Abies 805 



Remarkable Trees 



The most noted trees of this species in cultivation were those growing in the 

 Keillour Pinetum, Perthshire, now the property of Captain Black of Balgowan. 

 This pinetum was visited by Prof. Balfour 1 in 1895, wno found about 30 trees still 

 living out of 200, which were planted in 1831. The largest tree was about 60 feet 

 high with a girth of 5 feet 1 inch at three feet from the ground. There were several 

 others over 4 feet in girth. In 1904, when Henry made a hurried visit to the 

 Keillour Pinetum, where there was much of interest to be seen, he only saw one tree 

 of A. balsamea, with the top broken and in a dying state. Mr. W. Causand informed 

 him that in 1903 there was a tree 68 feet by 5 feet. 



The finest specimen of which we have any account in Great Britain is recorded 

 in the Conifer Conference Report, J ourn. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 511, as having 

 grown at Saltoun Hall, East Lothian, the seat of A. Fletcher, Esq., until 1891, 

 when it was swept away by a flood on the river Tyne. This tree was supposed to 

 have been given by Bishop Compton, who introduced the species in 1697, to Bishop 

 Burnet, formerly incumbent of the parish of Pencaitland, and was thus something 

 like 190 years old. It was 68 feet high though it had lost its top, and at ten feet 

 from the ground no less than 7 feet 10 inches in girth, and was said to have been 

 healthy and growing vigorously up till the time of its destruction. 



In England we have never seen a tree of any great size or age, the largest being 

 at Bicton, 52 feet by 4 feet 4 inches in 1908 ; and this species seems to have been 

 neglected and forgotten by modern planters, as it is only twice mentioned in the 

 numerous reports sent to the Conifer Conference. 



Loudon states that it arrives at maturity in twenty to twenty-five years, after 

 which it soon dies, though he mentions trees of 30 to 40 feet high as then existing at 

 Syon, Whitton, and Chiswick. 



It appears therefore to be of no horticultural value in this country, though if the 

 Saltoun report was correct it may be grown successfully in some parts of Scotland. 2 



In Norway, according to Schiibeler, the Balsam fir succeeds better than here. 

 He mentions three at Bogstad near Christiania, planted about 1772, of which the 

 largest was 55 feet by 6 feet 4 inches, and another 8 feet 2 inches in girth ; but 

 when I visited this place in 1904 I could not find these trees, and do not know 

 whether they are still living. Hansen 3 states that specimens, about 50 years old 

 and 40 feet high, are to be met with in Danish Gardens. 



Timber, Resin 



Sargent describes the wood 4 as being light, soft, coarse-grained, and perishable, 

 and only used for cheap lumber. From the blisters on the bark, a straw-coloured 



1 See Card. Chron. xvii. 422 (1895), which gives an interesting account of this remarkable pinetum. 



1 A. balsamea was planted at Durris freely about fifty years ago, the largest trees now being from 40 to 45 feet in height. 

 Timber of good quality, and contains an exceptionally small percentage of water in a green state. I have seen no account 

 taken of the latter fact, but it has been a continual surprise to me in handling timber in a green state. (J. D. Crozier.) 



3 Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 458 (1892). 



4 H. von Schrenk, in Missouri Bot. Garden Report, 1905, p. 117, describes and figures logs of this timber, felled in 

 Maine for pulpwood, which show on cross-section irregular areas, perfectly smooth and shining as if they had been planed. 



