180 ON THE EFFECTS C»F THE SEVERE FROST AND 



and 100 feet in height, growing hixuriantly at an altitude of 

 450 feet on a strong hazel loam soil, with a poor yellowish 

 sandy subsoil, and Mr Speid reports its wood as "hard" and 

 " heavy." 



Several other instances and details of growth of the A. 

 Canadensis might not be inappropriate to a paper devoted to 

 the progress of its close congener, A. Alhcrtiana, but we shall 

 only cite one or two l)y way of illustration of the adaptabihty of 

 the hemlock spruces generally to the climate of Scotland. At 

 Keir, Stirlingshire, there are two fine specimens, measuring 50 

 feet in height, and 6 feet 7 inches at 1 foot from the ground, and 

 5 feet 8 inches at 6 feet from the ground. At Dunkeld, in the 

 Duke of Athole's woods, near the Hermitage Bridge, there is 

 probaljly the tallest specimen of A. Canadensis in Scotland. 

 Measured in August 1879, it was then 80 feet in height, and 

 girthed 9 feet 10 inches at 5 feet from the ground. It grows in 

 a light loamy soil, on a damp gravelly bottom, and forms a very 

 picturesque and Ijeautiful tree, its foliage being so distinct in 

 colour and outline, amid the dark evergreen spruces and Scots 

 firs of its neighbourhood. The wood of this spruce is said to be 

 Ijrittle and soft, and of small value in its native habitat m Canada, 

 but its bark is invalual)le for tanning purposes, and is said to 

 contain a larger percentage of "tannin" than even the best oak 

 or larch bark of any country. 



ON THE EFFECTS OF THE SEVERE FROST AND WINTER 

 OF 1878-79 ON TREES AND SHRUBS. 



By Robert Hutchison of Carlowrie. 

 [Premium — Tlie Medium Gold Medal.] 



The effects upon trees and shrubs of the frost of the memor- 

 able winter and spring of 1860-61, and particularly upon 

 the more recently-introduced denizens of other countries, have 

 already been recorded in the " Transactions " of this Society, and 

 it is fitting and proper that the effects of another season of 

 almost unprecedented severity, and so closely resembling in its 

 results that of 1860-61 should not be allowed to fade from 

 memory unchronicled in the annals of the Society. In many 

 respects the winter and spring of 1878-79, in Scotland, were 

 similar to those of 1860-61 ; — the severity of the frost in its 

 intensity differed only in degree, in many places the temperature 

 of the latter-mentioned season having been considerably lower, 

 over a more generally diffused area, than was the case last year. 



