SECTION OF AN ANCIENT TREE. 169 



space between the trees; there hardly seemed enough 

 room to pass between them." * 



On the opposite coast upon Vancouver Island 

 equally large specimens are sometimes found, thus we 

 hear: "Mr. Smith, a farmer of Cowichen told us of 

 a Douglas fir in his neighbourhood, 1 2 feet in diameter 

 10 feet from the ground, and at the ground it was 50 

 feet around;" and again "Planks of 6 or 7 feet wide, 

 and So feet long, are frequently cut from the Douglas 

 fir. This shows the immense size of the timber." f 



In the South Kensington Museum, London, a section 

 of an Abies Douglasii is exhibited, cut in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Frazer River, in 1 885, the number of whose 

 rings show that it was then 533 years old: this takes us 

 back to 1352, the 25th year of the reign of Edward III. 

 This tree was about 6 feet in diameter, where the 

 section was made, and on it are marked the dates of 

 various remarkable events in the world's history, co- 

 temporary with certain of its rings, formed during the 

 period of its lifetime. It was already a large tree at 

 the time of the birth of Shakespeare (April 23, 1564) 

 and since 1776, the date of American Independence, 

 it has only increased in diameter about 9 inches. At 

 the time of the Battle of Poictiers (Sept. 19, 1356) it 

 was growing as a stout seedling, in the silence of these 

 great primeval woods. 



These facts furnish us with an apt illustration of the 



* By Track and Trail through Canada, by Edward Roper, F.R.G.S., 

 1891, p. 185. [N.B. The Douglas fir has already proved itself to 

 be one of the most valuable conifers ever introduced into the British 

 Islands, both as an ornamental, and as a timber tree. In favourable 

 situations, it is probably the quickest growing of all firs, and its shoots 

 will frequently measure from 4 to 5 feet during a single season's growth.] 



f Life and Labour in the Far Far West, by W. Henry Barneby, 

 2nd edit. 1884, p. 137. 



Notes taken by the Author in South Kensington Museum. 



