[Illustration: _AVENUE OF ANCIENT YEWS AT MURTHLY._]
The following account of a great Conifer garden in Scotland is important, as showing how certain of the better-known species have behaved during the last fifty years or so. It is taken from the _Garden_ of May 19, 1900:--
The second quarter of the present century saw the introduction of a large number of Conifers hitherto unknown to English gardens. Their cultivation was eagerly taken up, and especially in Scotland, a land whose general conditions seem highly favourable to a considerable number of species, much success has been attained. It may still be premature to state with any degree of assurance what may be the ultimate suitability of many of these Conifers for growth in our islands. The lifetime of a tree is not comprised within its first sixty years, and such a length of time is all too short to prove the ultimate success of any new tree, though within that space it may come to a magnificent size and apparent promise. Such a state is shown by the splendid Douglas Firs in the grounds of Murthly Castle, Perthshire, where also many another exotic Conifer is grown in quantity.
These words of Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, that formed part of his opening address on the second day of the Conifer conference of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1891, may here be quoted:--
"Any one who had not travelled in Scotland could form no idea of the extent to which rare Conifers were cultivated in that country, and the splendid development which they attained. The chairman, by way of illustrating these remarks, directed the attention of the audience to some large photographs representing specimens of Coniferæ to be seen at Murthly Castle, Perthshire, where they flourished, and where stately and magnificent examples 70 feet, 80 feet, and 100 feet high were to be met with. Such trees could only be seen in Scotland, and were the result of a peculiar association of physical conditions. In the south-west of England it was impossible to find a parallel, though even on the sunburnt soil of Kew good specimens of the Pines proper were occasionally to be seen. With regard to the Abies, however--that section of Conifers of which the Spruces may be taken as a type--a state of things prevailed in Scotland which could not be rivalled in England. On the other hand, the climate in the south-west of the latter country was fairly suitable for some other Conifers, and many of the fine Mexican Pines could be grown there."