Though in this country the tree has proved fairly hardy in most localities, it is certainly more susceptible to frost in spring and autumn, especially when young, than Wellingtonia, and cannot be looked on as a really hardy tree except in well- drained soils, and in situations where it is well sheltered from dry frosty winds. All the really fine specimens I have seen are in unusually favourable places, and I should not recommend the tree for planting largely except in the south-west and west of England and Scotland, though in Ireland it seems to be more generally flourishing.
It does not dislike lime in the soil, and though the top is always killed back in hard winters, grows fast even at Colesborne, a tree planted on the site of the old house here about 1855, being now no less than 11 feet in girth though only about 55 feet high. Another planted later on thin dry soil is only about 35 feet by 4 feet.
Its long feathering branches, which droop to the ground and sometimes take root, make it a very ornamental tree, but as a timber tree its value remains doubtful. Whilst young it is very liable to be barked at the ground by mice, which have destroyed more than half of those which I have planted, and Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer tells me that squirrels’ attack the bark at Kew.
Specimens of its timber grown in England are very inferior to the imported wood, on account of the rapid increase in girth which the tree makes unless crowded ; and the only places I have seen where it seemed at all likely to be profitable are at Whitfield and Penllergare, though in Ireland there may be better hopes of its economic value, in favourable situations.
The following opinions, taken from the reports? published by the Conifer Conference, express very well the condition of this tree in twenty selected places :—
| England | |
| Pampisford, Cambridge | Often injured by frost. |
| Golden Grove, Caermarthen | Leader sometimes frosted. |
| Scorrier, Cornwall | Requires shelter from wind. |
| Tortworth, Gloucester | In a shady place. |
| Linton, Kent. | Lost 3 feet of top last winter. |
| Howick, Northumberland | Not thriving well. |
| Scotland | |
| Inveraray, Argyllshire | Often loses its leader. |
| Whittinghame, East Lothian | Vigorous ; well sheltered. |
| Fordell, Fife | Very fine specimens. |
| Murthly, Perth | Fine in damp places. |
| Scone, Perth | In fine health; grows well. |
| The Cairnies, Perth | Doing well in shelter. |
| Castle Leod, Ross | Fine specimen. |
1 Squirrels are fond of making their nests out of the bark, but do no injury to trees, which have attained a considerable size. Cf. Gard. Chron. 1866, p. 413.
2 Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. pp. 483 seg. (1892). Cf. also Gard. Chron. 1866, p. 1043, where an abstract is given of Mr. Palmer’s statistics of the effects of the severe winter of 1860–1861 on this tree, planted in 113 different places in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
