CHAP. CXlll. CONl'FKKili. Fi'cEA. 2337 



by a hot dry summer. At the same tiirie, they are, in other respects, amongst 

 the least delicate of any plants in the choice of their food; as the largest and 

 most flourishing trees of them I have ever seen, over the island, in general grow 

 on sour, heavy, obstinate clay, of all difl^erent qualities and colours ; and though 

 for ten or twelve 3ears, they do not advance so fast as several of the other pines 

 and firs, yet in twenty years they will outgrow them all, and continue that ad- 

 vantage till they arrive to their greatest magnitude." The silver fir requires 

 a low situation, comparatively with the spruce fir, not being nearly so hardy 

 as that tree, either when in the nursery or full grown. The cones, which 

 are apt to shed their seeds in spring, ought to be gathered in October or 

 November, and kept in a dry place till the sowing season. The seeds may 

 be easily separated from them by a very slight exposure to the sun, and then 

 by thrashing them, without having recourse to the kiln. The seeds should be 

 sown, according to Sang, in March, and at such a distance as to allow the plants 

 to rise 1 in. apart ; and the covering, he says, should be a full inch thick. 

 When the plants are 2 years old, they may be transplanted into nursery lines ; 

 and, after being 2 years in that situation, they may either be again trans- 

 planted in the nursery, to a greater distance apart, or removed to where they 

 are finally to remain. 



Accidents, Diseases, Sfc. The silver fir suffers more from extreme drought 

 than any other species of the pine and fir tribe; whole forests being occasion- 

 ally destroyed in this way in the north of France and in Switzerland. When 

 the trees are young, they are liable to have their leading shoot injured by 

 the frost ; but this is not the case after the plants have attained the height 

 of5ft. or6ft. The tree suffers from various insects, as has been already 

 noticed in our general introduction, p. 2139. 



statistics. Recorded Trees. The two trees at Harefield Park, planted in 1603, and one of which, 

 in 1679, was 81 ft. high, and contained 146 ft. of good timber, have been already mentioned. Mitchel 

 mentions scores of trees at Wardour Castle, " whose aspiring heads," he says, were far advanced 

 beyond all other trees there." At Longleat, he mentions a grove of 16 trees, 2i; ft. apart, 110 It. 

 high, and from 10 ft. to 13 ft. in circumference. Each tree contained upwards of 200 ft. of timber. 

 At the above distance of 22 ft., this would give 90 trees per acre, or 360 loads of tmiber; which, at the 

 very moderate price of 31. a load, is 1080/. In 1813, Mitchell felled three silver tirs, which were 

 planted in 1786: they stood in a line, 15 ft. apart, and were from 100 ft. to 112 ft. higli. Each tree 

 had lost its leader at 40 ft. high, and had formed a branchy head. Tiie first tree contained 299 ft. of 

 timber; the second 273 ft., and the third, 164 ft. The lop (that is, tops and lateral branches) made 

 288 hevans 2 cords and 88 parts of cordwood. A silver fir at the House of Polkemmet, in West 

 Lothian, measured in October, 1799, was 10 ft. in circumference, at 4 ft. from the ground. One at 

 Binning Wood, 70 years old, was, in 1812, 10 ft. 4 in. in circumference, at 4 ft. from the ground. A 

 silver fir at Urumlanrig Castle, in Nithsdale, was, in 1773, 12 ft. in circumference. One at Wood- 

 houselee, Mid.Lothian, measured in 1793, was 1 1 ft. 1 in. in girt ; and in 1835 it was 14 ft. 10 in. in 

 girt, and 94 ft. high. Under this tree, now in a state of decay, we have often played in our boyish 

 days. A tree in Styria, growing on the Martinsberg, in the forest district of Zirl, measured 5 ft. in 

 diameter, at 9 ft. from the ground ; and, at a neight of between 90 ft. and 95 ft from the ground, still 

 retained a diameter of between Sin. and 9 in. {Handbook for Southerti Germany, p. 262.) In the 

 Museum of Natural History, at Strasburg, is a section of the trunk of a silver fir, cut so as to form 

 a seat, called there Le grand sapin du Hochwald, a Barr, department de Bas Rhin. 'I'his tree was 

 150ft. high, with a trunk straight and clear of branches to the height of 50ft., at which point it 

 became forked. The diameter of the trunk, at the surface of the ground, was 8 ft. • and at the 

 height of 50 ft., Sin. The estimated age of the tree was 360 years. It was cut down on the' 16th of 

 June, 1816, the trunk having begun to decay in the centre. We were informed, when we saw this 

 section in 1828, that there was a tree standing very near where this one stood almost as large. The 

 Forest of Hochwald was composed entirely of silver firs, and before the revolution belonged to the 

 town of Strasburg. 



Existing Trees. In the environs of London, at Whitton Place, near Twickenham, it is 97 ft. 

 high, with a trunk 3 ft. 9 in. in diameter ; at Syon, the tree figured incur last Volume is 96 ft. high.— 

 South of London. In Cornwall, at Carclew, it is 99 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 9 in. and 

 of the head 20 ft. In Devonshire, at Bicton, 104 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft., and of the 

 head 36 ft. ; at Luscombe, 21 years planted, it is 37 ft. high ; at Bystock Park, 41 years planted it is 

 55 ft. high; at Endsleigh Cottage, 22 years planted, it is 65 ft. high. In Hampshire, at Alresford 

 81 years planted, it is 83 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. ; at East Tytherley,KO years planted' 

 it is 120 ft. high, the trunk containing 230 cubic feet of timber, the diameter ot the head is only 

 42 ft. ; at Strath fieldsaye, it is 120 ft. high, with a trunk 4 ft. 6in. in diameter. In Kent, at Knowle 

 106 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4 ft. 10 in., and of the head 187 ft. In Somersetshire, at Kings- 

 weston, 104 ft. high, with a trunk 4 ft. 3 in. in diameter. In Surrey, at Bagshot Park, 12 years planted" 

 it is 30 ft. high. In Sussex, at Cowdrey, it is 120 ft. high, with a trunk 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter clear of 

 branches to the height of 55 ft. ; at Kidbrooke, it is 80 ft. high, with a trunk 4 ft. in diameter. 'in Wilt- 

 shire, at Longleat, 180 years old, it is 138 ft. high, the diameter of tlie trunk 5 ft. 8 in., and of the head 

 44 ft. ; at Wardour Castle, 50 years planted, it is 60 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 5 ft. 4 in. and of 



the head 42 ft. ; at Longford Castle, it is 60 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diameter. North of London 



In Bedfordshire, at VVoburn Abbey, the tree already mentioned, p. 2332., is 114 ft. high • at Southill it 

 is 80 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 4 in., and of the head 54 ft. In Buckinghamshire 'at 

 Temple House, 40 years planted, it is 60 ft. high. In Cheshire, at Eaton Hall, 14 years planted i't is 

 20 ft. high. In Derbyshire, at Kedleston, are several trees, from 130 ft. to 150 ft. Iiigti and girting'froir 



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