Nov. 18112.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 509 



Aberiiethy, no less than 15 00 feet above the sea, 

 IG feet G inches at 3 feet, the narrowest point. 

 That other giants do not exist is no doubt due to 

 the ahnost total destruction of the primeval Highland 

 forests about a century ago, when they were leased 

 to English companies for shipbuilding or manufacturing 

 purposes. Certain it is that even greater dimensions 

 were attained by at least one tree in Glenmore, a plank 

 from which is preserved at Fochabers. By examination 

 of this plank Sir Eobert Christison proved (Trans. Ed. 

 Bot. Soc, 1878, p. 229) that the tree from which it came 

 must have been at least 19, and probably was 20 feet in 

 girth SLt 6^ feet up. Mr, Clark, the forester, has informed 

 me that the girth at its root, which existed in 1890, was 

 28 feet, and at a " middle cut," whicli still lay on the ground, 

 was nearly 12 feet. Another tree in Glenmore Forest, 

 possibly rivalling this, was blown down in 18G8, which 

 yielded a plank " certainly over 5 feet 6 inches in width." 



This species is not remarkable for height in the Highland 

 forests. A tree at Castle-Grant, blown down in 1868, called 

 *' The King" from its superior height, measured 93 feet, but 

 it was only 6 feet in girtli at the root. Only one other 

 Highland tree in my table reaches 90 feet, and the next 

 highest is only 70 feet. Probably the three magnificent 

 trees at Arniston (see the Table) are unequalled in Scotland 

 for combined height and girth. They rival neighbouring 

 beeches, some of which were blown down, and measured on 

 the ground considerably above 100 ft. Mr. J. S. Blackett, 

 C.E., measured one 7 A feet in girth, at Bessborough, Co. 

 Kilkenny, as it lay on the ground, which was 97 feet long. 

 — Mr. J. Horn Stevenson to Sir E. Christison, 1879. 



In the plantations of North Germany the Scots fir is 

 made to grow to a great height. According to Schwappach 

 (Wachstum normaler Kiefernbestande, Berlin, 1889), at 

 140 years of age, 137 trees on an English acre should 

 average lOG feet in height, with a girth about 4^ feet at 

 breast height. — A. C. Forbes, in Trans. Boy. Scot. Arb. Soc, 

 vol. xiii., p. 2. 



