| 1900-1901.) Natural Forests and the Growth of Cones. 159 
| top of the season’s growth, singly, or in two’s or three’s ; some- 
times more. The female cones require three summers to come 
| to maturity, growing to about the size of peas the first year, 
to their full size the second year, and in the third the scales 
become dry and open out to allow the now ripened seeds to 
escape, the cones at the same time dropping off. 
Cones seem to be plentiful all round this year (1900), and 
some trees are densely covered with them, in two’s and three’s 
‘and half-dozens, and frequently in large clusters, though none 
‘that have as yet come under my observation are equal to some 
‘that I saw in the fir woods of “The Mearns” nearly fifty 
| years ago. They would contain fifty or sixty or more 
cones each, arranged in a dense spike nearly the whole length 
of the season’s growth. Since then I have seen nothing to 
| equal them, but this year the abundance of cones, and the 
prevalence of good-sized clusters or spikes, containing from 
ten to thirty or more cones each, form rather a remarkable 
feature, and seem worthy of being taken notice of by the 
naturalist. On the tree from which the specimens now 
exhibited were taken there were eight or ten good - sized 
| clusters, and some larger ones are to be seen, but, being on 
| central stems, could not be removed without spoiling the tree. 
| One tree, besides bearing several such clusters, has at the tops 
of the same shoots large spikes of embryo cones, which promise 
to continue the feature for another season. In the few places 
in the neighbourhood where spruces have been planted and 
attained any considerable size, a great profusion of spruce 
cones is quite a feature almost every year. 
In connection with the foregoing, it may be noted that the 
past summer was a great fruit season. In this strath, black 
eurrants, which seem to be the chief fruit grown, were a 
heavy crop everywhere. In our own garden, 1074 feet 
above sea-level, the crop on the few bushes we have was 
extraordinary. On account of want of shelter from strong 
westerly winds, the bushes have to be pruned like goose- 
berry bushes, to keep them low and the branches strong; 
but even with that, the branches had to be supported to 
prevent them being broken with the weight of fruit. 
In the case of either fruit bushes or trees, a season of 
