254 Remarkable Trees of the Norway Spruce^ 



sustained no injury, Mr. Young has ever since adopted the same 

 day of the same month, or as nearly so as he could, in every suc- 

 cessive year, for the cutting in of the young wood. Every portion 

 of this hedge is beautiful and green ; and the annual growths 

 are very short, giving the surface of the hedge a healthy appear- 

 ance. The soil is a mixture of brown peat and loam. 



The circumstance attending the namine of this estate is rather 

 remarkable, and may not be uninteresting when taken in con- 

 nexion with the whimsical form of some of its productions. The 

 house, as a shooting lodge, was built for the celebrated arbori- 

 culturist, John Duke of Argyll ; and, owing to the spongy 

 nature of the peat, piles were driven into the ground for the 

 purpose of supporting the foundation. The men employed 

 (unconscious of the duke's being within hearing) were talking 

 about the strange "ii^him which the duke had taken into his head, 

 to build a house in such a place. His Grace, on hearing this, im- 

 mediately cried out, " The Whim be it ; " and ever since it has 

 retained that name. 



Mr. Young informed me that the spruce fir wood, cut from 

 the mossy ground, was comparatively free of dry rot, when 

 compared with wood cut from the drier parts of the Whim 

 estate. This, however, I had no means of ascertaining, except 

 on the authority given. 



The planting of trees on such soils as the Whim estate affords 

 should, I think, prove an instructive lesson to landed proprietors 

 who may have similar soils yet unplanted ; and much of such 

 land is still to be met with in many parts of Scotland. 



The spruce firs described are called, at the Wliim, the white 

 American ; but I am satisfied, although they assume a some- 

 what different appearance from that of the common form of the 

 Norway spruce, that they are only a variation (of which we 

 know there are many) of that species, produced by the nature 

 of the soil in which they grow. 



It may not be out of place here, to mention that it is said that 

 some of the finest specimens of black and white American spruce 

 firs, about the middle of the last century, were at Whitton, in 

 Middlesex ; a place then belonging to the Duke of Argyll. 

 (Marfi/n's Mill. Diet.) 



In the peat bogs of the Whim estate, the remains of some old 

 oak trees exist. The one pointed out to me was observed while 

 cutting a drain through a portion of a bog, when the root of an 

 oak tree was seen 18 in. in circumference. This root was traced 

 to the distance of 8 ft., where the original tree had stood. On 

 clearing away the peat soil, the remaining stump of this tree was 

 found to be 9 ft. in diameter. Portions of it were very hard and 

 firm, while others had much decayed. 



Experimental Garde?i, Inverleith, January^ 1837. 



