NOTES ON THE DOUGLAS FIR. 27 



give a brief account of the behaviour of the different varieties 

 under cultivation, and at the same time roughly compare their 

 value as timber trees. 



Glauca Variety. — Throughout the British Isles, there are 

 numerous plantations of the Glauca form of the Douglas fir, 

 seldom larger than a few acres in extent. In the North of 

 Scotland there are several estates, of which Beaufort, Fyvie, 

 and Durris may be cited as examples, where the Coast variety 

 and the Glauca variety have been planted side by side, and in 

 every case the Coast variety has completely outstripped the 

 Glauca variety in rate of growth. The differences between the 

 two varieties is also well illustrated by two small adjoining plots 

 at Craibstone, planted in 1918. Here the Glauca form is now 

 about li feet high, while the Coast form is about 5 feet. 



The Glauca form has been sometimes, on account of its 

 hardiness, recommended for planting in high-lying localities in 

 the middle Highlands, where the Coast variety does not thrive, 

 but the Caesia variety would seem from every point of view 

 to be a more desirable species to plant, although its suitability 

 should first be ascertained by planting on an experimental scale. 

 It is as yet impossible to say whether the plants at Craibstone 

 raised from the seed collected in the Dry Belt of British 

 Columbia are, or are not, the Glauca variety. The British 

 Columbia Dry Belt Douglas fir, if it is not the Glauca form, is 

 at least very closely akin to it, and its use for the planting of 

 commercial woods is possibly open to the same objections. 



Caesia Variety. — Professor Henry and Miss Flood give an 

 account of the introduction of the Caesia variety into continental 

 Europe and Great Britain : — 



"In 1907 young trees of this variety were raised in German 

 nurseries from seed gathered at Quesnal in the preceding 

 year by Baron von Furstenberg. About fifty of these in 

 the Queen's Cottage Ground, Kew Gardens, are healthy 

 but comparatively slow in growth. They were 7 to 10 feet 

 high in 1919 forming narrow, regular, pyramidal trees 

 with ascending branches. They differ from the type in 

 not having a summer shoot. At Avondale, a small plot 

 nine years old, from seed, averages 5-8 feet high — about 

 half the height of Oregon Douglas fir planted beside 

 them. In Germany also Caesia grows more slowly than 

 the Oregon Douglas fir, and can be recommended for 



