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188 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
will attain the same dimensions that it does in America, but there are many trees
which are already 60 to 70 feet in height at less than fifty years from seed.
By far the finest that I have seen or heard of are at Fonthill Abbey, Wilts, the
residence of Lady Octavia Shaw-Stewart, which were raised in the late Duke of
Westminster's gardens at Eaton Hall from seeds collected for Lord Stalbridge in
1860. Here, on a bed of greensand at an elevation of 400 to 500 feet, well
sheltered from wind, are growing some of the finest and best grown conifers in
Great Britain. In a group of three Thuyas, the middle one measured in 1906, as
nearly as I could ascertain, not less than 90 and probably 95 feet in height by 10 feet
in girth, and already began to show the buttressed trunk which is so characteristic
in its native country. The other two trees were not much less in size, and all were
a picture of health and symmetry (Plate 57).
The next tallest that we know of is a tree at Albury Park, the Surrey seat of
the Duke of Northumberland. This was measured by Henry in 1904, and by myself
in 1905, but owing to the way in which it is shut in by other trees it is difficult to
measure accurately, and though the late Mr. Leach, the head gardener at Albury, and
Dr. Henry both considered it about 90 feet high, I should not like to say that it is over
80, with a girth of 7 feet 6 inches. It is, however, a very healthy and vigorous tree,
and growing fast, and the Duke's agent and gardener both hold a very high opinion of
the probable value of the tree for timber, and are planting it largely on the estate.
See Card. Chron. Jan. 30, 1892, where an account is given of the trees at Albury in
which Mr. Leach is quoted as saying: " If I had 1000 acres to plant with trees
that would give the most remunerative return in a given time, the above would
be my mainstay."
Sir Charles Strickland, one of the oldest and most experienced planters in
England, also has a high opinion of this tree, and is quoted as follows by Mr. A. D.
Webster in an article on this tree in Trans. Scottish Arb. Soc. vol. xii. p. 343 :
" There is a hillside here (Hildenley, Yorkshire), with a thin soil upon limestone rock,
which I planted two or three times over with very small success chiefly, I believe,
on account of the extreme dryness of the site. The Thuya grows there with great
vigour, and I have scarcely lost one of those planted. Among the other merits of
this Thuya is the ease with which it may be transplanted, owing to its having bushy,
fibrous roots, instead of the long tangles which larch and many other conifers have."
I saw this plantation in 1905, and though the situation is too dry for Thuya to grow
to any size, it bears out Sir Charles's good opinion. He has continued to raise the
tree largely from his own seed, and is planting them largely at 5 feet apart, without
mixture.
At Castlehill, North Devon, the seat of Earl Fortescue, there are also very fine
specimens of Thuya plicata. The best is growing in a quarry in a well-sheltered
place, but on dry, rocky ground. It measured in April 1905 about 74 feet high by
5 feet 11 inches in girth, and bids fair to become a noble tree.
At Fulmodestone, Norfolk, there are two trees, planted in 1863, which
measured in 1905, 67 feet by 7 feet, and 6t feet by 6 feet 8 inches, and have natural
seedlings around them.
Thuya 189
At Coolhurst, near Horsham, Mr. C. Scrace Dickens showed me a very fine
and symmetrical tree 75^ feet high by 5], in girth, and only 8 yards in the spread of
its branches.
At many places in the south-west of England trees of from 65 to 70 feet are
growing of which the following are the best we have measured ourselves : Linton
Park, Kent, 70 feet by 7 feet i inch in 1902; Dropmore, Bucks, 68 feet by 6 feet 10
inches in 1905 ; Killerton, Devonshire, 68 feet by 7 feet 10 inches in 1905 ; Bicton,
Devonshire, 70 feet by 8 feet 2 inches in 1902 ; Blackmoor, Hants, 60 feet by 6 feet.
In Wales a tree at Hafodunos measured 65 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 7 inches
in 1904, with natural seedlings a few feet from its base on the stump of an old tree;
at Welfield, near Builth, the seat of E. D. Thomas, Esq., a tree 68 feet high and
6J feet in girth was flourishing on the Llandilo slate formation ; and at Penrhyn
Castle Mr. Richards showed me a well-shaped and healthy young tree about 50 feet
high, one of fifty which had been transplanted when about 18 feet high, only one of
which died after being moved.
In Scotland Thuya plicata flourishes in the south and west, as well as in
England. At Inverary Castle a tree only 25 feet high in 1892 is now over 60. At
Poltalloch there are many, of which one in 1905 was 65 feet by 7 feet 2 inches. As
far north as Gordon Castle it grows well, and at most of the places from which
reports were sent to the Conifer conference in 1892 it is spoken of as healthy and
vigorous. At Murthly, Scone, and Castle Menzies, I have seen fine trees, but have
not measured any of remarkable size.
At Monreith, Dumfriesshire, the seat of Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., who
has a high opinion of this tree, a large number have been raised from seed and
planted out, but are as yet too young to measure.
At Benmore, near Dunoon in Argyllshire, the property of H. J. Younger, Esq.,
where there are very interesting plantations of several kinds of exotic conifers
made in the winter of 1878-79, Thuya, when mixed with the common larch and
Douglas fir on a steep hillside at 250 to 500 feet above sea-level, is now being
suppressed by these species, which grow more vigorously. However, in one part of
the plantation, near Ardbeg, at only 50 feet above sea-level and in fairly good soil,
the Thuya was holding its own fairly well with the Douglas, and had attained, at
twenty-four years old, 50 feet in height with clean stems varying from 25 to 38
inches in girth at 5 feet from the ground. Near Kilmun, on the same property,
there is now, according to the forester, about i^ acres of Thuya, which has been
planted mixed with larch. The larch has been cut out, and the whole area is now
pure Thuya, with clean stems larger in size than in the other parts of the plantations
where it occurs mixed with Douglas fir. 1
In Ireland the best trees we know of are at Castlewellan, co. Down, 65 feet in
1903; Hamwood, co. Meath, 71 feet by 6 feet 3 inches in 1904; Churchill, co.
Armagh, 68 feet by 5 feet 10 inches in 1904; Adare, co. Limerick, 71 feet by 7 feet
7 inches in 1903.
1 We are indebted to Mr. Angus Cameron, factor for the property, and to Mr. J. M. Stewart, forester, for further
particulars of these plantations, for which we cannot now find Space.