issr-ss.] Annual Increase in Girth of Trees. 249 



Arboretum, but are well sheltered. No. 20* is a fine tree, 

 standing clear in the park at Craigiehall ; N"os. 8"^ and 9"" 

 are also in the park, but close to the river Almond, the latter 

 having its roots laid bare on one side to ordinary floods : 

 they both stand clear of other trees. The remaining three, 

 Nos. 14*, 15*, 22*, form part of a beautiful grove of beeches 

 on a low well- sheltered quasi-island of the Almond. 



No. 8 comes into leaf a week or ten days before No. 7, 

 or, I believe, any other beech in the Botanic Garden. Its 

 foliage also is twice as dense as that of No. 7 ; nevertheless 

 its rate of growth is a trifle less than that of No. 7. No. 

 20* is the first beech in leaf at Craigiehall. It is also the 

 quickest grower of the six measured trees there. 



The average annual increase in girth of the ten beeches 

 varied between 1-03 in No. 7 and 0-36 in No. 22*. These 

 variations can in some cases be accounted for. Thus Nos. 

 7, 8, and 20*, the quickest growers of all, averaging 0"94, 

 stand clear, have stems of moderate height, and wide-spread- 

 ing heads of foliage ; while 14*, 15*, and 22*, averaging 

 only '47, although now clear of neighbours, originally grew 

 in a dense grove, and are 100 feet high, with stems clear 

 of branches for 30 feet, and small heads of foliage. In 

 estimating the proportional differences in the increase of 

 timber in the two groups, we must remember that the growth 

 is distributed over a greater length of stem in the latter ; but, 

 on the other hand, the stems of Nos. 7 and 8 are by no 

 means short, being 11 and 15 feet in length to the first 

 branch, and the growth in these trees is distributed over a 

 much greater extent of large branches, so that the propor- 

 tions given may express pretty fairly the difference in addi- 

 tion of wood. 



Other variations, however, are not so easily accounted for, 

 such as the slow growth of No. 22* compared with 14* and 

 15*, all three being trees equally healthy in appearance, and 

 growing in precisely the same circumstances; or the slow 

 growth of Nos. 14 and 38 compared with 7 and 8, for 

 although the former are in a short double avenue, they are 

 not crowded. Perhaps differences of soil or position, 14 and 

 38 being on the highest ground of the Arboretum, while 7 

 and 8 are on the lowest ground of the Botanic Garden, may 

 account for the difference in their increase. 



