THE DOUGLAS FIR. 169 
Close to the carriage-drive leading from the Castle to the village 
of Llandegai are three of unusual dimensions, as shown by the 
following figures :— 
Feet. Inches. 
No. 1.—Height, : E , : ; 814 6 
Girth of stem at 1 ae pepe ; 13 6 
Girth of stem at 5 feet up, . i : il 2 
Diameter of spread of branches, . : 61 0 
No. 2.—Height, “ : : : 76 0 
Girth of stem at 1 oe Wie : 13 7 
Girth of stem at 5 feet up, . : 12 2 
Diameter of spread of branches, . ; 69 0 
No. 3.—Height, . - - - : 74 0 
Girth of stem at 1 foot up, . 10 2 
Girth of stem at 5 feet up, . : : 10 0 
Diameter of spread of branches, . : 57 0 
These trees are well clothed to the ground with bright, glossy 
foliage, seem in perfect health, and would have been, perhaps, the 
finest specimens of their kind in Britain had their leaders not been 
broken over. As it is, the stem girth of these trees is not exceeded 
by any others of the same kind in this country. 
That the stems of these specimens are not what is called “ carrot- 
shaped ” will readily be seen when I state that the girth of each 
Bebcchirely, at 17 feet from the ground level, is: No. 1, 9 feet ; 
No. 2, 9 feet; No. 3, 6 feet 6 inches. The contents of the largest 
tree, ae rective of branches, is 192 cubic feet. 
On the sloping and somewhat sheltered ground near the mouth 
of the river Ogwen, many trees of greater height are to be seen, but 
none approach the three whose dimensions are given above in size 
of stem. Many solitary specimens of the Douglas fir, planted for 
lawn embellishment, have attained large dimensions in various parts 
of the kingdom. At North Stoneham Park, Southampton, there is 
a fine tree, probably one of the first introduced, which has attained 
a height of about 80 feet. The soil is “ bog mould,” on a gravelly 
subsoil of the Bracklesham beds. In an arboretum formed by the 
late Mr Taunton of Ashley-in-Combebottom, Hampshire, the largest 
specimen in 1881 was over 90 feet in height, and contained 60 feet 
of timber, the result of forty-one years’ growth. The soil is clay 
mixed with the débris of the chalk formation. At Blackmoore, 
Selborne, the seat of the Earl of Selborne, there are some magnifi- 
cent specimens growing on peaty sand on the Folkestone beds. 
