piceous in colour, with a slight glaucous bluish bloom. Seeds [fig. 9], six or seven under each scale;
small, flat, with a narrow wing surrounding the body of the seed; germinal leaves, two.
This species grows to the size of a large tree (there is no doubt about that), but the exact extent
of its dimensions is more questionable. Gordon says, "Trees from 10 to 15 feet or more in girth are
common, and one at a place called Urcho, in the Kothee State, north of Simla, is said to be 6 or 7 feet
in diameter." He adds, " Major Madden says the Limestone Mountains of Nynee Tal are covered
with clumps of the most stately trees, the height of many of them at least 150 feet, and all as straight
as an arrow, with the branches drooping slightly towards the ground, and so arranged as to make the
tree a perfect cone; the largest specimen measured by him being 161 feet in girth at 5 feet from the
ground, and the spread of its branches 24 feet on each side; but about 12 feet is the average girth of the
finer specimens at Nynee Tal, where the tree is commonly called ' Raisulla,' or King Pine."
We have been unable to meet with the passage from which Mr Gordon has extracted this statement
by Major Madden ; but the description is so unlike that of Cupressus torulosa, that we cannot help thinking
that some mistake has crept in. Trees " 150 feet in height, all as straight as an arrow," obviously alluding
to the trunk or single stem of the tree, " with the branches drooping slightly to the ground, and so arranged
as to make the tree a perfect cone," certainly correspond much better with " the Black Fir," or Picea
Pindrow, than with the Cypress; and Major Madden, in his " Observations on Himmalayan Conifers "
(reprinted in Journ. Hort. Soc., v. p. 228), says, when speaking of Pimts excelsa, that that Pine is
common in Kumaon (Nynee Tal is the most southern mountain in Kumaon, indeed, speaking
generally, the most southern mountain of the Himmalayan range, and is strictly Lower Kumaon), "under
the Kusiya name of Raisulla and the Bhotiyah Lumshing, identical with those given by Loudon,
Lavishing and Raisulla, the former being the Leem of Koonawur; and Raisulla (applied in Lower
Kumaon to the Black Fir and Cypress) denoting ' King of Pines,' &c., and may possibly have led to the
specific name excelsa." If we take Mr Gordon's quotation, then, according to the letter, the stately trees of
the size specified found on the Nynee Tal were trees of Cupressus torulosa; but,if we take it according
to the spirit, then it may be that Major Madden was speaking of the size of the trees generally,
not of the Raisulla trees in particular in that district. As we see that both Picea Phulrow and Cupressus
torulosa bear the name Raisulla there, it is possible that there may be some confusion between Major
Maddens description and Mr Gordon's extract.
It is more, however, to the facies of the tree, "straight as an arrow, with slightly drooping branches
and a perfect cone," than to its size, that our doubt applies. It is certainly found along with Picea
Pindrow, and by all accounts (we have not many) reaches a great size. Dr Jameson, in his " Physical
Aspect of the Punjaub" (Hort. Soc. Journ., viii. p. 312), says of Cupressus torulosa, called, according to
him, Surroo by the natives, " At Nynee Tal, trees of Surroo of vast dimensions occur, the largest girthing
upwards of 24 feet, and rising to the height of 80 feet." But our confidence in this, again, is immediately
shaken by Dr Jameson saying in the same sentence, " Near Simla, in the neighbourhood of the temple, it
is met with and styled Deodar. The Deodar, therefore, known to the natives of Simla, is the Cupressus
torulosa, and not the Deodar, it being styled by them, as already noticed, the Keloo." Upon some packages
of seeds of Cupressus torulosa, sent to the Royal Horticultural Society by the Countess Canning,
there was a similar remark as to the confusion at Simla between the Deodar and this Cypress, both of
which occur there.
Dr Hooker suggests that Cupressus torulosa may be the wild state of the common Cypress, C.
sempervirens. That it may be originally derived from it we do not doubt; but it appears to us to have
acquired sufficient individuality to be entitled to be reckoned a distinct species.
Geographical Distribution.—Dr Hooker states that this is a rare plant in the Himmalayas, and is,
moreover, apparently confined to the Western Himmalayas. It may perhaps be hereafter found in the
eastern part of this range; but it has not yet been so, although Loudon and others have designated it the
" Bhotan Cypress." It is found in the province of Gurwal, and there it is in the eastern part of the
province;
province; and Dr Jameson says it is abundant there, as well as near Kunnoor and at Surin or
Surroo Tota, the place taking its name from the tree. There it occurs in the very bed of the river
Dowli, the largest and longest branch of the Ganges, which takes its rise from a snow bed at the
summit of the Neetee Pass, where it is so small that it was stepped across by Dr Jameson and
his party in June. Dr Royle found it at 11,500 feet above the sea, also in Koonawar, on the borders
of Chinese Tartary. Hitherto it has only been found in inaccessible situations in the Himmalayas,
from whence its timber could not be transported to the plains.
History.—First discovered and collected by Hamilton in his journey through Nepaul in 1802 and
1803, and described by Don from his specimens in 1825. Since then it remained little known until
seeds were sent under the impulse given to the introduction of Himmalayan Conifers by the large importations
by H.M. Commissioners of Woods and Forests, about 1852. It was, however, previously introduced
by Dr Wallich in 1824, and a fresh supply of seeds sent in 1836, and from time to time consignments
have reached this country; so that there are trees to be met with of various ages in England, the
most of them, however, being young, the older ones having been very generally killed off by severe winters.
Properties and Uses.—From the inaccessible character of its native localities, little can be said of its
uses from a practical or commercial point of view. Dr Jameson [op. cit.) says that it is admirably adapted
for building material, its wood being very hard, close-grained, tough, long-fibred, and of a dark-red colour;
and he thinks that there is good reason to expect it to be as durable as the common Cypress (1Cupressus
sempervirens). This may probably be so, although not necessarily, for we can point to many closely
allied species displaying much difference in the quality of their timber. Neither does it follow that its
possession of the properties he enumerates makes it a good building tree. There is something peculiar
in the timber of all the Cypresses, which, while fitting it especially for one purpose, makes it less adapted
to others. The long fibre and stringiness of the wood, while they add to its tenacity and toughness, at
the same time take from its workableness. It will be better, before forming an opinion as to the value of
the timber, to wait until it has been fairly tried.
Culture.—This is one of those unsatisfactory species which we can never be sure of in England.
It may thrive for twenty years, when some severe winter comes and cuts it off.
Mr Palmer's tables of the worst effects of the winter of 1860-61 give the following unsatisfactory
results, viz.:—In England, of 52 specimens, 34 were killed, 9 much injured, 2 slightly injured, and
only 7 uninjured; in Scotland, of 11 specimens, 7 were killed, 1 much injured, 1 injured, and 2
uninjured; while in Ireland, of 3 specimens, 2 were injured, and the third escaped. In other
words, only 15 out of 66, or, adding the varieties which are separately reported on, 15 out of 73,
or about 1 -5th, escaped tolerably uninjured. We see that Ireland escaped, probably in consequence
of the greater mildness of its climate. Of those in England and Scotland which escaped, their impunity
would seem to be, to a certain extent, due to some modification of climate, occasioned by the influence
of the sea. To begin with, the chief number of the uninjured or slightly injured are in the Southern
counties. Then not a single instance of escape occurs in the Midland counties ; but a few escapes or half
escapes shew themselves in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and in Scotland even as far north as Caithness.
The reader knows that Mr Palmer's tables speak only of " the worst effects," and consequently that his
results do not mean that in all the Midland counties no Cupressus torulosa escaped; but only that there
was not a single garden reported on in all that district in which there was not one dead.
The gardens in the counties of Cornwall, Gloucester, Hereford, Denbigh, Oxford, Bedford, Hertford,
Cambridge, Huntingdon, Norfolk, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Chester, Westmoreland,
Linlithgow, Stirling, Perth, Forfar, and Inverness, all make one report, "Worst effect, killed." In other
counties its fate in some of the gardens reported on was various, Hants, Surrey, Berks, Bedford, Lancaster,
and York, having, in addition to gardens where it was killed, others where it was more or less injured
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