LARCH PLANTATIONS AND THE LARCH DISEASE. 237 



A Douglas Fir, grown in my father's plantations from seed 

 which the Royal Horticultural Society in London had distributed 

 in 1828, after the first voyage of Douglas, was felled in 1878, — 

 fifty years old, I sent samples of the wood to Robert Hartig to 

 get a correct statement as to the quality of timber grown in 

 Germany. I added a specimen of Douglas Fir sent to me by the 

 late Mr M'Corquodale from the trees of Lord Mansfield at Scone 

 Palace. Professor Hartig having examined the anatomical 

 structure and value of the specimens, reported as follows: — "It 

 is easy to see that the wood of Douglas Fir, grown in Germany 

 and in Scotland, sui-passes by far the Pinus sylvestris, and is 

 almost equal to the Larch wood grown in the mountains. The 

 value of the wood is indicated in the following numbers : 



Larix europcea, I. 



Abies Douglasii, 11. 



Pinus sylvestris, I IT. 



Abies excelsa, IV. 



Picea pectinata, "V." 



In concluding this article, I most respectfully suggest that the 

 Council of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society should 

 reprint the Duke's Account for the members of the Society. 



In my opinion, the only remedy for the Larch disease is to 

 follow exactly the methods of the great " plantin' Duke " : select 

 the situations only on high mountainous regions, and not stick 

 the Larch any more like a fencing-post, regardless of its nature, 

 into low-lying lands, nor into muggy situations. 



