Trees: A Woodland Notebook: Containing Observations on Certain British and Exotic TreesMaxwell, Herbert, Sir
Science
Trees: A Woodland Notebook: Containing Observations on Certain British and Exotic Trees
Maxwell, Herbert, Sir
Trees
Tenderly as we should regard the juniper as a legacy from a bygone age,
reminiscent of a scenery now no more, it has no qualities to recommend
it for planting where it does not naturally grow, but the cypress group
to which it belongs contains many foreign species which are capable of
being turned to great advantage by British foresters. Although this
group has been classified by botanists under a number of distinct
genera, whereof the nomenclature has been repeatedly changed in a manner
perplexing to ordinary persons, one valuable quality distinguishes all
of them, namely, the durability of the timber they produce. It is
recorded that the doors of the original basilica of St. Peter at Rome,
erected in the fourth century, were of Mediterranean cypress (_C.
sempervirens_), and that they were perfectly sound when that building
was destroyed to make way for the present church in the sixteenth
century.
It is not possible to trace to its source the association of this tree
with human mortality. That it was so associated in Pagan civilisation
may be seen from Horace's pathetic poem:
Neque harum quas colis arborum
Te præter invisas cupressus
Ulla brevem dominum sequetur.[25]
The Mediterranean cypress is only hardy in the mildest parts of the
United Kingdom, and is therefore not suitable for general planting;[26]
but it has many relatives worthy of earnest attention from our
foresters. About forty years ago the late Mr. Peter Lawson, of the
Goldenacre Nurseries, Edinburgh, told me he expected that the American
_Thuja lobbi_ (as it was then called) was destined to surpass all other
conifers for British planting. The name of this tree has been repeatedly
changed; perhaps it is most commonly known as _Thuja gigantea_; but the
Kew authorities have decreed of late that its right name is _T.
plicata_. In British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, where it is of
more commercial importance than any other tree, except the Douglas fir,
it is known as Red Cedar; which does not help much towards
identification, as it is quite distinct from any true cedar. In its
native forests it soars to a stature of 200 feet; and, although not
brought to this country until 1853, has already reached a height of 100
feet in some places. The most striking example known to me of its
behaviour under forest treatment in this country is at Benmore, on the
Holy Loch, where about 2,000 acres were planted in successive seasons,
1871-78, and consist now chiefly of this Thuja and Douglas Fir. It is a
tree most easily raised from seed, which it produces freely in this
country, and it is most easily handled in the nursery. About twelve
years ago I raised about 70,000 from 15s. worth of seed; but the bulk
of these, having been planted on low-lying, damp ground, succumbed to
severe spring frost; while the remainder, planted on higher dry ground,
now average 20 feet high. Of the timber, Professor Sargent, the leading
authority on North American forestry, reports: "The wood is very
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