years, yet if kept moist and shaded in a mixture of sand and leaf-mould they may be planted out at five to six years old, with every hope of success.
So far as my experience goes, trees grown from cuttings are not so satisfactory, and there is no excuse for this practice except the saving of trouble, as seedlings are raised in quantity at a very low cost from home-grown seed in Scotland, as I have seen in the nursery at Murthly Castle.
Remarkable Trees
Among so many fine trees of this species, all of about the same age, it is hard to choose, but perhaps the largest! which we have measured is at Hafodunos, in Denbighshire, which in 1904 was found by Henry to be 94 feet 6 inches by 8 feet 5 inches, and this tree has also produced self-sown seedlings.
At Dropmore there is a very beautiful tree of the spreading type (Plate 68), about 70 feet by 6 feet. At Hemsted, in Kent, I was shown by Lord Cranbrook, in 1905, a tree which is perhaps as tall as any in England, but which, growing in a hole and surrounded by other trees, it was not possible to measure accurately. It is, however, about 90 feet by 4 feet 11 inches, well shaped and growing fast.
At Penllergare, near Swansea, the seat of Sir J.T.D. Llewellyn, Bt., are several fine trees growing in a sheltered valley, which were planted about fifty years ago in company with Tsuga canadensis. They are now from 70 to 80 feet high, whilst the best of the eastern hemlock is only 50 feet, and the difference in habit of the two trees is very well shown.
A very large tree, reported’ to be 110 feet high, is growing at Singleton Abbey, near Swansea, the residence of Lord Swansea, but I have been unable as yet to get confirmation of the height stated. At Castlehill, N. Devon, are several fine trees, the best of which, on a steep bank above a waterfall, where it is somewhat drawn up by beeches, is 90 feet by 6 feet 7 inches. At Carclew, Cornwall, is a fine tree, which in 1902 was 8o feet by 6 feet 3 inches, and in 1905, 82 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, both measurements taken by myself.
At Barton, Suffolk, a young and very thriving tree, shut in by tall beeches and conifers, in 1905 was 80 feet by 4 feet 3 inches, a remarkable instance of height as compared with girth.
In Scotland the tree flourishes exceedingly, and has been planted in many places. Perhaps the tallest is one at Castle Menzies, which in 1904 I made about go feet by 7 feet 8 inches, though the gardener thinks it is taller; but one of the most beautiful for its shape, graceful habit, and situation, grows by a deep shady burn on the road from Dunkeld to Murthly Castle, and is about 70 feet by 5 feet (Plate 69), and there are many other fine trees in the grounds there. A tree at Riccarton, near Edinburgh, planted in 1855, measured in 1905, 73 feet by 7 feet 1 inch. A very large tree, measuring in 1907, 10 feet in girth, is reported by Major P. J. Waldron, to be growing at Hallyburton, Coupar-Angus, the seat of Mr. W. Graham Menzies.
1 This tree was in 1868, 284 feet high by 2 feet 3 inches in girth at the base. In 1883 it measured 65 feet by 4 feet 11 inches at 3 feet from the ground (Gard. Chron. 1868, p. 657, and 1885, xxiii. 179). According to the owner, Colonel Sandbach, it was planted probably in 1856.
2 Gard. Chron. xxxvii. 130 (1905).
