SYLVAN GIANTS. 283 



fitting them close to each other, to bind them 

 tight at proper distances with pitched ropes and 

 collars of iron. But a very noble Fir was lately 

 brought into England, which was not spliced in 

 the common mode, but was converted, in its full 

 dimensions, into the bowsprit of the Britannia, 

 a new ship of one hundred and ten guns, in 

 which capacity, I have heard, it serves at present. 

 This Fir was ninety-six feet in length, and 

 had, I believe, the full diameter of Tiberius's 

 Larch.' * 



Sir T. D. Lander's account of certain Larches 

 is interesting. One at Prestonhall, at a foot from 

 the ground, measured thirteen feet three inches ; at 

 three feet from the ground, ten feet three inches. 

 Another at Alderston, near Haddington, was 

 fourteen feet eight inches at one foot from the 

 ground, and ten feet six inches at four feet from 

 the ground. Yet another, at Dawick, planted 

 in 1725, measured in 1334, immediately under 

 the spread of the limbs, fifteen feet ; at four feet 

 from the ground, thirteen feet ; and just above 

 the roots, nineteen feet. 



* 'Forest Scenery,' pages 168-70. 



