26 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



approaches the tree gradually becomes smaller in size, , 

 the bole is shorter and more limby, and the bark more 

 closely ridged." 



Differences have also been noted in the quality of the timber 

 of the different varieties. According to Stern, the Rocky 

 Mountain fir (Caesia variety) produces a red wood with usually 

 a large proportion of summer wood. It is neither as straight- 

 grained nor as easily worked as the Coast fir, but is highly 

 valuable for its durability in contact with the soil, in which 

 respect it surpasses the other species with which it grows. 

 On the other hand, in the Coast Douglas fir a large proportion 

 of the wood is clear, fine-grained and light in colour, although 

 sometimes, depending on the situation, a reddish-coloured wood 

 is produced. 



Some interest attaches to the point that all three varieties — the 

 Coast, Caesia, and Glauca (?) forms — are to be found along the 

 course of the Fraser River. The Caesia variety occurs in the 

 upper reaches, at Quesnal, etc. ; the Dry Belt Douglas fir at 

 Kamloops — on the Thomson River, a tributary of the Fraser 

 River ; and the Coast form on the lower Fraser River west 

 of the Cascade Mountains. A few years ago plants raised in 

 this country from seed, purchased in the belief that it was seed 

 of the Coast variety, were found to be different in many respects 

 from the plants of the true Coast variety, and were regarded by 

 nurserymen as being a form intermediate between the latter and 

 the Glauca form. To this accidental importation, which may 

 have been the Caesia form, they gave the name of the Fraser 

 River variety, and it is perhaps well to point out that, as a 

 geographical designation, the name "Fraser River Variety" 

 may be applied equally well to any one of three varieties of the 

 Douglas fir. 



The large scale on which the Douglas fir is now planted in 

 Great Britain, renders it imperative that as much as possible 

 should be known regarding the different forms or varieties and 

 the regions to which they are indigenous, owing to the constantly 

 increasing risks of getting unsuitable seed. Fortunately, as a 

 result of the experiments which landowners have been carrying 

 out for the past seventy or eighty years, we know what results 

 are likely to be obtained from planting the Coast and Glauca 

 forms, although little is as yet known regarding the merits of 

 the Caesia form. In the following notes I shall endeavour to 



