Sargent says is also the case in America), the young plant must be kept under glass for the first two or three winters in order to develop a straight leader.
Many of the old trees which are to be found in England have evidently suffered from spring and autumn frosts when young, and have become stunted in consequence, but when the wood is ripe the tree will stand as much as 30° to 40° of frost, and I have seen it existing in the open air as far north as Copenhagen.
It should be planted in deep, moist loam, and the most sheltered situation that can be found, and may then be expected in the south and south-west to grow into a very fine and ornamental tree.
Remarkable Trees
The trees at Syon have been frequently described and figured. They are planted in damp soil by the side of a sheet of water, and one of them has produced knees of 1 to 2 feet high. This tree, which is shown in Plate 54, measured, in
1903, 90 feet by 12, but there is a much taller one on the other side of the water, which, when we saw it last in 1905, was no feet high, and is the tallest we know of in Europe. Another in the Duke's walk is 85 feet by 10 feet 3 inches.
But those at Whitton, near Hounslow, are even more remarkable, and are believed to have been planted by the Duke of Argyll between 1720 and 1762. They grow on gravelly soil, which, though apparently dry, is probably underlaid by damp alluvium. There are five trees standing in a group, of which the largest, carefully measured by us both in 1905, was 98 to 100 feet high by 13 feet 6 inches in girth; the others are all large, healthy, and growing trees (Plate 55).
At Pain's Hill, Surrey, there are two good trees: one,[1] measured by Henry in 1904, is 90 feet by 10 feet 9 inches, the other is 80 feet by 8 feet 6 inches.
At Parkside Gardens, Wimbledon, a tree is growing which is remarkably like the Ginkgo at Kew in habit. The bole at 7 feet divides into two stems, which give off seven or eight ascending branches. In 1904, measured by Henry, it was 65 feet by 11 feet 2 inches.
At Gothic Lodge, Wimbledon, the residence of Sir William Preece, there is a tree with a fine bole of 20 feet, dividing into several upright stems. In 1904, measured by Henry, it was 90 feet by 11 feet. This is perhaps the tree mentioned by Miller,[2] who says that a "tree at Wimbledon in the garden of Sir A. Janssen, Bart., bore cones for some years past and seeds which have been as good as those brought from America."
At White Knights, Reading, there are several trees, but none of large size, the biggest measuring, in 1904, 67 feet by 7 feet 10 inches. They are remarkable, however, for variety of habit. One is a tall, narrow tree with upright branches, almost fastigiate. In another tree the stem is twisted, as often occurs in the chestnut, and most of the branches are twisted also in the direction against the sun. Loudon mentions these as young trees of peculiar habits.
