The Degeneracy of Scotch Fir 



There is something exceedingly pleasing in the prospect of a richly 

 wooded landscape. The eye rests with delight upon the scene. Spring, 

 summer, and autumn seem to vie with each other in clothing our 

 plantations with beauty ; while winter, the night of nature, cannot rob 

 them of their charms. Thus at all seasons they are not only pleasant 

 to look upon, but excite agreeable and elevating sentiments. 



To the man of taste and refinement, then, the cultivation of forest 

 trees must ever be an object of deep and lively interest ; but when we 

 add to this their paraniount importance as an essential element in the 

 vast fabric of industrial life, not to mention their usefulness and beauty 

 in the way of shelter and ornament, how vastly is their value enhanced 

 It is, therefore, a question of importance, and one that may well occupy 

 our best attention, what class of trees is most likely to meet the two- 

 fold requirements of ornamentation and utility ? While I hardly feel 

 sanguine enough that any remarks of mine will have much weight, or 

 be able to throw much light on this subject, still I believe that the 

 problem may ultimately be solved after years of patient and well- 

 directed observation, and the collecting of facts from a wide range of 

 experience ; and every one who adds the accumulated fruit of his 

 observations to the cairn of ascertained facts aids so far the solution 

 of the question. 



The degeneracy and diversity of our Scotch fir being a subject in 

 which I have taken a deep interest, and to which I have paid con- 

 siderable attention, I now desire to submit a short statement of my 

 experience, and the conclusions at which I have arrived respecting 

 some of the varieties, in the hope that it may stimulate others to record 

 their observations and experience in this important branch of arbori- 

 culture. The necessity of taking some step in this direction has been 

 forced on my mind by seeing the unprofitable, and in many cases un- 

 sightly, state of the Scotch fir plantations throughout the country. 



A circumstance came under my notice lately which convinced me 

 more than ever of the superiority of the true native over the spurious 

 Scotch fir, and the characteristics peculiar to both, as well as those of 

 a foreign origin. 



In thinning a plantation about thirty years old, v/here some of the 

 real old Braemar Scots fir had been allowed to remain from a former 

 crop, and from which seed had fallen and grown up, along with plants 



