180 ON THE NATURAL PRODUCTION OR 



XVIII. On the Natural Production or Self-Sowing of the Com- 

 mon Silver Fir (Picea pectin ata). By William ^Gilchrist, 

 Forester, Cluny Castle. 



In a plantation on the estate of S , in the county of Aberdeen, 



my attention was arrested by detached plants and scattered groups 

 of young silver firs. The person accompanying me, who had been 

 connected with the plantation for upwards of forty years, assured 

 me that there had been no plants of any description planted there 

 since he knew the plantation. On closer examination I found 

 seedlings ranging from two to fifteen years old, and came to the 

 conclusion, that here was an ascertained fact which ought to be 

 communicated to the Scottish Arboricultural Society. 



The part of the plantation in which the seedling silver firs are 

 found is said to have been formed about the end of last century, 

 but the date cannot now be accurately ascertained. At present it 

 appears to be from eighty to eighty-five years old. The larch forms 

 rather more than half of the crop, the remainder being Scots fir and 

 spruce, with a few silver firs, beech, lime, plane, and birch. No 

 regular mode of thinning appears to have been adopted, my com- 

 panion informing me that during his time nothing had been done 

 beyond supplying the tenants with wood for fencing and fuel, 

 except when a hurricane blew down a lot, which had to be cleared 

 out and sold. The trees are therefore tall and much drawn, except 

 some near the outside of the plantation, which have had more space. 

 The larches are of fine quality (when sound), tall, clean in the boll, 

 and the bark free from blister, but many are "royed" at the root. 

 Six years ago a large quantity of the smallest larches Avere cut for 

 fencing, and almost all were "royed" at the root; a number of the 

 larger spars were cut during the present year, and it was ascertained 

 that fully four-fifths were more or less affected with the disease. 

 The spruces are also inclined to be " royed," and show signs of being 

 at maturity. The Scots firs are quite sound, but, like the spruce, are 

 evidently mature ; their timber is good but rough, the branches 

 being strong and coarse ; the bark is also, with slight exceptions, 

 very rough, and most of them have lost their leading tops. Some 

 of the silver firs still have main leaders, but others have lost them, 

 and gone off into numerous lateral shoots. The original silver firs are 

 models of beauty and symmetry, some, notwithstanding their close 

 confinement, being clothed with branches almost to the ground. 

 These branches are small, and do not give the trees the rOugh ap- 



