2446
ARBORETUM AN» FRUTICETUM.
FART III.
late, rmi':h pointed, rigid, flat, quite entire, 2306
somewlut scabrous on the margin. Malecatkins terminal, fascicled, cylindrical,scarcely 1 in. long. Cones about the sizeof a walnut, sessile, drooping, globose,smooth. Scales ovate-acuminate, cori-aceous, sharply denticulated on the mar-gin. ( Lamb .) This remarkable tree is anative of China, and was introduced in1804, by Mr. Wm. Kerr, by direction ofthe Honourable Court of Directors ofthe East India Company. It was firstsupposed to belong to the genus Pinus,and was called Pinus lanceolata, from itssharp lanceolate leaves; but, on morecareful examination, it was made a sepa-rate genus by Mr. Salisbury, in the Lin-ntsan Transactions, under the name of Belis, from belos, a javelin; from theleaves somewhat resembling in form the head of that weapon. The name ofPellis having been already applied to the daisy, that of Belis was considered tobear too strong a resemblance to it, and accordingly it was afterwards changedby Mr. Brown to Cunninghamia; by which name it was first described byM. Richard, in his Memoires sur les Coniferes. For many years after it wasfirst introduced, it was kept in the green-house; but, in 1816,aplant was turnedout into a sheltered part of the pleasure-ground at Claremont, where it hascontinued to live without protection; and, though injured more or less by severewinters, it was, in 1837, 18 ft.high, the diameter of the trunk7 in., ami of the head 16 ft. Atree at White Knights, which hadstood without the slightest protec-tion for upwards of 10 years, was,in 1837, upwards of 25 ft. high,and formed a most beautiful ob-ject. A tree at Dropmore, plantedin the open ground in 1822, was,in 1837, 17 ft. high. It was mat-ted up every winter for severalyears after it was planted out;but, since 1828, it has receivedno protection whatever, and isnow a very fine tree. This spe-cies is very readily propagatedby cuttings; and there are some trees at Dropmore, raised in this manner,which have thrown up erect stems from the collar, which will doubtlessform as handsome trees as seedlings. The practice of pegging down thebranches of plants of Coniferae raised from cuttings, with a view to the pro-duction of erect stems, appears to have been first exemplified in this species,and by Mr. Stewart Murray, the curator of the Glasgow Botanic Garden, whohas given the following account of it in the Gardener’s Magazine: —“ In theGlasgow Botanic Garden, in 1825, were two plants, 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, struckfrom cuttings several years previously, the tops of which, though the treeswere in very luxuriant health, still retained the appearance of a branch, which,even when tied up to a stake, always seemed as if endeavouring to regain itshorizontid position. During the winter of 1825,” continues Mr. Murray, “ Iloosened the top of one from its stake, and fastened it down quite in a hori-zontal direction; in about six weeks afterwards, a very vigorous shoot made itsappearance from below the surface of the earth in the pot. When this shoothad attained the height of 8 in or 9 in., I cut away the old top entirely, and at
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