Remarkable Trees
Thuya occidentalis never attains to a considerable size when planted in this country. There is a specimen at White Knights, near Reading, of great age, which is now dying at the top. According to the gardener there it has not made any growth for the last thirty-five years. It measured in 1904, 41 feet in height by 4 feet in girth. At Stratton Strawless, Norfolk, there is also a specimen of considerable age, remarkable for the pendulous habit of the branches, which is 35 feet in height. There are more large specimens at Belton Park than at any other place I know in England, the largest I have measured being 41 feet by 3 feet 9 inches. Henry, however, in 1904 measured one at Arley Castle as tall, which divides into three stems near the ground, where it measures 7 feet 6 inches in girth. At Auchendrane, Ayrshire, Renwick measured a tree in 1902—which, according to a specimen procured by him in 1906, was Thuya occidentalis—as 42 feet high by 6 feet 8 inches in girth, with a bole of 12 feet.
It seems to be one of the best conifers for making shelter hedges in gardens, as it stands clipping well, and for this purpose may be relied on to attain 15 to 20 feet in height in any fair soil. As it grows slowly at first when raised from seed, it is usually propagated by cuttings.(H.J.E.)
