simpson,  Lord  Curzon, 
Mary  Pelton,  Herrick,  Mary  Beton,  and  Cerise,  as  the  most 
telling. 
Lady  Warwick  Hostel,  Reading,  sent  bottled  fruits. 
Messrs.  James  Veitcli  and  Sons,  Limited,  Chelsea,  presented  a 
gorgeous  display  of  winter  flowering  Begonias,  which  occupied  a 
table  running  almost  the  length  of  the  Hall.  Mrs.  Heale  was 
most  conspicuous.  Success,  Julius,  Ideala  were  also  noteworthy, 
the  table  being  edged  with  small  Maidenhair  Ferns  ;  while  Palms 
formed  a  good  background. 
Mr.  James  Hudson,  gardener  to  Leopold  de  Rothschild,  Esq., 
Gunnersbury  House,  arranged  a  few  vases  of  Cactus  Dahlias, 
which  were  undoubtedly  good  for  such  a  late  period. 
Mr.  H.  B.  May,  Dyson’s  Lane  Nursery,  Upper  Edmonton, 
contributed  a  seasonable  display  of  winter  flowering  Carnations, 
which  included  Elma,  America,  Snowflake,  Triumphans,  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  Resplendent,  all  of  them  tastefully  displayed  in 
masses  of  Ferns,  Palms,  Isclepis.  and  beautiful  plants  of  Ficus 
re  pens  variegata. 
From  Messrs.  W.  Bull  and  Sons,  King’s  Road,  Chelsea,  came  a 
choice  exhibit  of  stove  plants,  in  which  Aglaonema  costata, 
Nephthytis  picturata,  Dracsena  Victoria,  and  Ceropegia  Woodi 
were  most  conspicuous. 
A  creditable  exhibit  of  Japanese  Chrysanthemums  was  staged 
by  Mr.  P.  R.  Dunn,  Caisteal  Quath,  Brockley  Park,  Forest  Hill, 
all  tastefully  resting  in  a  groundwork  of  Asparagus  and  Carex. 
Some  of  the  best  flowers  were  Mrs.  Greenfield,  Miss  Hetty  Dean. 
W.  H.  Webb,  May  Neville,  Miss  E.  Fulton,  Mrs.  G.  Mileham, 
Geo.  Lawrence,  and  Master  C.  Seymour. 
Mr.  Robert  Foster,  Nunhead  Cemetery,  exhibited  a  large 
semicircular  group  of  Chrysanthemums,  beautifully  arranged 
with  Ferns  and  other  foliage.  The  exhibit  included  all  sections, 
the  Japanese,  Anemones,  and  pompons  being  most  conspicuous, 
while  a  few  cut  blooms  were  arranged  round  the  front  of  the 
group. 
Messrs.  John  Waterer  and  Sons  (Limited),  Bagshot,  Surrey, 
arranged  a  number  of  coniferous  plants  and  Hollies  on  the 
floor  in  the  centre  of  the  hall;  each  were  perfect  specimens, 
clean  and  bright.  The  Hollies  were  well  berried.  Some  of  the 
best  were  Sciadopitys  verticillsata,  Retinospora  pisifera  aurea, 
R.  obtusa  alba,  R.  plumosa  argentea,  and  Thuja  occidentals 
aurea. 
Messrs.  Sutton  and  Sons,  Reading,  exhibited  a  good  bundle 
of  Rhubarb,  “The  Sutton,”  of  good  colour,  grown  in  the  open 
air  without  protection. 
Amongst  those  showing  Orchids  were  Messrs.  Charlesworth 
and  Co.,  Heaton,  Bradford,  with  well  flowered  pieces  of  Sophro- 
Cattleya  Nydia.  Cattleya  Portia,  L.-c.  Ingrami,  L.-c.  La  France, 
Cattleya  Mrs.  J.  W.  Whiteley,  C.  Iris,  Cypripedium  insigne 
Sanderie,  &c.  Sir  Trevor  Lawrence.  Bart.,  staged  a  Cattleya 
labiata  spray,  with  four  huge  flowers,  and  received  a  cultural 
commendation.  _ 
Messrs.  James  Veitcli  and  Sons,  Limited,  staged  a  very  bright 
exhibit  of  Orchids,  including  Cattleya  Portia,  five  flowers  per 
sheath;  C.  Mrs.  J.  W.  Whiteley  (four  flowers);  C.  Ella;  L.-c. 
