THE DOUGLAS FIR IN SCOTLAND. 231 



Hougb, in his Elements of Forestry (1882), tells us tliat the 

 Douglas fir reaches in Oregon to the enormous size of 200 to 300 

 feet in height, and from 15 to 20 feet in diameter; he adds, however, 

 that the tree is more commonly about 150 feet high and from 4 to 8 

 feet in diameter. In America the trees are said to stand near each 

 other, but this they certainly do not in the Scottish plantations ; 

 on the contrary, here an acre can, owing to the spreading nature of 

 the branches, accommodate only a small number of trees compared 

 with other species. On the whole, the matter requires considerable 

 further investigation. This could best be done by a competent 

 forester proceeding to North America and making suitable measure- 

 ments on the spot. Such a step was actually taken, in 1885, by 

 Dr H. Mayr, a Bavarian forester and botanist. He visited the 

 localities in which the Douglas fir thrives best, and he has 

 promised to publish the information which he has gathered. So 

 far, however, he has only favoured us with a few notes published 

 in forest journals, and as he has proceeded to Japan as Professor 

 of Forest Botany in the Japanese Forest School, his experience of 

 the Douglas fir may not become available for years to come. 



Pending further investigation, I may be permitted to gather 

 together what useful information is available at present, and to 

 draw such conclusions as may appear permissible. The following ^ 

 information is at my disposal : — 



(1.) Measurements in the Taymount plantation. 



(2.) Height growth of two Douglas firs on the same estate, 

 planted in 1834. 



(3.) Information supplied by Dr H. Mayr. 



(4.) Examination of a Section of a full-grown Douglas fir, 

 deposited in the Cooper's Hill Forest Museum. 



(Ad. 1.) The details of the measurements made in the Taymount 

 plantation have been given above. 



(Ad. 2.) The Douglas firs, planted in the year 1834, were about 

 four years old when planted, so that the trees were about fifty-seven 

 years old in 1887, when they showed a height of about 90 feet. 



(Ad. 3.) Dr Mayr informs us in the Allgemeine Forst und Jagd 

 Zeitung of February 1886, p. 61, that the Douglas fir reaches the 

 highest degree of perfection in the moist valleys of the Cascade 

 Range Mountains, which run parallel to the Pacific coast. He 

 found that in those localities the average height of full-grown 

 mature Douglas firs, grown on soil of the best quality, amounts to 



^ Much general information is, no doubt, available, but for the present 

 object only actual measurements can be used. 



