520 TRANSACTIONS AND rKOCEEDlNGS OF THE [Sess. lvii. 



It is evident that the cedar of Lebanon, and its near 

 relatives the Atlantic cedar and deodar, are quick growers, 

 in favourable circumstances, in this country. There can 

 be little doubt that the great cedar at Hopetoun, which 

 attained 23 feet in girth, increased at the rate of nearly 

 2 inches annually throughout its life, and although this is 

 probably exceptional, yet there are authentic instances of a 

 similar or even greater rate in cedars of considerable size. 

 The deodars at Dropmore attained the considerable rates, 

 at 3 ft. up, of 1-94 and 2-30 for fifty years. 



IV. The Silver Fir (Abies jjcct inn ta). 



The silver fir has grown to a greater girth and height 

 than any other pine in Scotland, where Mr. Hutchison 

 states it was introduced about 1600. It appears to have 

 been known in England, however, prior to 1548. 



Silver firs above 17 feet in girth at 5 feet up. Chiefly 

 from Mr. Hutchison's Table of 147 Scottish silver firs 

 (Trans. H. and Agr. Soc. Scot., xviii., 188 5, p. 240). 



There is a remarkaljle group of twenty-two silver firs 

 near luverawe, Argyll. Of eleven still standing, one is 17 

 feet in irirth, another 15 feet 9 inches, another 14 feet 

 5 inches, and four more are above 12 feet. Of the fallen 

 trees, one is 16 feet 1 inch, another 15 feet 4 inches, and 

 three others are above 12 feet in girth, all at 5 feet above 

 the highest part of the ground (Dr. Allan Macnaughton, 

 1893). 



