Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/79

Rh residence of Miss Phillimore, there are deodars coning profusely at present, probably on account of the hot summer of 1906. At White Knights Park, Reading, there is a seedling now about 8 feet in height, and supposed to be 16 years old, which germinated on a vine border, the seed having come from a tree which measures 75 feet in height and 10 feet in girth.

In India the cones are often much damaged by the larvee of a Pyralid moth which eats out the seeds, and the saplings are attacked by the well-known fungus Trametes radiciperda, which spreads underground through the roots from tree to tree. The leaves are also attacked by Uredinous fungi, especially by Accdium cedri, Barclay, which forms small yellow spots and causes them to fall. ’

As regards the comparative hardiness to severe winter frosts of the three cedars we have valuable evidence’ collected by Mr. Palmer in 1860-61. Reports were received from no less than 211 places in England, Scotland, and Ireland. “The winter of 1860-61 was the most severe that has happened since its intro- duction. It was a winter such as had scarcely any parallel for severity in the memory of man, and unless some general change of climate should take place, it may be looked upon as exceedingly improbable that any cold of greater intensity should again visit us. The effect of that winter upon the deodar may therefore be taken as a safe guide in judging of its suitableness for our climate; what the effect was we are, as already mentioned, enabled, through the kindness of Mr. Palmer, to state with accuracy.

Mr. Palmer's record of observations shows that the deodar is by no means so hardy a tree as the larch, and also that it is the least hardy of any of the cedars. There is no instance of any of the larches reported to him having been injured by the cold of 1860; while out of the deodars growing at 211 places in Great Britain and Ireland, plants were killed at 55, and were uninjured only at 80, having been more or less injured at the remaining 76, a percentage of frailty much greater than we should have anticipated. The Cedar of Lebanon and the Cedrus atlantica proved more hardy, and about equal between themselves. The following summary will show the actual results of Mr. Palmer’s report on all three :—

It may be interesting to notice in what proportion the three different parts of the kingdom suffered. It was as follows :—

1 Published in Ravenscroft, Prve/, Brit. iii. 242 (1884).