. A history of British forest-trees, indigenous and introduced. part of Britain, and it seems a speciesvery fastidious, both as to soil and situation. At Wo-burn there are some fine examples, also at Strathfieldsay,Claremont, &c. Amongst the species recently introduced the AbiesDouglasii promises to be worthy of an extended culti-vation, not only as an ornamental, but as a timber tree,since it exhibits a rapidity of growth and hardiness ofconstitution equal to the Common Spruce, and may beexpected, in this climate, to attain dimensions sufficientfor every useful purpose, though perhaps far inf
. A history of British forest-trees, indigenous and introduced. part of Britain, and it seems a speciesvery fastidious, both as to soil and situation. At Wo-burn there are some fine examples, also at Strathfieldsay,Claremont, &c. Amongst the species recently introduced the AbiesDouglasii promises to be worthy of an extended culti-vation, not only as an ornamental, but as a timber tree,since it exhibits a rapidity of growth and hardiness ofconstitution equal to the Common Spruce, and may beexpected, in this climate, to attain dimensions sufficientfor every useful purpose, though perhaps far inferior tothose enormous specimens seen by Douglas in the regionsof which it is a native. It was discovered, in 1797, inNootka Sound, by Menzies, who accompanied CaptainVancouver on his voyage round the world, and afterwards 468 CONIFEBJE. by Douglas, in 1825, who found it growing in immenseforests in north-west America, between 43° and 52° northlatitude. Within these limits trees of ten feet in diameter,and from one hundred to one hundred and eighty feet. high, were observed, and he mentions the stump of oneupon the river Columbia, which, exclusive of the bark, atthree feet from the ground, was of the enormous girth offorty feet. The same traveller speaks of the wood as beingfirm, heavy, with few knots, of a yellow colour, and not inthe least liable to warp. Our figure is from a fine thriving COMMON, OR NORWAY SPRUCE FIR. 469 young tree at Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire, the seat of SirWilliam Jardine, Bart., which was planted as a seedlingabout fourteen years ago. It is now twenty-five feet high,the diameter of the circle covered by the lower branchesfourteen feet. The girth of the stem at one foot fromthe ground is two feet nine inches. In one year thegrowth of the leading shoot measured as much as fourfeet, and the general average of its yearly shoot has beenabout two feet six inches. It is planted on a light andsomewhat gravelly loam, which also seems to suit thePinus cemhra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectforestsandforestry
