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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

elevated. P. sylvestris , and some other species, will grow in bleak exposedsituations on lofty mountains; and P. Pinaster, and others belonging to thatsection of Pinus , will endure the sea breeze: but, in general, whereverthe ^bidtinm are to be exposed, they require to be planted together in masses,so as to shelter one another. None of the species, however, become orna-mental when so planted; because they necessarily lose their side branches,on the preservation of which, either wholly or partially, from the groundto the summit of the trees, their characteristic beauty almost entirelydepends.

Propagation. The only mode of propagating the pine and fir tribe on alarge scale is by seeds; but all the species will succeed by layers, by inarchingon closely allied kinds, and by herbaceous grafting; and many, if not all, mayalso be propagated by cuttings. That the Abietinae might be propagated bylayers and cuttings was known in the time of Evelyn, and was “ divulged”by him, “ as a considerable secret.” Cook, also, mentions these modes ofpropagating pines and firs in his Forest Trees, third edition, p. 117.; but theyhave never till lately been much in use. At present, in the HorticulturalSociety’s Garden, and in the Fulham and other nurseries, upwards of twentydifferent species of the Abietin® are propagated by cuttings with the mostperfect success; the plants, in most cases, becoming as handsome treesas if they had been raised from seed. The only exceptions to this resultare, where the plant becomes bushy, and does not throw up a very de-cided leading shoot; but this can always be obtained by pegging the branchesdown to the ground, and leaving the collar fully exposed; whence oneor more vigorous shoots will not fail to be produced, from which a leadermay be selected, and all the others kept pegged down for a year or twolonger, and afterwards cut away by degrees. We have no doubt that, by thismanner of treatment, a plant of the little stunted monstrosity of the sprucefir, called A'bies Clanbrasihaaa, might be restored to the natural form andmagnitude of the species.

By Cuttings . The species which strike by cuttings most readily are thosebelonging to the genera Plcea, A'bies, Zarix, and Cedrus . The cuttings maybe taken from the lateral branches, when the current year’s shoots arebeginning to ripen,and prepared like those of Cape heaths; they should thenbe planted in sand, and covered with a glass. This being generally done inAugust or September, the cuttings should be kept in a frame, from which :frost is excluded, throughout the winter; and the greater part of them willsend up shoots the following May or June, and may be transplanted the suc-ceeding autumn. In the London Horticultural Society’s Garden, whereMr. Gordon, the superintendant of the arboretum, is singularly successful iin this mode of propagating the pine and fir tribe, the cuttings are generallytaken off from the points of the lateral shoots in September; and, beingplanted in shallow pots of sand, they are placed in the shady part of aframe, without being covered by bell-glasses, till the following spring; whenthey are put into a very gentle moist heat, and begin growing in April.The kinds which Mr. Gordon has found to strike most easily are, A'biesSmithiana, A. Douglasit, A. Menziesii, Plcea Webb iana, and Cedrus Deoiara.After many trials, and a good deal of experience on the subject, Mr. T. M.Lindsay, gardener to the Earl of Caernarvon, at Highclere, saysh “ I have foundthe autumn the best time to put in the cuttings; and, though the early spring jwill answer the purpose, I have not found success so certain at that season. ■The sort of cuttings I prefer are the smallest I can select, from 2 in. to 3 in. !long: they should be of the current year’s growth, and taken off just as thewood is ripened, say about the beginning or end of October. The cuttingsshould be cut off close at the commencement of the season’s growth; or, ifstripped off, and then cut, so much the better. I have found silver, or puj ewhite, sand, with a small portion of peat bog or heath mould mixed with it,answer the purpose better than sand alone. With respect to bottom heat,

I have been successful both with and without it; and think that a little of it,